Aaron P. Blaisdell - US grants
Affiliations: | University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA |
Area:
Animal Cognition, Comparative PsychologyWe are testing a new system for linking grants to scientists.
The funding information displayed below comes from the NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools and the NSF Award Database.The grant data on this page is limited to grants awarded in the United States and is thus partial. It can nonetheless be used to understand how funding patterns influence mentorship networks and vice-versa, which has deep implications on how research is done.
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High-probability grants
According to our matching algorithm, Aaron P. Blaisdell is the likely recipient of the following grants.Years | Recipients | Code | Title / Keywords | Matching score |
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1999 — 2000 | Blaisdell, Aaron Paul | F32Activity Code Description: To provide postdoctoral research training to individuals to broaden their scientific background and extend their potential for research in specified health-related areas. |
Avian Same/Different Concept Learning and Perception @ Tufts University Medford The general aim of this proposal is to shed light on higher-order avian cognition, e.g., conceptual behavior and relational learning. The studies use same-different (S/D) discriminations to explore how pigeons extract categorical information from photographs of real objects and learn abstract relations. The first series of studies will present pictures of objects from the same or different views. If pigeons recognize the same object across sets of non-identical pictures, then object discrimination should proceed faster than view discrimination. The second series will employ the S/D alternation procedure in which pictures A and B (that are identical except for one change, e.g., omission of an object) are serially alternated with a brief interval between each picture. The ease with which subjects detect a difference will tell us how much attention is allocated to images of objects and how early in perception they are processed. The third series will train Ss to discriminate between two pairs of pictures in which each pair shares the same (AA versus CC; or AB versus CD) or different (AA versus CD) relation with each other. Though Premack has argued that only humans and language trained chimpanzees can make abstract S/D judgements, it is important to test this claim with a non-primate, non-symbol using species (e.g., the pigeon). A greater understanding of conceptual and relational learning in animals will increase our understanding of higher-order human cognition, contribute to the detection and development of treatments of cognitive disorders and facilitate ecologically valid educational practices. |
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2004 — 2011 | Blaisdell, Aaron Paul | R01Activity Code Description: To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
Associative Mechanisms of Spatial Cognition @ University of California Los Angeles DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ultimate goal of this research is to understand the mechanisms by which spatial and temporal information is acquired and by which the resulting representations are stored in and retrieved from the nervous system. Spatial representations can be conceptualized as a cognitive map, which is an internal representation of the spatial relationships between two or more external events that preserves both the metric distance and direction between the events. The focus of this proposal is to investigate the mechanisms by which simple, two-item spatial maps are acquired and how independently acquired maps may be integrated into larger, more complex functional maps that allow organisms to extrapolate spatial relationships beyond their direct experiences. A guiding assumption is that Pavlovian conditioning serves as the primary mechanism by which cognitive maps are acquired and expressed. This work builds on preliminary evidence established by the investigator that animals construct simple temporal and spatial maps between paired events during Pavlovian conditioning, and are able to combine simple maps acquired during separate training experiences into a unified, higher-order map by superimposing the two maps in memory via common elements of each map. The resulting higher-order map can be used to deduce new temporal and spatial relationships between events that had never been directly experienced together. The integration of separately acquired information is an important adaptive process that allows for flexible and dynamic behavioral responses to real-world situations. The proposed experiments will contribute to a fuller understanding of acquisition processes in the spatial domain which will importantly direct the development of more accurate cognitive models of spatial behavior and advance a better understanding of the related neural mechanisms of spatial, temporal, and conditioning processes. Recently, the hippocampus has been proposed to play an important role in associating spatially and temporally noncontiguous events, suggesting an important neural mechanism for the acquisition of cognitive maps, which will be explored more directly in future projects, after establishing a clearer understanding of the psychological mechanisms by which spatial and temporal information is acquired and processed. |
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2005 — 2006 | Blaisdell, Aaron Paul | R03Activity Code Description: To provide research support specifically limited in time and amount for studies in categorical program areas. Small grants provide flexibility for initiating studies which are generally for preliminary short-term projects and are non-renewable. |
Temporal Integration of Learned Behavior @ University of California Los Angeles [unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project explores the associative mechanisms of temporal integration in rats. The goal of the proposed research is to test the hypothesis that complex temporal representations can be built through the integration of simple associations that share a common element. One test will replicate and extend previous conditioned-suppression experiments supporting the temporal coding hypothesis of Pavlovian conditioning (e.g., Barnet et al., 1997; Matzel et al., 1988) procedures utilizing appetitive conditioning which allows direct measures of interval timing. The conditioned-suppression procedure does not allow the direct assessment of interval timing in the subject's behavior, and thus can only provide indirect evidence for temporal integration. Using the appetitive procedure we may determine whether CS A will evoke magazine entry at the computed A-food interval after separate A-->B and B-->food pairings. A second test will develop a procedure to assess temporal-integration effects in steady-state behavior using a modified Pavlovian conditioned inhibition procedure. A steady-state procedure will be useful for future studies that plan to investigate the neural mechanisms that contribute to the integration of temporal information. This work will advance and more firmly establish the integration rules of the temporal coding hypothesis as a necessary preparatory step toward exploring the role of brain mechanisms in temporal mapping and inferential behavior based on higher-order temporal representations. [unreadable] [unreadable] |
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2009 — 2015 | Blaisdell, Aaron | N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Analysis of Causal Cognition in Rats @ University of California-Los Angeles Like humans, rats make rational causal inferences from their interactions with the world. The goal of the current project is to understand the cognitive and neural mechanisms of causal cognition in humans by studying these processes in rats. The theoretical frameworks used (causal model theory and causal Bayes nets) are parallel to those developed to account for rational causal cognition in humans and the development of these processes in children. Major questions include: Do rats engage in rational reasoning processes about cause-effect relationships? How do rats reason about absent events, such as hidden causes? What is the role of goal-directed action in the ability to draw rational inferences? Answers to these questions can extend our knowledge of the distribution of causal cognition among mammals and can lead to new insights into the cognition and neuroscience of self identity, freedom of choice and action, event cognition, and a theory of agency, all of which play a central role in how individuals reason. |
0.915 |