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Alireza Kashef

Publications and source records attributed to Alireza Kashef.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Collaborative development of the Arrowsmith two node search interface designed for laboratory investigators.

Arrowsmith is a unique computer-assisted strategy designed to assist investigators in detecting biologically-relevant connections between two disparate sets of articles in Medline. This paper describes how an inter-institutional consortium of neuroscientists used the UIC Arrowsmith web interface http://arrowsmith.psych.uic.edu in their daily work and guided the development, refinement and expansion of the system into a suite of tools intended for use by the wider scientific community.

Journal Article↗

Effects of conditioning during amygdalar inactivation on training-induced neuronal plasticity in the medial geniculate nucleus and cingulate cortex in rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus).

This study addressed the amygdala's role in avoidance conditioning in rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Intra-amygdalar muscimol infusion before 60 or 120 conditioning trials blocked training-induced neuronal activity (TIA) in the medial geniculate (MG) nucleus. One hundred twenty trials with muscimol blocked TIA permanently, during conditioning with muscimol and then later without muscimol; 60 trials with muscimol blocked TIA only when muscimol was present. Cingulate cortical TIA was blocked only when muscimol was present. Behavioral learning did not occur with muscimol, but later learning was facilitated (i.e., savings occurred) in rabbits initially given muscimol plus training. These results define the time period wherein amygdalar processes initiate TIA in the MG nucleus and suggest that distinct forms of amygdalar processes induce TIA in the MG nucleus and cingulate cortex.

Action Potentials↗

Consideration of a unified model of amygdalar associative functions.

This paper considers issues arising from presentations by Barry Everitt and Gorica Petrovich concerning amygdalar involvement in appetitive conditioning. Studies reported by these researchers are beginning to unravel the distribution of associative functions among amygdalar nuclei and their efferent targets. The main issue addressed here concerns how to integrate the information from studies of appetitive conditioning with conclusions from studies of other forms of associative learning, including pavlovian fear conditioning and instrumental conditioning. Most students of this issue will agree that no prima facie integration is readily apparent in current scholarship. Although we do not here provide the definitive integration, we do attempt to take some preliminary, broad-brush steps towards that goal.

Amygdala↗