PSYC 317 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Photoinhibition, Subset, Ventromedial Nucleus Of The Hypothalamus
11 May 2016
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Document Summary
To determine cause and effect (at least, in rodents): We often want to manipulate neural activity in specific pathways, in specific cells, at specific moments in time in order to study the functional relevance of that activity for physiology and behaviour. Electrical stimulation: involves passing an electrical current through a wire inserted into the brain. This will excite everything in the area (cell bodies and fibres of passage) Chemical stimulation: involves injecting a small amount of a drug (such as an excitatory amino acid) through a guide cannula into the brain. Dopamine (neuromodulator) is primary manufactured by neurons in the midbrain (dopaminergic neurons). Reinforcement signal: when we record the electrical activity of dopamine neurons, we see that they fire any time an animal gets an unexpected reward. Anytime the animal thinks the current moment was unexpectedly better or worse than the previous moment. Constant signal to tell if they are on the right or wrong track.
