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Charlotte Bonardi |
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Research My main interest is in associative learning, a process which some argue has evolved to let us learn about the causal structure of the world around us – and so to predict and control our environment. It is clear that this type of learning is important for the most basic aspects of our daily life, and it is found throughout the animal kingdom. Some psychologists also argue that networks of associations might underlie more complex types of learning in human subjects, such as concept formation and language. If this view is correct, then it is important for us to have a thorough understanding of associative processes and the limits of what they can explain. My previous research has – paradoxically – been mainly concerned with types of learning that are assumed not to be easily explained in terms of association formation, such as temporal learning and occasion setting (conditional learning): the aim was to examine whether modifications of associative theory could allow it to accommodate these apparently nonassociative phenomena. My more recent work addresses the following topics: Recognition memory When learning goes wrong: Alzheimer's disease Learning and Addiction Recognition Memory Recognition memory is, in behavioural terms, the ability to discriminate between an item that has been experienced before and one that has not. Given the decline in recognition memory in normal aging and dementia, a good understanding of recognition memory is increasingly important, to characterise how recognition changes with age, differentiate this from incipient dementia, and provide the basis for identifying neural mechanisms and pharmacological treatments. These intertwined areas of research depend on seamless correspondence between findings from animals and human participants, and so require a robust translational account of recognition. Yet current recognition theories are rooted in human psychological traditions relying on subjective judgement measures—making direct translation from animal work to human participants essentially impossible. Our innovative approach to this issue uses an account of recognition memory rooted in a well-established theory of associative learning – SOP. SOP is designed to explain the fundamental characteristics of learning in all vertebrates, including humans, using objective behavioural measures. Critically, SOP also incorporates an account of stimulus representation and how this changes with time—meaning it also makes predictions about recognition memory. SOP can account for performance on the spontaneous object recognition (AA|AB) task—routinely used in the animal work exploring the neural mechanisms of recognition. AA|AB exploits rodents' natural propensity to explore novel objects; after exposure to a junk object, animals are presented with a pre-exposed and a novel object. If they recognise the former, more familiar item they prefer exploring the latter. Because this task uses behavioural measures of recognition, it can easily be adapted for humans—in a way that subjective judgement measures cannot be applied to other animals. We have recently reported a series of human experiments analogous to the AA|AB task, using an eye-tracking technique in which participants are presented with sequences of visual objects, and the direction of their gaze recorded. This procedure measures recognition using visual exploration, mirroring the behavioural exploration measure used in AA|AB. Using this technique, we have reproduced several core effects predicted by SOP, and demonstrated in rodents (Nitka et al, 2020). My current work aims to test the key predictions of this SOP account, in parallel experiments in humans and rodents. We are also, in collaboration with Professor Edgar Vogel (University of Talca, Chile) developing a formal simulation of this account. An additional line of work, in collaboration with Dr Gonzalo Urcelay (Nottingham), Professor Jose Prados (Derby), Professor Ignacio Loy (Oviedo) and Dr Marichi Paredes-Olay (Jaén), aims to find evidence of parallel recognition memory phenomena in invertebrate species.
When learning goes wrong: Alzheimer's disease In some neuropathological conditions, learning is impaired, and we can use what we know about associative theory to analyse these deficits. For example, the onset of Alzheimer's disease is preceded by major changes in the brain which only become apparent as cognitive symptoms at a much later stage. However, subtle changes in cognitive processing are present in these early stages – and detecting these is critical both to aid early diagnosis (which is currently challenging and requires invasive testing) and identify those who would benefit from treatment. However these early cognitive impairments have not been precisely characterised in associative terms. In collaboration with Dr Elizabeth Liddle (Institute of Mental Health) and Ms Kirsty Woodward we are using our associative analysis of recognition memory – failure of which is an early symptom of Alzheimer's – in an eyetracking task to analyse the recognition deficits in participants diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment. Importantly our SOP analysis suggests that recognition memory comprises two independent components that together produce recognition performance. Moreover, we have shown that in mouse models which develop a form of Alzheimer's disease, only one of these components is impaired in the early stages of the disease – suggesting that this component is most likely to be good marker for early Alzheimer's in humans (Bonardi et al., 2016; 2021). The aim of this project, using tests designed to measure the two components of recognition separately, is to explore which prove the best markers indicating likely conversion to Alzheimer's disease. Learning and Addiction Human drug seeking has been analysed in terms of classical conditioning: the ability of environmental cues to become associated with the effects of the drug can make them provoke drug-seeking behaviour. The mechanism underlying this process has been modelled by an effect called Pavlovian-instrumental transfer (PIT): if you have two outcomes, chocolate and tobacco, each produced by a different (drug-seeking response), then a conditioned stimulus that signals e.g. chocolate, will increase the level of the chocolate-seeking response more than the tobacco-seeking response (and vice versa). PIT is widely used in addiction research, underlies initiatives such as the curbs on tobacco branding and retail displays, and is an important tool in designing therapeutic interventions for minimising relapse. We have evidence that conditioned inhibitors (CIs), stimuli signalling the omission of a specific rewarding outcome, suppress this elevation of responding by reward-related cues in human participants (Alarcón & Bonardi, 2017; 2020). This has important therapeutic implications: an inhibitor for an addictive outcome could be established in the clinic, and reproduced by the user with an app to suppress cue-elicited urges to procure and consume that outcome. However, little is known about the specificity of this suppressive effect – in particular, its temporal specificity. If inhibitors are to be trained in a clinical setting for therapeutic use, then it is essential to know when these inhibitory effects are evident: if an inhibitor only suppresses PIT at a specific time point, rather than across its entire duration, then this must be taken into account in design intervention. Related links: cal Background Positions 1978-1982 Cambridge BA Hons (Natural Sciences) 1982-1986 CambridgePhD (Experimental Psychology) 1986-2004 University of York, Research Fellow 2004 - 2007 University of Nottingham, Lecturer 2007 University of Nottingham, Senior Lecturer Funding 1986-1989 Grant funded by SERC. Title: "Discriminative Inhibition in Associative Learning." Applicants: Bonardi, (Named Researcher), & Hall, University of York.
1990-1993 Grant funded by SERC. Title: "An Analysis of Modulatory Stimulus Function." Applicants: Bonardi, (Named Researcher), & Hall, University of York.
1991 Grant funded by Innovation and Research Priming Fund, University of York. Title: "Pilot work on Mechanisms Underlying the Formation of Equivalence Classes." Applicants: Bonardi, C., & Hall, G.
1993-1996 Grant funded by SERC. Title: "Mechanisms of conditional learning: Formation of occasion setters and implications of acquired equivalence.” Applicants: Bonardi, (Named Researcher), & Hall, University of York.
1997-2000 Grant funded by BBSRC. Title: “A study of the associative mechanisms underlying conditional learning.” Applicants: Bonardi, (Named Researcher), & Hall, University of York.
2000 Project funded by Unilever Research to investigate acquired equivalence in humans.
2004-2007 Grant funded by BBSRC. Title: "A test of a hierarchical account of conditional learning." Applicants: Bonardi, (Named Researcher), & Hall, University of York. Transferred to University of Nottingham Bonardi (PI).
2008 – 2011 Grant funded by BBSRC. Title: " Test of an integrated associative theory of timing." Applicants: Bonardi (CoI), & Jennings. Research council contribution 412,961
2019 - 2022 Grant funded by BBSRC. "Pause for thought: The role of corticostriatal circuitry and its dopamine innervation in the inhibitory modulation of associative learning" Applicants Cassaday, Bonardi (CoI) & Stevenson. Research council contribution £513,895
2023 Royal Society International Exchange Grant "A novel translational account of recognition memory: A formal model" £3000.
2024 Small grant funded by Experimental Psychology Society "Temporal Specificity of Conditioned Inhibition: Applications to Addiction." £3000.
Teaching I teach a part of the second year module on Neuroscience and Behaviour and along with Drs Tobias Bast, Mark Haselgrove Emma Whitt and Gonzalo Urcelay teach a third year module Mechanisms in Learning and Psychopathology, which covers clinical issues and their relation to learning theory, and neuroscientific research aimed at analysing, and identifying the locus of, various associative processes. I also give a lecture on the use of animals in research for the Advanced Research Methods course.
PhD
I would be delighted to hear from you if you think you might be interested in studying for a PhD on anything related to my interests!
Editorial and Administration
I am currently serving my third term as Associate Editor for the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (I served as Associate Editor for the B section of this journal between 1997-2004). I have been a Consulting Editor for Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Behavior Processes for about ten years, as well as serving as an ad hoc reviewer for a wide variety of journals; I have reviewed grant proposals for the BBSRC, MRC, ESRC, NSF, Catholic University of Leuven, and the Israel Science Foundation. was a member of the committee of the Experimental Psychology Society (1996-1999), and the EPS representative on the BPS Standing Advisory Committee on the Welfare of Animals in Psychology (1999-2001). In the School of Psychology I was director of Postgraduate training for several years, and also directed the MSc Conversion and MSc in Psychology Research Methods programmes. At University level I was invited to serve two terms on the University AWERB (Animal Welfare Ethical Review Body), and was recently elected as a member of Senate.
Contact Information Charlotte Bonardi (Senior Lecturer) School of Psychology University of Nottingham, University Park Nottingham NG7 2RD
tel: +44 (0)115 84 67927 fax: +44 (0)115 95 15324 email: cmb@psychology.nottingham.ac.uk
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Content: email HTML: Lee Melton |
School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK Tel: +44 [0]115-951-5361, Fax: +44 [0]115-951-5324 |
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