QBI Neuroscience Seminar: Measurements of dopamine and serotonin release with sub-second temporal resolution in humans: Implications for understanding mechanisms underlying human decision-making, cognition, and mental illness

Event Details

Date:

Wednesday, 24 February 2016 - Wednesday, 24 February 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 Kenneth T Kishida, Human Neuroimaging Laboratory & Computational Psychiatry Unit, Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, Roanoke, VA24016, USA

Title: Measurements of dopamine and serotonin release with sub-second temporal resolution in humans: Implications for understanding mechanisms underlying human decision-making, cognition, and mental illness

Abstract:

Dopamine and serotonin are critical neuromodulators whose actions underlie learning, decision-making, and behavioral control. Degeneration of dopamine neurons underlies the progression of Parkinson’s disease; and disruptions in serotonin and dopamine signaling are believed to underlie many psychiatric conditions. We have recently published the world’s first sub-second measurements of dopamine release in humans. These measurements were made while participants (patients undergoing deep-brain stimulation implantation surgery for Parkinson’s disease) played a monetarily incentivized decision-making game. I will discuss our group’s recent technological achievements, which now (1) extend this technology to simultaneously measure dopamine and serotonin during active decision-making and (2) begin to provide real-time data about the roles these signals play during adaptive behavior in humans.