Colloquia Archive
Modulatory and Memory Functions of the Hippocampus: Linking Memory, Stress, Mood and Neurogenesis
October 24, 2007
Host: Karl F. MacDorman
AbstractThe hippocampus is crucial to episodic memory formation and setting the context for ongoing behavior. Its unique characteristics make it suited to both rapid encoding and long-term retention. In addition, the hippocampus may modulate brain structures subserving a range of behavioral and mood states.
Because of its high density of corticosteroid receptors, the hippocampus is particularly vulnerable to the deleterious effects of chronic stress and is therefore implicated in several psychiatric disorders. My computational theory of hippocampal function (Becker, 2005) explains the pivotal role of the hippocampus in adapting to novel contexts by employing a high degree of plasticity, sparse coding, and neurogenesis. It also sheds light on the nature of some of the cognitive deficits observed in people with severe mood disorders and schizophrenia.
Recently, we have begun to explore the interactions between the hippocampus and other brain regions to understand why hippocampal neurogenesis might be implicated in the pathogenesis of depression and recovery from it (Becker and Wojtowicz, Jan. 2007, TiCS). Ongoing experimental work in rats (with Martin Wojtowicz, University of Toronto), healthy undergradutes, and individuals with mood disorders (with Glenda MacQueen, McMaster University) is being employed to test predictions of the model regarding hippocampal coding and neurogenesis in stress and depression.
BiographySuzanna Becker is a professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University.
Prof. Becker will also give a talk entitled Hippocampal Coding of Space and Time on Monday, October 22, 2007 at 4 pm in Room 101 of the Psychology Building, Indiana University, 1101 East 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405.
