Dear Users Today (4-5 pm in YNiC) there will be a talk by Prof. Peter Redgrave from the University of Sheffield. http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/psychology/staff/academic/peter-redgrave The title of Prof. Redgrave's talk is "Goal-directed and habitual control in the basal ganglia: implications for Parkinson's disease". Please see below for the talk abstract. Everyone is welcome to attend and refreshments will be provided after the talk. Best wishes Rebecca Abstract: Progressive loss of the ascending dopaminergic projection in the basal ganglia is a fundamental pathological feature of Parkinson’s disease. Studies in animals and humans have identified spatially segregated functional territories in the basal ganglia for the control of goal-directed and habitual actions. In patients with Parkinson’s disease the loss of dopamine is predominantly in the posterior putamen, a region of the basal ganglia associated with the control of habitual behaviour. These patients may therefore be forced into a progressive reliance on the goal-directed mode of action control that is mediated by comparatively preserved processing in rostro-medial striatum. Thus, in addition of the loss of habits, the behavioural difficulties of Parkinson patients may also be subject to distorting output signals from habitual control circuits which impede the expression of goal-directed action. -- ************************************************************************ Dr. Rebecca E. Millman Science Liaison Officer York Neuroimaging Centre The Biocentre York Science Park Heslington YO10 5DG Tel: +44 (0) 1904 567614 Fax: +44 (0) 1904 435356