Prof Masud Husain
Wellcome Trust
United Kingdom
Understanding the inattentive and impulsive brain.
Wellcome Trust
3,132,476
01/10/12
5.0
Neurodegenerative disease in general
Huntington | Neurodegen
Inattention and impulsivity are complex syndromes that impact significantly on a range of disorders, including focal brain lesions (e.g., stroke), neurodegenerative conditions (e.g., Parkinsons disease, PD) and developmental disorders (e.g., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD). To understand mechanisms underlying these behavioural syndromes we need to improve current knowledge of attention, working memory and rapid decision-making under risk, and examine whether they can be modulated effectively by drugs. This programme of research will characterize such mechanisms in healthy people and patients with stroke, PD and adult ADHD. We will: 1. Establish whether one type of inattention might be ultra-rapid forgetting of information held in working memory 2. Determine if one aspect of impulsivity might be hypersensitivity to rewards while conversely apathy might be associated with insensitivity to rewards 3. Define whether some types of inattention interact with rapid decision-making under risk to contribute to impulsivity or apathy 4. Modulate attention and decision-making using dopamine receptor agonists in healthy people and patients with stroke and PD 5. Test a new model that we have developed to see if it provides a better way to understand how information is maintained and protected from loss in working memory.