Neuroprotection against methylmercury exposure.

	Effects of low-level, adult-onset methylmercury exposure on measures of motor function and learning.
	Neuroprotection by calcium channel blockers against methylmercury exposure and against aging.
	Collaborator: Dr. William Atchison of Michigan State University.

Genetic influences over behavior

Mouse strain differences in performance of selected operant procedures.

Methods Development.

	Development of procedures designed to mimic selected functions examined in human neuropsychological testing. Intra-dimensional/extra-dimensional shift. Incremental repeated acquisition of behavioral chains. Reinforcement efficacy and motivation. Motor competence.
	High-rate behavior as an indicator of motor function. Differential reinforcement of high-rate behavior (DRH) schedules to generate high-rate behavior and functional units of bursts of short interresponse times. Percentile schedules in which each interresponse time is compared with a sample of recent interresponse times and targeted for reinforcement only if it is faster than some proportion of those. The role of sensory feedback for criterion responses.
	Behavior under concurrent schedules in transition. Development of a rapid assessment of behavior change under concurrent schedules during single sessions (single-session transitions). Quantitative descriptions of behavior change. Interactions with behaviorally active drugs and toxic substances.
	Application of quantitative descriptors of behavior to the assessment of risk. Application of novel approaches to risk assessment, developed by Glowa and MacPhail,  that incorporate individual susceptibility and natural within- and between-subject variability into the assessment of risk.
	Examination of reinforcement processes in mice. Examination of the validity and independence of terms of a recently developed quantitative model that separates the ongoing stream of voluntary behavior neatly into separate motivational and motor components.

Laboratory Automation.

	Information management and laboratory automation are important components of the laboratory efforts.
	We conduct behavior sessions with approximately 200 rats/day in several different experiments. Depending on the experiment we collect and update between 50 and several thousand data points/rat/day. We keep track of each rat individually throughout the course of its 2-1/2 year lifespan. We monitor the behavior of each rat individually by automatically updating the rat's data file and generating graphical displays daily of its recent behavior. This is conducted daily with a single command.
	The laboratory includes a local area network of six or so computers running a mix of Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, with web access to NT-based network drives and automatic nightly backup of all data. Behavioral data are collected using Med PC  and automatic data-management is accomplished using RS1 data management software and their RPL language.