Research
Techniques
Behavioral Microstructure - Much
research in our laboratory involves detailed videoanalyses of the microstructure
of natural or instinctive
behavioral patterns. We are best known for our affective neuroscience
studies of brain 'liking' systems using the affective
taste reactivity technique. Taste reactivity measures the microstructure
of facial affective expressions to taste sensory pleasure, which in rodents,
primates, & humans all derive from the same ancestral mechanisms. Similarly,
to study the brain bases of action syntax we have developed microstructural
measures of syntactic
grooming chains. We also use conventional rodent
instrumental and classical conditioning procedures, place preference tests,
and other traditional behavioral neuroscience techniques.
Neuroscience manipulations - We use several neuroscience techniques
that selectively alter a single neural system in the brain. For example,
to pinpoint sites of brain neurochemical circuits, we use painless brain
microinjections to place drugs into a selected brain region. We also sometimes
histological techniques such as Fos
plume maps to measure the neuronal
activation caused by microinjected drugs. Finally we study how the firing
patterns of brain neurons code liking, wanting,
and action syntax functions in collaborative studies with Prof.
J. Wayne Aldridges laboratory [Neurology & Psychology].
Psychological theory - We aim to better understand fundamental
psychological questions. How is pleasure caused in the brain? What is the
nature of wanting and liking? How do rewards shape incentive motivation
and behavior? How does the brain code the difference between positive affect
and negative affect? How does fear relate to desire? What does instinctive
behavior have in common with human language? How are complex streams of
real behavior produced by a brain? We believe that psychological theory
illuminates the meaning of neuroscience data, and that in turn neuroscience
studies can be used to develop psychological insights. Our combination
of affective neuroscience and biopsychology techniques with appropriate
psychological theory helps us find better answers to these fundamental
questions.
Ethical testing - Our research uses painless behavioral testing
procedures for all our animal subjects to avoid significant suffering.
All neuroscience manipulations (used only for rat and mouse studies) are
conducted painlessly or under appropriate anesthesia. Our behavioral tests
of reward and pleasure are not painful. Whenever our research collaborations
involve human subjects the studies are carried out by experts who specialize
in those studies. All research techniques used in the laboratory have been
approved by the appropriate ethical review boards within the university
and by US federal grant agencies (National Institutes of Health & National
Science Foundation). |
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