QBI Neuroscience Seminar: Slow down, Old-Timer! – How ageing is making us rush

Event Details

Date:

Wednesday, 09 November 2016

Time:

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Room:

QBI Level 7 Auditorium

UQ Location:

Queensland Brain Institute (St Lucia)

URL:

http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au/neuroscience-seminars

Event category(s):

Full Description:: Dr J. Bertran-Gonzalez
DECRA Research Fellow, School of Psychology, University of New South Wales

Title: Slow down, Old-Timer! – How ageing is making us rush

Abstract: In a similar way to space, estimates of time are a fundamental component of goal-directed learning, and adjustments of the “time of action” play a crucial role in the proper formation and automatization of action sequences. Combining a series of behavioural designs with extensive neuronal imaging and circuit-specific manipulations in mice, we found that aged mice produced aberrantly structured and much faster sequences of action than young mice, which correlated with functional decline of posterolateral cortico-striatal circuits. Importantly, pharmacogenetic manipulation of this circuitry reproduced some of these features, and application of instructive cues transitorily restored both the latency and structure of action in aged mice. Altogether, our findings may help explain why acquiring new skills can be so problematic in the elderly, and may provide strategies to bypass this deficit.