Project 460575

Deficits in cognition such as attention and response suppression are a characteristic feature of many neurological and psychiatric disorders. These cognitive deficits can easily be tested with simple eye movement tasks. For example, we have long known that people who suffer from schizophrenia show telltale eye movements under certain conditions. Told to look away from a flash of light, they are unable to resist the automatic urge to glance at the stimulus. Although these functions have been localized to areas in the frontal and parietal cerebral cortex, the behavioural and functional roles of the cortical layers and cell types in these areas are unknown. In this research project, we will train marmoset monkeys to perform these simple, yet powerful eye movement tasks and record and characterize the activity of brain cells in the different cortical layers and test how their activity changes if the activity in other layers is suppressed or modulated by dopaminergic drugs. Identifying the contributions of specific cortical layers to normal circuit function will lead to better understanding and treatment of pathological conditions.