My research employs novel behavioral techniques, neuroscience, and pharmacology to examine the behavioral and neural substrates of learning and memory.
The task I have developed, called the Sand Maze, allows for an ethologically relevant interpretation of learning and memory in the rodent because it taps into the natural foraging behavior of rats. At the same time, it serves as an appetitive alternative to the industry-standard spatial task, called the Morris Water Maze. The Sand Maze taps spatial learning and memory, as the Water Maze does, but greatly reduces the aversive side effects of the Water Maze.
For more details about my research, see below:
Some additional details about specific research interests: