Neurobehavioral Approaches to the Study of Clinical Disorders


Mission Tempe Palms, Phoenix, AZ

March 12-14, 2008

Eighteen research scholars from the U.S. and Germany met to share the latest research on Neurobehavioral science. Conference organizer Joseph Steinmetz, of The University of Kansas, joined Mabel Rice, director of the Merrill Center, to conduct the opening session. Sixteen speakers shared their knowledge on related Neurobehavioral subjects such as eyeblink conditioning, pediatric neuroimaging techniques, the hippocampus and remote spatial memory, and many more.

This retreat was sponsored by the Merrill Advanced Studies Center and the University of Kansas College of Arts and Sciences.

Participants pictured below, standing, left to right: Fred Helmstetter, Patrick Skosnik, Thomas Gould, Kevin LaBar, Mark Stanton, Stephen Fowler, Gregory Madden, Derick Lindquist, Evelyn Haaheim, Paula Bickford, and Robert Clark. Seated: William Hetrick, Diana Woodruff-Pak, Dagmar Timmann-Braun, Joseph Steinmetz, Mabel Rice, Richard Schiefelbusch, Lisa Freund, and Antoine Bechara.  

Standing, left to right: Fred Helmstetter, Patrick Skosnik, Thomas Gould, Kevin LaBar, Mark Stanton, Stephen Fowler, Gregory Madden, Derick Lindquist, Evelyn Haaheim, Paula Bickford, and Robert Clark. Seated: William Hetrick, Diana Woodruff-Pak, Dagmar Timmann-Braun, Joseph Steinmetz, Mabel Rice, Richard Schiefelbusch, Lisa Freund, and Antoine Bechara.

2008 Conference Participants 

Duke University  

  • Kevin S. LaBar, Associate Professor, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience  

Indiana University  

  • William Hetrick, Associate Professor, Psychological and Brain Sciences  
  • Patrick D. Skosnik, Department of Psychological and Brain Science  

NIH/NICHD  

  • Lisa Freund, Program Director, Child Development & Behavior Branch  

Temple University  

  • Diana Woodruff-Pak, Professor of Psychology; Director, Neuroscience  
  • Thomas J. Gould, Associate Professor, Psychology  

University of California, San Diego  

  • Robert E. Clark, Associate Director of Psychiatry, San Diego School of Medicine  

University of Delaware  

  • Mark E. Stanton, Professor, Department of Psychology  

University of Duisburg-Essen  

  • Dagmar Timmann-Braun, Associate Professor, Department of Neurology  

University of Kansas  

  • Stephen C. Fowler, Professor of Pharmacology/LSI Senior Scientist, Pharmacology & Toxicology  
  • Derick Lindquist, Research Associate, Div. of Biological Sciences  
  • Gregory J. Madden, Associate Professor, Applied Behavioral Science  
  • Mabel L. Rice, University Distinguished Professor; Director, Merrill Advanced Studies Center  
  • Richard Schiefelbusch, Professor Emeritus, Director Emeritus, Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies 
  • Joseph Steinmetz, Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Science  

University of South Florida  

  • Paula C. Bickford, Professor, USF Health  

University of Southern California  

  • Antoine Bechara, Professor  

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee  

  • Fred J. Helmstetter, Professor, Department of Psychology  

 


Conference Agenda

Mission Tempe Palms, Phoenix, AZ

March 12-14, 2008

Wednesday, March 12

  • Merrill Board Meeting 
  • Reception
  • Dinner
  • Welcome and remarks – Mabel Rice, Director, Merrill Center; Joseph Steinmetz, University of Kansas, Conference Organizer
  • Social Hour

Thursday, March 13

  • Opening Remarks – Joe Steinmetz

Session

  • Antoine Bechara, University of Southern California, “Decision Neuroscience: Early onset (childhood) versus adult onset brain damage, and predisposition to substance abuse”
  • Gregory Madden, University of Kansas, “Delay discounting, pramipexole, and gambling-related behavior”

Break

Session

  • William Hetrick, Indiana University, “Studies of temporal architecture dysfunction in schizophrenia”
  • Patrick Skosnik, Indiana University, “Differential impairment in delay versus trace eyeblink conditioning in chronic cannabis users”
  • Joseph Steinmetz, University of Kansas, “Exploring cerebellar involvement in temporal response control”

Lunch

Session

  • Dagmar Timmann-Braun, University of Essen, “Eyeblink conditioning in human subjects with cerebellar disorders”
  • Diana Woodruff-Pak, Temple University, “Animal models for the understanding and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease”
  • Robert Clark, University of California, San Diego, “The hippocampus and remote spatial memory”

Break

Session

  • Paula Bickford, University of South Florida, “Norepinephrine in classical conditioning: role in consolidation”
  • Thomas Gould, Temple University, “Nicotine addiction and learning: Involvement of contextual associations and the hippocampus”
  • Steven Fowler, University of Kansas, “Influence of amphetamine on use of space by rats performing an un-cued temporal discrimination: Implications for laboratory models of brain disorders”

Dinner

Friday, March 14

Group Photo Session

Session

  • Lisa Freund, NICHD, “Pediatric neuroimaging techniques, tools, and resources”
  • Mark Stanton, University of Delaware, “Applications of eyeblink conditioning to neurodevelopmental disorders”
  • Derick Lindquist, University of Kansas, “The effects of neonatal ethanol exposure on the developing cerebellum: Functional consequences in the adult rat”

Break

Session

  • Fred Helmstetter, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, “Neural systems for fear and fear extinction”
  • Kevin LaBar, Duke University, “Context-dependent recovery of fear memories”
  • Summary Remarks – Mabel Rice