My research is utilizing a rodent model of autism to examine the neurobiology of the disorder. In addition to examining social interactions, and repetitive behavior, the lab will be examining changes in cognitive flexibility and multisensory processing. We are using the VPA (valproic acid) model of autism because it has both construct and face validity and provides a way to examine behavioral changes developmentally. Projects include looking at differences between control and VPA treated rats in cognitive attention tasks, eyeblink conditioning, and in processing auditory and visual cues. Additionally, we will use neurophysiology and histology to compare differences in brain areas between treated and untreated rats.
Keywords:
- Behavioral Neuroscience/Animal Learning
- Multisensory and Audiovisual Processing, Learning and Memory, Auditory Discrimination
