The Extinction Of Conditioned Fear And Its Implications For Cue Exposure Therapy
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$322,430.00
Summary
This project studies extinction of Pavlovian conditioned fear reactions in rats. Extinction of these reactions is an animal model for exposure therapy used in the treatment of anxiety disorders in people. In exposure therapy, the patient, aided by the clinician, confronts trauma-related cues in the absence of any overt danger. The intention of this therapy is to reduce the ability of the trauma-related cues to provoke the fear reactions that are undermining the patient's quality of life. In Pavl ....This project studies extinction of Pavlovian conditioned fear reactions in rats. Extinction of these reactions is an animal model for exposure therapy used in the treatment of anxiety disorders in people. In exposure therapy, the patient, aided by the clinician, confronts trauma-related cues in the absence of any overt danger. The intention of this therapy is to reduce the ability of the trauma-related cues to provoke the fear reactions that are undermining the patient's quality of life. In Pavlovian conditioning, subjects (typically rats) are exposed to a signaling relation between an initially neutral stimulus (e.g., a noise) and a feared outcome (e.g., foot shock). When later repeatedly exposed to the initially neutral but now feared stimulus (the noise) in the absence of the feared outcome, the fear reactions it acquired progressively decline until eventually it fails to elicit any such reactions. The fear reactions are said to have been extinguished. There has been significant progress in understanding the psychological processes and neural mechanisms underlying the acquisition of fear reactions, but much less is known about the processes and mechanisms underlying the extinction of these reactions. The project has two general objectives. The first is to determine the conditions of extinction training that promote long-term loss of fear reactions. The second objective is to determine how the brain controls this extinction of learned fear. Achieving these aims will be significant for two reasons. First, it will contribute to understanding the mechanisms by which animals (including people) learn to adjust their behaviour to bring it into line with the current relations that exist between events in the world. Second, it will provide important information about how such adjustment is facilitated or impaired across extinction training and, thereby, contribute towards understanding both the successes and failures of cue exposure therapy for fear-related disorders.Read moreRead less
Novel Assessment And Intervention For Dementia: An Inter-disciplinary Translational Approach
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$720,021.00
Summary
This program of research focuses on i) a highly novel internationally competitive program of work focusing on the neural network correlates of sleep in dementia, sleep as a risk factor and the efficacy of sleep-wake interventions in reducing cognitive decline; ii) Innovative technologies for widespread screening of preclinical dementia and early intervention and iii) clinical trials focused on the testing of a of novel, highly translatable dementia risk reduction interventions.
Unravelling A New Fatty Acid Pathway Involved In Neuroexocytosis And Memory
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$539,631.00
Summary
This proposal build on the establishment by our laboratory of the assay capable of detecting free fatty acids, with great accuracy and sensitivity. Using this assay we have uncovered a completely new pathway highlighting the production of saturated free fatty acids linked to learning and memory. We will fully define how this pathway is regulated in the brain.
Estimating And Alleviating The Impacts Of Age-Related Sensory Decline
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$323,767.00
Summary
Sensory loss and dementia disproportionately affect older adults, often co-occur, and are the two leading contributors to disability burden among older Australians. This research will investigate the consequences that hearing and vision loss have for older adult health and wellbeing, informing strategies to reduce the disability burden of age-related sensory loss. These impacts include cognitive decline and dementia, mental health, quality of life, disability and independent living.
Cross-comparison, Validation And Performance Of Computerised Neuropsychological Assessment Devices In The Evaluation Of Mild Cognitive Impairment And Dementia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$700,482.00
Summary
With an ageing population and associated increase in dementia there will be increased demand for neuropsychological assessment, with insufficient trained personnel and resources to meet this demand. Computerised tests offer excellent opportunities for large scale implementation of cognitive screening and monitoring of older adults. This is the first study to systematically evaluate and compare several popular computerised neuropsychological assessment devices in elders with and without dementia.
Cognitive Enhancement In Schizophrenia Via Selective Oestrogen Receptor Modulator.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$396,380.00
Summary
Cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia is resistant to treatment and related to poor community functioning and quality of life. In spite of the widely appreciated magnitude of the problem, there is still a critical gap in our knowledge concerning treatments to reverse these cognitive deficits. The proposed research is significant because it will clarify the role of hormones and genes in relation to cognitive deficits in schizophrenia and it may help patients improve their level of functioning.
Predicting Language Skills From Early Auditory Speech Discrimination In Infants With Hearing Loss: Implications For Early Management And Intervention
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$706,113.00
Summary
Now that newborn hearing checks are available, hearing loss can be picked up soon after birth and hearing aids are fitted shortly after. Although procedures exist for checking that the devices make sounds audible, there is no way to evaluate their effectiveness for supporting a child’s auditory discrimination. This study aims to 1) develop new clinical tools for assessing infants’ auditory discrimination, and 2) determine whether early discrimination predicts spoken language at 3 years of age.
Moving Behavioural Neuroscience & Neuroeconomics Into Dementia Prevention: Spatial Tracking And Economic Decision-making As New Sensitive Measures Of Daily Function
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$595,588.00
Summary
This project will aim to develop new measures for clinical trials by learning the relationship between older people's movements around the house, ability to make decisions about their health and finance and their cognitive performance. These instruments may aid future trials of drugs and other interventions for preventing dementia by indicating how basic behavioural patterns respond to interventions.
Early Indicators Of Noise Injury: Are Decreased Auditory Processing Skills Evident In Noise-exposed Adults Prior To Diagnosis Of Hearing Loss?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$367,605.00
Summary
Recent research indicates that noise-exposed individuals with similar hearing thresholds to non-noise exposed counterparts are more likely to have diminished temporal and spectral auditory processing abilities. This research aims to determine the relationship between noise exposure levels and auditory processing difficulties; the influence of musical training in ameliorating these difficulties; and a neurological model of causation, operation and possible remediation of these difficulties.
RISK AND PROTECTION FACTORS FOR NORMAL AND ABNORMAL BRAIN AGEING: A LONGITUDINAL EPIDEMIOLOGICAL MRI STUDY
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$153,020.00
Summary
Brain is considered the last frontier of medicine, and ageing the major challenge to health care in the 21st century. In this proposal, we bring these two challenges together in a major new longitudinal study of ageing in Canberra that has recently been initiated. This is a longitudinal study of a random community sample covering 3 age groups - 20-24 years, 40-44 years and 60-64 years, with at least 2000 participants in each age group - who are being assessed in 1999-2001, and will be followed u ....Brain is considered the last frontier of medicine, and ageing the major challenge to health care in the 21st century. In this proposal, we bring these two challenges together in a major new longitudinal study of ageing in Canberra that has recently been initiated. This is a longitudinal study of a random community sample covering 3 age groups - 20-24 years, 40-44 years and 60-64 years, with at least 2000 participants in each age group - who are being assessed in 1999-2001, and will be followed up at 4-yearly intervals for 20 years. The focus of the study is on neuropsychiatric disorders (anxiety, depression, substance use and cognitive disorders). In this application, we propose to perform MRI scans and blood tests on a quarter (n-500) of the 60-64 sample to obtain an epidemiological sample for brain morphology. Not only will we be able to study changes in brain morphology over time, and relate it with cognitive function and psychiatric disorder, we will also be able to assess the role of risk and protection factors. We are particularly interested in brain reserve, dietary factors (anti-oxidants, omega 3, wine and folate) and drugs (anti-inflammatory drugs, hormone replacement and vitamin supplements) as protection factors, and hypertension, homocysteine levels, white matter lesions on MRI and low hippocampal volumes as risk factors for cognitive impairment and dementia. We also want to study the brain morphological correlates of Depression in a community sample. The study will enhance our understanding of the ageing brain, both in health and disease, and identify factors that increase or decrease the risk of cognitive impairment and psychiatric disorder in old age.Read moreRead less