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Kin Ho Chan. (kinho@email.com)
Education:
Purdue University, W Lafayette, IN
Doctor of Philosophy, 1996-present
Neuroscience: Behavioral and Neural Plasticity
Houghton College, Houghton, NY
Bachelor of Arts, 1992-1995
Major in Psychology with minors in Mathematics, Philosophy, and Computer
Science
Summa Cum Laude
Research Interests
As a behavioral neuroscientist, I am interested in trying
to understand the operations and functions of specific neural structures
and/or circuits in the brain. In pursuit of this goal, a heavy emphasis
has to be placed on the careful analysis of structural differentiation
within the nervous system. This emphasis on structural specificity has
greatly enhanced our ability to ask and answer questions about how the
nervous system operates. On the other hand, neuroscientists also have
to emphasize the development of conceptual specificity and avoid the tendency
to categorize and rename sets of lesion-induced behavioral deficits without
a careful conceptual analysis of the nature of the deficits.
My primary area of interest is in the role of the hippocampus
in learning and memory. Two problems that have long confronted researchers
in this area are 1) how to produce selective and complete lesions of the
hippcampus; and 2) how to best conceptualize the learning and memory processes
that may rely on the hippocampus. One of my research goals is to integrate
the most advanced neuroscience techniques (e.g., selective neurotoxin
lesions of specific brain structures) and the sophisticated conceptual
framework provided by the animal
learning literature to investigate the neural bases of learning and memory.
My current research attempts to re-reviewuate and extend the data and
theory about the role of the hippocampus in learning and memory processes
in light of the new ideas about how inhibitory learning occurs and what
inhibitory learning entails.
Publications:
- Benoit, S. C., Davidson, T. L., Chan, K-H., Jarrard, L. E., &
Trigilio, T. (1999). Pavlovian conditioning and extinction of context
cues and punctate CSs in rats with ibotenate lesions of the hippocampus.
Psychobiology, 27, 26-39.
- Chan, K-H., Morell, J. R., Jarrard, L. E., & Davidson, T. L. (In
Press). Reconsideration of the role of the hippocampus in learned inhibition.
Behavior Brain Research.
- Chan, K-H., & Sahley, C. (In Press). Learning in Molluscs. Encyclopedia
of Life Sciences. London: MacMillan Press.
- Chan, K-H., Morell, J. R., Jarrard, L, E., & Davidson, T. L. (pending
review). Selective lesions of the hippocampus influences learning about
context cues during simple appetitive Pavlovian conditioning.
- Morell, J. R., Chan, K-H., Davidson, T. L., & Jarrard, L. E. (1998).
Selective hippocampal lesions enhance appetitive Pavlovian second-order
conditioned responding. Society for Neuroscience Abstract.
- Morell, J. R., Chan, K-H., Davidson, T. L., & Jarrard, L. E. (1999).
Rats with selective hippocampal lesion show impaired inhibitory learning
to contextual stimuli: evidence for impaired simple classical conditioning.
Society for Neuroscience Abstract.
- Morell, J. R., Chan, K-H., Davidson, T. L., & Jarrard, L. E. (2000).
The effect of ibotenate lesions of the hippocampus on serial feature
negative and conditioned inhibition discriminations. Society for
Neuroscience Abstract
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