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Beyond classical conditioning: Hippocampal circuits in higher-order memory processes

Descripción del proyecto

El papel de los circuitos encefálicos en los procesos cognitivos complejos

Los humanos son capaces de asociar estímulos y experiencias anteriores con situaciones particulares, lo cual les ayuda a adaptarse a los cambios en el entorno. Esto también les permite predecir eventos futuros. Sin embargo, apenas se conocen los procesos cognitivos implicados en la codificación y el almacenamiento de estos procesos cognitivos complejos. El proyecto financiado con fondos europeos HighMemory tiene por objeto evaluar el papel del hipocampo y la corteza en los procesos de condicionamiento de alto nivel aplicando metodologías genéticas, farmacológicas, de imagen y conductuales. Los resultados permitirán conocer la regulación de comportamientos cognitivos complejos y ayudarán a explicar por qué estímulos específicos pueden tener un valor de repulsión o de atractivo, aunque no se hayan asociado previamente con desenlaces positivos o negativos.

Objetivo

Animals and humans adapt to changes in the environment through the encoding and storage of previous experiences. Although associative learning involving a reinforcer has been the major focus in the field of cognition, other forms of learning are gaining popularity as they are likely more relevant and frequent in human daily choices. Indeed, associations between non-reinforcing stimuli represent the most evolutionarily advanced way to increase the chances of predicting future events and adapting individuals’ behavior. Animals are also able to form these higher-order conditioning processes, but more research is needed to understand how the brain encode and store these complex cognitive processes. In this project, I propose to study the role of hippocampo-cortical circuits in higher-order conditioning processes. These processes explain why subjects are often repulsed or attracted by stimuli, which do not have intrinsic repellent or appealing value and they were never explicitly paired with negative or positive outcomes. A proposed explanation of these “ungrounded” aversion or attraction is that these stimuli were incidentally associated with other cues directly reinforced, through a process called mediated learning (ML). However, with increased incidental associations, the subjects acquire more information, allowing them to separate the real saliences of the different stimuli. Therefore, ML evolves into “reality testing”(RT), a behavioral process that has been even less studied. These processes involve multiple brain regions and are characterized by accessible phases, making them perfect models to study the circuit-level regulation of complex behavior. By using genetic, pharmacological, imaging and mouse behavioral approaches (sensory preconditioning), HighMemory proposes to characterize at macro- (brain regions), meso- (cell-types) and micro-scale (activity changes), the causal involvement of hippocampo-cortical projections in higher-order conditioning processes.

Régimen de financiación

ERC-STG - Starting Grant

Institución de acogida

FUNDACIO INSTITUT HOSPITAL DEL MAR D INVESTIGACIONS MEDIQUES
Aportación neta de la UEn
€ 1 499 826,00
Dirección
Doctor Aiguader 88
08003 Barcelona
España

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Región
Este Cataluña Barcelona
Tipo de actividad
Research Organisations
Enlaces
Coste total
€ 1 499 826,00

Beneficiarios (1)