|
  |
|
|
Krasnow Institute > Monday Seminars > Abstracts Neuromodulation and Memory Function Michael Hasselmo Neuromodulators cause striking changes in the functional connectivity of cortical networks. These changes occur over different time courses, ranging from milliseconds for modulatory effects at GABAB receptors, to seconds for modulatory effects at muscarinic receptors. Understanding the function of these modulatory changes is important for understanding the role of modulation in cortical function. For example, the striking changes in levels of acetylcholine during different stages of the sleep cycle could be relevant to the function of these stages proposed by different researchers such as Buzsaki and McNaughton. This talk will present physiological and behavioral data on the effects of specific modulators, with a computational framework describing how cellular effects of neuromodulatory substances could change the functional state of cortical networks. In particular, low levels of acetylcholine during non-REM (slow wave sleep) could allow consolidation (transfer of information from hippocampus to neocortex), whereas modulatory induction of hippocampal theta waves during waking and REM sleep could contribute to the efficient storage and retrieval of mnemonic representations in the hippocampus. BIO: Michael Hasselmo received his undergraduate degree in Behavioral Neuroscience from Harvard in 1984 and his D.Phil. from the Oxford University Department of Experimental Psychology in 1988, with a dissertation on single unit recordings from monkey inferotemporal cortex. He performed brain slice physiological experiments and computational modeling to analyze modulatory influences on synaptic transmission as a post-doc in the Biology Division at Caltech. These techniques have been combined with whole animal techniques in his laboratory at Harvard University and after his recent move to an Associate Professorship in the Department of Psychology at Boston University.
The Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study |
|
