NIH VideoCast - Neural Circuits for Reward Learning

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Neural Circuits for Reward Learning

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Air date:	Monday, April 17, 2017, 12:00:00 PM Time displayed is Eastern Time, Washington DC Local
Views:	Total views: 432 (48 Live, 384 On-demand)
Category:	Neuroscience
Runtime:	00:54:40
Closed captioning:	Check box to display CC outside of the video Note: You can drag the captioning window around and resize it
Description:	NIH Neuroscience Series Seminar Dr. Janak’s lab is interested in the behavioral and neural mechanisms of associative learning, the simple learning of relations between environmental stimuli and the outcomes they predict (Pavlovian learning), and between motor actions and the outcomes they produce (Instrumental learning). These simple learned associations guide our behavioral response to the environmental stimuli that continually surround us. Associative learning also provides a means whereby stimuli in the environment come to regulate our emotional responses and to strongly bias our decision-making. Thus Dr. Janak’s lab seeks to define the behavioral and neural mechanisms for the acquisition of reward-based associations. In addition, they are interested in the neural systems that control expression of stimulus-guided behavior after learning. Because associative learning mechanisms contribute to pathological behaviors such as drug and alcohol addiction and overeating, an additional focus of their work is translational. In these studies, they apply their findings on associative learning to understand better how drug- and alcohol-associated stimuli contribute to relapse. To realize their basic and translational goals, they use well-defined animal models of learning and addiction in concert with in vivo electrophysiological measurement and optogenetic manipulation of neuronal populations in specific brain regions and circuits. For more information go to https://neuroscience.nih.gov/neuroseries/home.aspx

NLM Title:	Neural circuits for reward learning / Patricia Janak.
Author:	Janak, Patricia. National Institutes of Health (U.S.),
Publisher:
Abstract:	(CIT): NIH Neuroscience Series Seminar Dr. Janak"s lab is interested in the behavioral and neural mechanisms of associative learning, the simple learning of relations between environmental stimuli and the outcomes they predict (Pavlovian learning), and between motor actions and the outcomes they produce (Instrumental learning). These simple learned associations guide our behavioral response to the environmental stimuli that continually surround us. Associative learning also provides a means whereby stimuli in the environment come to regulate our emotional responses and to strongly bias our decision-making. Thus Dr. Janak"s lab seeks to define the behavioral and neural mechanisms for the acquisition of reward-based associations. In addition, they are interested in the neural systems that control expression of stimulus-guided behavior after learning. Because associative learning mechanisms contribute to pathological behaviors such as drug and alcohol addiction and overeating, an additional focus of their work is translational. In these studies, they apply their findings on associative learning to understand better how drug- and alcohol-associated stimuli contribute to relapse. To realize their basic and translational goals, they use well-defined animal models of learning and addiction in concert with in vivo electrophysiological measurement and optogenetic manipulation of neuronal populations in specific brain regions and circuits.
Subjects:	Learning--physiology Nervous System Physiological Phenomena Reward
Publication Types:	Lecture Webcast

NLM Classification:	WL 337
NLM ID:	101705355
CIT Live ID:	23230
Permanent link:	https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=23230

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