报告人：Dr. CHEN Xiaoke,Department of Biology, Stanford University

主持人：王晓群研究员

时  间：2019.03.27 星期三上午10:00

地  点：生物物理所9408会议室

摘  要：Contemporary learning theorist hypothesized that both prediction error (PE) and stimulus salience are important for associative learning. The role of PE in learning has been well documented thanks to the identification of PE coding in dopamine neurons. However, the contribution of stimulus salience to learning has not been directly tested. In this talk, I will present new data to support a critical role of neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) in gating the associative learning by providing a dynamic representation of stimulus salience. Furthermore, I will discuss how PVT can orchestrate the formation and maintenance of drug-associate memory via its connection to different downstream targets.

1. Zhu YJ, Nachtrab G, Keyes PC, Allen WE, Luo LQ, Chen XK. (2018) Dynamic salience processing in paraventricular thalamus gated associative learning. Science; 362(6413): 423-92.

2.  Zhu YJ, Wienecke CFR, Nachtrab G, Chen XK. (2016) A thalamic input to the nucleus accumbens mediates opiate dependence. Nature; 530(7589):219-22.