BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk// X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Measuring rodent affect: Rethinking taste aversion and (some) mode ls of psychiatric disorder."\; - Dominic M. Dwyer – Cardiff Universi ty DTSTART:20160513T153000Z DTEND:20160513T170000Z UID:TALK65448@talks.cam.ac.uk CONTACT:Louise White DESCRIPTION:Although assessing hedonic responses in nonverbal animals can be difficult\, one relatively tractable approach comes from detailed analy ses of rodents’ consummatory behaviour – either through licking micros tructure or "taste" reactivity testing methods. My first example of apply ing these techniques comes from the study of taste aversion learning. Thi s is most typically characterised as a "special" and highly selective evol ved mechanism for poison avoidance. However\, evidence for disgust reacti ons elicited by non-taste contextual stimuli\, and the blocking of taste-n ausea learning by contextual cues\, directly questions this view. Moreove r\, further evidence for the unique features of conditioned disgust might explain the persistence of the received wisdom on taste aversion learning. My second example comes from the study of rodent models of human psychia tric disorders. Here\, the evidence questions the completeness of some pu tative psychosis models\, as well as providing new avenues for exploring a spects of affective disturbance linked to dementia. In short\, hedonic re sponses are critical in many aspects of behaviour\, and assessing them can provide information about the general affective state of animals and the particular learning processes they exhibit. \n\nSince completing my PhD s tudies in Cambridge in 1999\, and moving to Cardiff University in 2002\, o ne major strand of my research involves the assessment of hedonic response s in rodents. Animal models are of critical importance in investigating th e underlying biological contributions to many human disorders such as deme ntia\, depression or schizophrenia. To fully understand these animal model s we require ways to assess how animals feel\, as well as how they think. As it happens\, a detailed examination of the way in which rodents drink i s particularly informative with respect to how much they like what they ar e drinking. My lab currently applies these techniques to investigate how a nimals learn to like and dislike particular foods and also how such hedoni c processes are disrupted (or not) in animal models of human disorders\, i n particular dementia and schizophrenia.\n LOCATION:Ground Floor Lecture Theatre\, Department of Psychology END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR