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Trevor W. Robbins

Bio: Trevor W. Robbins is an academic researcher from University of Cambridge. The author has contributed to research in topics: Prefrontal cortex & Impulsivity. The author has an hindex of 231, co-authored 1137 publications receiving 164437 citations. Previous affiliations of Trevor W. Robbins include Centre national de la recherche scientifique & Massachusetts Institute of Technology.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The data indicate that facilitated acquisition of cocaine self-administration and disrupted response patterns under second-order schedule contingencies may result from deficits in behavioural inhibition induced by medial prefrontal cortical lesions that contrast with deficits following damage to other limbic cortical regions, such as the basolateral amygdala or anterior cingulate cortex.
Abstract: Four experiments examined the effects of excitotoxic, axon-sparing lesions of the medial prefrontal cortex or anterior cingulate cortex in rats on responding under different schedules of intravenous cocaine self-administration and on the locomotor stimulant effects of cocaine. Experiment 1 tested the acquisition and maintenance of cocaine self-administration under a fixed ratio schedule. Rats with medial prefrontal cortex lesions showed facilitated acquisition and enhanced responding for low doses of the drug when lesions were induced before self-administration behaviour was established. Lesions of the anterior cingulate cortex did not affect cocaine self-administration. In experiment 2, rats were trained to respond under a second-order schedule of cocaine reinforcement, where responding during the fixed interval was reinforced by presentation of a cocaine-associated visual stimulus under fixed-ratio contingencies. In control rats, these schedule conditions were found to maintain high rates of responding and a scalloped pattern of responding over time. Omission of conditioned stimulus presentation during the fixed interval significantly disrupted response patterns, confirming that the stimulus served to maintain responding during the fixed interval. By contrast, rats with medial prefrontal cortex lesions showed higher rates and disrupted patterns of responding that were unchanged by stimulus omission. Rats with lesions of the anterior cingulate cortex responded at high rates throughout the fixed interval under all test conditions, indicating that the cocaine-associated stimulus did not serve to maintain temporal patterns of responding in these rats. Experiment 3 demonstrated the lack of effect of either lesion on the acquisition of responding for a non-drug reinforcer, sucrose. In experiment 4, measures of spontaneous and cocaine-induced locomotor activity revealed that rats in both lesion groups were significantly more active than controls regardless of test conditions. These data indicate that facilitated acquisition of cocaine self-administration and disrupted response patterns under second-order schedule contingencies may result from deficits in behavioural inhibition induced by medial prefrontal cortical lesions that contrast with deficits following damage to other limbic cortical regions, such as the basolateral amygdala or anterior cingulate cortex.

189 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
17 Jun 2016-Science
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report on impairments in cocaine-addicted patients to act purposefully toward a given goal and on the influence of extended training on their behavior when patients were rewarded for their behavior, prolonged training improved their response rate toward the goal but simultaneously rendered them insensitive to the consequences of their actions.
Abstract: Cocaine addiction is a major public health problem that is particularly difficult to treat. Without medically proven pharmacological treatments, interventions to change the maladaptive behavior of addicted individuals mainly rely on psychosocial approaches. Here we report on impairments in cocaine-addicted patients to act purposefully toward a given goal and on the influence of extended training on their behavior. When patients were rewarded for their behavior, prolonged training improved their response rate toward the goal but simultaneously rendered them insensitive to the consequences of their actions. By contrast, overtraining of avoidance behavior had no effect on patient performance. Our findings illustrate the ineffectiveness of punitive approaches and highlight the potential for interventions that focus on improving goal-directed behavior and implementing more desirable habits to replace habitual drug-taking.

187 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results suggest that pipradrol enhances the effects of conditioned reinforcers, and are discussed in terms of the other behavioral effects of ‘psychomotor stimulant’ drugs.
Abstract: The effects of pipradrol (5–15 mg/kg), methylphenidate (5–15 mg/kg), d-amphetamine (0.5–3.0 mg/kg), and nomifensine (5–15 mg/kg) on the acquisition of responding with conditioned reinforcement (CR) were examined. In preliminary training (phase 1), a panel-push was required for water-deprived rats to obtain access to a water-dipper. The presentation of the dipper occurred at variable intervals, independently of responding, and was preceded by a light stimulus. In phase 2, no water was available and presentation of light and empty dipper (CR) was contingent upon pressing one of two levers present (CR lever), according to a variable-ratio 2 schedule. Pressing the other lever had no effect (NCR lever). In Experiment I, pipradrol produced a dose-dependent increase in responding on the CR lever, but a dose-dependent decrease on the NCR lever. Methylphenidate and d-amphetamine produced inconsistent results, and nomifensine produced a general reduction in responding. The stimulation of responding by pipradrol transferred to the undrugged state, but previous experience with pipradrol outside the experimental setting did not increase responding during control sessions. Experiment II showed that the effects of repeated doses of pipradrol changed over sessions. Experiment III showed that 15 mg/kg pipradrol did not increase responding for the light and dipper stimuli when these had not previously been paired with water. The results suggest that pipradrol enhances the effects of conditioned reinforcers, and are discussed in terms of the other behavioral effects of ‘psychomotor stimulant’ drugs.

186 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results do not indicate a simple relationship between cholinergic neuronal loss and the retention of response rules essential for performance of the task ("reference memory"), and contingency analysis of the behavioural, neurochemical and neuroanatomical data indicated that those animals with the largest decreases in choline acetyltransferase activity, or the largest areas of neuronal loss in the ventral and dorsal globus pallidus, were most impaired in the retention.

184 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The original breakthrough in terms of the role of NMDA receptors in hippocampal-mediated spatial learning and long-term potentiation is described, and recent advances that demonstrate the involvement of glutamate receptor in working memory, recognition memory, stimulus–response learning and memory, and higher cognitive functions are reviewed.

183 citations


Cited by
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28 Jul 2005
TL;DR: PfPMP1)与感染红细胞、树突状组胞以及胎盘的单个或多个受体作用,在黏附及免疫逃避中起关键的作�ly.
Abstract: 抗原变异可使得多种致病微生物易于逃避宿主免疫应答。表达在感染红细胞表面的恶性疟原虫红细胞表面蛋白1(PfPMP1)与感染红细胞、内皮细胞、树突状细胞以及胎盘的单个或多个受体作用,在黏附及免疫逃避中起关键的作用。每个单倍体基因组var基因家族编码约60种成员,通过启动转录不同的var基因变异体为抗原变异提供了分子基础。

18,940 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results suggest that it is important to recognize both the unity and diversity ofExecutive functions and that latent variable analysis is a useful approach to studying the organization and roles of executive functions.

12,182 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Evidence for partially segregated networks of brain areas that carry out different attentional functions is reviewed, finding that one system is involved in preparing and applying goal-directed selection for stimuli and responses, and the other is specialized for the detection of behaviourally relevant stimuli.
Abstract: We review evidence for partially segregated networks of brain areas that carry out different attentional functions. One system, which includes parts of the intraparietal cortex and superior frontal cortex, is involved in preparing and applying goal-directed (top-down) selection for stimuli and responses. This system is also modulated by the detection of stimuli. The other system, which includes the temporoparietal cortex and inferior frontal cortex, and is largely lateralized to the right hemisphere, is not involved in top-down selection. Instead, this system is specialized for the detection of behaviourally relevant stimuli, particularly when they are salient or unexpected. This ventral frontoparietal network works as a 'circuit breaker' for the dorsal system, directing attention to salient events. Both attentional systems interact during normal vision, and both are disrupted in unilateral spatial neglect.

10,985 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is proposed that cognitive control stems from the active maintenance of patterns of activity in the prefrontal cortex that represent goals and the means to achieve them, which provide bias signals to other brain structures whose net effect is to guide the flow of activity along neural pathways that establish the proper mappings between inputs, internal states, and outputs needed to perform a given task.
Abstract: ▪ Abstract The prefrontal cortex has long been suspected to play an important role in cognitive control, in the ability to orchestrate thought and action in accordance with internal goals. Its neural basis, however, has remained a mystery. Here, we propose that cognitive control stems from the active maintenance of patterns of activity in the prefrontal cortex that represent goals and the means to achieve them. They provide bias signals to other brain structures whose net effect is to guide the flow of activity along neural pathways that establish the proper mappings between inputs, internal states, and outputs needed to perform a given task. We review neurophysiological, neurobiological, neuroimaging, and computational studies that support this theory and discuss its implications as well as further issues to be addressed

10,943 citations

Book ChapterDOI
TL;DR: This chapter demonstrates the functional importance of dopamine to working memory function in several ways and demonstrates that a network of brain regions, including the prefrontal cortex, is critical for the active maintenance of internal representations.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the modern notion of short-term memory, called working memory. Working memory refers to the temporary maintenance of information that was just experienced or just retrieved from long-term memory but no longer exists in the external environment. These internal representations are short-lived, but can be maintained for longer periods of time through active rehearsal strategies, and can be subjected to various operations that manipulate the information in such a way that makes it useful for goal-directed behavior. Working memory is a system that is critically important in cognition and seems necessary in the course of performing many other cognitive functions, such as reasoning, language comprehension, planning, and spatial processing. This chapter demonstrates the functional importance of dopamine to working memory function in several ways. Elucidation of the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying human working memory is an important focus of cognitive neuroscience and neurology for much of the past decade. One conclusion that arises from research is that working memory, a faculty that enables temporary storage and manipulation of information in the service of behavioral goals, can be viewed as neither a unitary, nor a dedicated system. Data from numerous neuropsychological and neurophysiological studies in animals and humans demonstrates that a network of brain regions, including the prefrontal cortex, is critical for the active maintenance of internal representations.

10,081 citations