UNIVERSITY OF WINNIPEG

PSYCHOLOGY &NEUROSCIENCE TALK

THURSDAY 18 JUNE 2015

1:30-3:00

4TH FLOOR LOCKHART (4L28)

TRAVIS TODD

DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL AND BRAIN SCIENCE

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE

TOPIC: BEHAVIOURAL AND NEUROBIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS OF EXTINCTION IN PAVLOVIAN AND INSTRUMENTAL LEARNING

Abstract: Pavlovian and instrumental learning are two fundamental forms of learning that contribute to behavior in a variety of ways, in

both human and non-human animals. In Pavlovian extinction, repeated presentation of a signal without its reinforcer weakens behavior

evoked by the signal; in instrumental extinction, repeated occurrence of a voluntary action without its reinforcer weakens the strength of the

actions. In both cases, contemporary research at both the behavioural and neural levels of analysis has been guided by a set of extinction

principles that were first generated by research conducted at the behavioral level. Both Pavlovian and instrumental extinction are at

least partly controlled by a form of context-specific inhibitory learning, and both involve a neural circuit including the hippocampus and the

medial prefrontal cortex.

Dr. Travis Todd graduated from the University of Winnipeg where he worked in the Doug Williams lab. He subsequently completed a PhD with Mark Bouton at the University of

Vermont. Travis won a National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Mental Health and is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the David Bucci lab at Dartmouth College. Read

more at: http://pbs.dartmouth.edu/travis-todd-postdoctoral-fellowship-award

/sent on behalf of

Jim Clark

Professor & Chair of Psychology

University of Winnipeg

204-786-9757

Room 4L41 (4th Floor Lockhart)

www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark

Kelly Jorundson Winnipeg Chapter Society for Neuroscience R4046 - 351 Tache Avenue Winnipeg, MB R2H 2A6

Tel: 204.235.3939 Fax: 204.237.4092 Email: kjorund@sbrc.ca OR kjorund@yahoo.ca

Website: www.sfn-manitoba.ca