Pracownia Obronnych Odruchów Warunkowych
Kierownik
Tomasz WERKA
Zespół
Janusz BŁASZCZYK, Ewelina KNAPSKA, Marta MIKOSZ, Joanna SADOWSKA
Profil badań
Strategies of learning, behavioral mechanisms of defensive and alimentary conditioning, processes of spatial, recognition and emotional memory, as well as their neural substrates are investigated. Moreover, the role of phylogenetic and ontogenetic factors in the emotional behavior is examined. The advanced behavioral studies are combined with the molecular, pharmacological, neuroanatomical and lesion techniques.
Aktualna działalność badawcza
- neuronal and molecular processes that are implicated in the defensive behavior;
- the cognitive and emotional mechanisms of Pavlovian and instrumental defensive and alimentary conditioning;
- interactions between the emotional states and learning abilities, between the states of anxiety and safety, between passive and active coping strategies and their endocrine correlates;
- functions of the limbic structures with special emphasis on the functional organization of the amygdaloid complex;
- the neurophysiology of cognition in spatial and recognition memory;
- neural basis of auditory recognition memory and auditory processing;
- a significance of the phylogenetic, ontogenetic, and developmental factors on the cognitive and emotional behavior;
- comparative behavioral studies on representatives of different animal species.
Wybrane publikacje
Juszczak G., R., Błaszczyk J., Sadowski B., Śliwa A, Wolak P., Tymosiak-Zielińska A., Lisowski P., Świergiel A., H. (2008). Lipopolysaccharide does not affect accoustic startle reflex in mice. Brain Behav. Immun. 22: 74-79.
Steele-Russell I., Russell M., I., Castiglioni J., A., Setlow B., Werka T. (2008). The role of sensory pathways in Pavlovian conditioning in rabbit. Exp. Brain Res. 185:199-213.
Knapska E., Radwańska K., Werka T., Kaczmarek L. (2007) Functional internal complexity of amygdala: Focus on gene activity mapping after behavioral training and drugs of abuse. Physiol. Rev. 87: 1113-1173.
Knapska E., Walasek G., Nikolaev E., Neuhäusser-Wespy F., Lipp H-P., Kaczmarek L., Werka T. (2006) Differential involvement of the central amygdala in appetitive versus aversive learning. Learning & Mem. 13: 192-200.
Knapska E., Nikolaev E., Boguszewski P., Walasek G., Błaszczyk J., Karczmarek L., Werka T. (2006) Between-subject transfer of emotional information evokes specific pattern of amygdala activation. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci.USA 103: 3858-3862.
