Early adversity, stress response, hippocampal development and risks of psychiatric and neurological diseases

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• Dr Veronique Bohbot - Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Quebec, Canada
• Monday 07 September 2015, 13:00-14:00
• Kenneth Craik Room, Craik Marshall Building, Downing Site, Cambridge.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Lorraine Coulson.

Abstract: A larger hippocampus has been associated with healthy cognition in normal aging and with a reduced risk of numerous neurological and psychiatric disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, Schizophrenia, Post-Traumatic Stress disorder and Depression.

The hippocampus is implicated in only one of two navigation strategies utilized when finding one’s way in the environment. The spatial strategy involves remembering the relationship between environmental landmarks to form a cognitive map, whereas the response strategy relies on making a series of stimulus-response associations (e.g. right and left turns) from a given position. Participants who spontaneously use the spatial strategy show increased fMRI activity and grey matter in the hippocampus relative to those spontaneously using the response strategy. Response learners, on the other hand, show increases in activity and grey matter in the caudate nucleus as well as atrophy in the hippocampus relative to spatial learners. Recent results from our laboratory show that spatial and response learners differ in terms of cortisol levels in adulthood, childhood and infancy. They differ in terms of their cortisol response to a psychological and physical stressor and their brains develop in different ways throughout childhood. Factors modulating spatial and response strategies include genes, prenatal stress, reward, and experience.

This talk is part of the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Seminars series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• BCNI seminars
• Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Seminars
• Cambridge talks
• Department of Psychiatry talks stream
• Kenneth Craik Room, Craik Marshall Building, Downing Site, Cambridge
• Psychology talks and events
• Yishu's list

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