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Project

Dopaminergic modulation of memory generalisation in depression.

The neural system that establish integrated episodic memory (i.e., memory about “what happened where and when”) comprises different forebrain and midbrain areas, including the neurochemically and functionally distinct VTA system that originates in the brainstem and provides the major dopaminergic input (i.e., releasing the neurotransmitter dopamine) to the forebrain. This proposal focusses on memory generalization (i.e., the ability to generalize learned information to novel situations), and the poorly defined role of the forebrain-midbrain system in this aspect of cognitive performance. Dopaminergic pathways and their target areas are implicated in normal and impaired memory processes, whereas generalization defects are related to unfavorable prognosis in severe psychopathologies, like depression and schizophrenia. The World Health Organization predicts that, by the year 2020, psychopathological disorders (most prominently, depression) will be the most prevalent causes of disease in developed countries. This project will depend on a competitive variety of scientific expertise, techniques and materials that are robustly available to the multidisciplinary promoter team and their network of colleagues in different neuroscience laboratories. It will investigate cognitive phenotypes in laboratory mice in relation to memory generalization and involvement of the dopaminergic system and different dopamine receptors. It will use mouse models of depression and schizophrenia, and will include behavioral assays that have been validated in our laboratory and relate to different aspects of clinical depression and schizophrenia. Finally, it will investigate whether behavioral changes in these mice coincide with changes in the dopaminergic system. The proposal combines established expertise and mouse models with challenging behavioral and neurobiological approaches. It may not only provide valuable insights in the mechanisms of memory generalization, but it also an innovative biopsychological approach to psychopathology.

Date:1 Jan 2013 →  31 Dec 2016
Keywords:Dopaminerge Modulatiegeheugengeneralisat, Depression
Disciplines:Biological and physiological psychology, General psychology, Other psychology and cognitive sciences