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Etan J. Markus

Etan J. Markus

Title: Associate Professor


Departmental Program: Behavioral Neuroscience

E-mail: etan.markus@uconn.edu

Office: BOUS 112

Office Phone: (860) 486-4588

Web site: http://psychlops.psy.uconn.edu/Markus/

Department of Psychology
406 Babbidge Road, Unit 1020
University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT 06269-1020

Preferred Means of Contact: E-mail

Research Interests:

  • Hippocampal processing and the formation of memories
  • Neural basis of age related changes in memory
  • Sex differences and estrous cycle effects on learning and memory
  • The relationship between memory and the activity of single neurons in a behaving animal
  • Detailed Description: I am interested in understanding the mechanisms underlying learning and memory. The research in my lab focuses on the role of hippocampal neurons in processing information. Clinical finding in humans have shown that the hippocampal complex is involved in acquiring new information and forming long-lasting memories as well as in spatial navigation. Similar results have been shown in other mammals including rats. We are funded to investigate aging and sex differences in the manner in which the hippocampus is involved in learning and memory. Rats are tested on a variety of memory tasks together with an examination of the activity of the neurons in their hippocampus.

Undergraduate courses:

  • Learning
  • Aging: From Cell to Society (co-taught)
  • Laboratory in Animal Learning

Graduate courses:

  • Neuroscience (co-organizer)
  • Neural Foundations of Learning & Memory
  • Research Seminar in Biopsychology
  • Neurobiology of Aging: Changes in Cognitive Processes

Representative Publications:

  • Markus, E. J., Qin, Y., Leonard, B., Skaggs, W. E., McNaughton, B.L., & Barnes, C.A. (1995). Interactions between location and task affect the spatial and directional firing of hippocampal neurons. Journal of Neuroscience, 15, 7079-7094.
  • Ward, MT, Oler JA and Markus EJ (1999). Hippocampal dysfunction during aging I: Aged rats do not show retrograde amnesia of contextual fear conditioning. Neurobiology of Aging 20 363-372.
  • Oler JA., and Markus EJ. (2000). Age-related deficits in the ability to encode contextual change: A place cell analysis. Hippocampus 10: 338-350.
  • Tropp J. and Markus E.J. (2001). Sex differences in the dynamics of cue utilization and exploratory behavior. Behavioural Brain Research 119: 143-154
  • Stoelzel C.R., Stravnezer AJ., Denenberg VH, Ward, MT, Markus EJ (2002). A comparison of the effects of aging and dorsal hippocampal lesions: Performance on spatial and non-spatial versions of the water maze. Neurobiol. Learn. Mem. 78:217-233
  • Astur, R.S., Tropp, J., Sava, S., Constable, R.T., & Markus, E.T. (2004). Sex differences in a virtual Morris water task and a virtual eight-arm maze. Behavioural Brain Research
  • Oler JA, Ramos RL , Penley SC and Markus EJ. (in press) Hippocampal and Amygdalar Involvement in Discriminatory Place Learning. Neuroscience
  • Tropp J., Figueiredo CM, Markus EJ (in press). Stability of hippocampal place cell activity across the rat estrous cycle. Hippocampus
  • Sava S., & Markus EJ (in press) Intra-maze Cue Utilization in the Water Maze: Effects of Sex and Estrous Cycle. Hormones and Behavior

Other:

  • Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising, UConn Chapter of Psi Chi, 2001.