“Self-construal” refers to how individuals view and make meaning of the self, and at least two subtypes have been identified. Interdependent self-construal is a view of the self that includes relationships with others, and independent self-construal is a view of the self that does not include relations with others. It has been suggested that priming these two types of self-construal affects the cognitive processing style that an individual adopts, especially with regard to context sensitivity. Specifically, an interdependent self-construal is thought to promote attention to others and social context to a greater degree than an independent self-construal. To investigate this assertion, we elicited motor-evoked potentials with transcranial magnetic stimulation during an action observation task in which human participants were presented with either interdependent or independent self-construal prime words. Priming interdependent self-construal increased motor cortical output whereas priming independent self-co...

The development of animal models with construct, face, and predictive validity to accurately model human depression has been a major challenge. One proposed rodent model is the 5 d repeated forced swim stress (5d-RFSS) paradigm, which progressively increases floating during individual swim sessions. The onset and persistence of this floating behavior has been anthropomorphically characterized as a measure of depression. This interpretation has been under debate because a progressive increase in floating over time may reflect an adaptive learned behavioral response promoting survival, and not depression ([Molendijk and de Kloet, 2015][1]). To assess construct and face validity, we applied 5d-RFSS to C57BL/6J and BALB/cJ mice, two mouse strains commonly used in neuropsychiatric research, and measured a combination of emotional, homeostatic, and psychomotor symptoms indicative of a depressive-like state. We also compared the efficacy of 5d-RFSS and chronic social defeat stress (CSDS), a validated depression m...

The prefrontal cortex is made up of neocortical areas thought to mediate aspects of the temporal and spatial organization of behavior. One of the prime output targets of the prefrontal cortex is the striatum, which is thought to operate in series with the prefrontal cortex in some neural computations. We have analyzed this prefronto- striatal projection in cynomolgus monkeys by combining anterograde neuronal tract tracing methods with neurochemical markers for the striosome and matrix compartments of the striatum. Our results single out two parts of the frontal cortex as projecting densely to the striosome compartment of the striatum: the posterior orbitofrontal/anterior insular cortex and the mediofrontal prelimbic/anterior cingulate cortex. These areas jointly innervated striosomes in the anterior and ventromedial striatum, mainly in the caudate nucleus. Striosomes in the dorsolateral striatum were never labeled. Thus, the anatomical subsystem defined by striosome affiliation includes three cortical and ...

Early life represents a time of significant change and growth in many neurological processes; therefore, environmental stressors during this critical period may result in lasting perturbations in neurological function. We coupled two environmental chall...

The activity of ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neurons is a balance of excitatory and inhibitory inputs that is disrupted with repeated drug use, causing a shift to increased glutamate activation of these cells. Dopamine neurons receive inputs fr...

Prior studies have shown that neurons within the spinal cord can support instrumental learning (Grau et al., 1998, Behav. Neurosci., 112, 1366). In a typical experiment, rats undergo a thoracic (T2) transection and are subsequently tested for 30 min by ...

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common form of epilepsy in adults and is associated with high rates of comorbidities including cognitive, behavioral, and affective disruptions. These comorbidities are not only detrimental to quality of life but...

Dendritic spines have received a lot of attention in the context of understanding the structure and plasticity of neuronal processing, while spines on axons are relatively rarely studied even though they are not uncommon (see for example Amaral 1978; Wi...

Signals for reward value are distributed widely throughout the brain and are thought to be important for evaluating sensory stimuli when faced with behavioral choices. One mechanism for normalizing the value of sensory information is divisive normalizat...

Our prior work demonstrates that adult prenatal alcohol exposed (PAE) male rats with minimal nerve injury develop allodynia (pathological light touch sensitivity) in concert with aberrant peripheral and spinal glial and immune activation. Nerve-injured ...