Enhancing the resolution of behavioral measures: Key observations during a forty year career in behavioral neuroscience

Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2023 Feb:145:105004. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.105004. Epub 2022 Dec 20.

Abstract

This manuscript reviews several key observations from the research program of Professor John P. Bruno that are believed to have significantly advanced our understanding of the brain's mediation of behavior. This review focuses on findings within several important research areas in behavioral neuroscience, including a) age-dependent neurobehavioral plasticity following brain damage; b) the role of the cortical cholinergic system in attentional processing and cognitive flexibility; and c) the design and validation of animal models of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. In selecting these observations, emphasis was given to examples in which the heuristic potency was increased by maximizing the resolution and microanalysis of behavioral assays in the same fashion as one typically refines neuronal manipulations. Professor Bruno served the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society (IBNS) as an IBNS Fellow (1995-present) and President of the IBNS (2001-02).

Keywords: Attention; Cholinergic transmission; Cognitive control; Development; Plasticity; Prefrontal cortex; Schizophrenia; Ventral hippocampus.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cognition Disorders*
  • Prefrontal Cortex
  • Schizophrenia*