My research interests are in the neurobiology of learning and memory. I am interested in both the neural and the psychological mechanisms underlying learned behaviors. My work uses rodent models, combined with Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning and behavioral neuroscience manipulations.

Most recently, my lab has been collaborating with Professor Mark Bouton's lab to examine the neural substrates of context-dependent and goal-directed instrumental behavior.  Our work has been particularly focused on the medial prefrontal cortex, including prelimbic cortex and infralimbic cortex.  We have shown that the prelimbic cortex is especially important in the context in which something was learned.  That context can be the physical setting or one behavior setting the stage for another.  The prelimbic cortex is also important during the early stages of goal-directed behavior.  In contrast, the infralimbic cortex is important in the transition between goal-directed behavior and habitual behavior.

For many years, my lab has used eyeblink classical conditioning as a model system for examining learning and the functions of the cerebellum in both the intact brain and in rat models of human clinical conditions. The basic eyeblink conditioning procedure is well-understood at both the behavioral and the neural levels and provides an excellent laboratory model of associative learning.  Eyeblink conditioning lends itself to the experimental study of learning and brain-behavior relationships because the learned response, an eye blink to a previously neutral stimulus, is easily measureable and quantifiable.