Sydney Trask
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., The University of Vermont
smtrask@purdue.edu
765-496-0880
Office: PSYC 3164
Trask Lab
Integrative Neuroscience
Active Mentor - currently hosting PULSe students for laboratory rotations and recruiting PULSe students into the laboratory; serves on preliminary exam committees
Current Research Interests:
We are interested in the ways the brain encodes, stores, retrieves, and updates memory. We are particularly interested in understanding memory for context, or the environment in which events take place. Successful encoding and retrieval of context allows us to select and guide our behavior in a way that encourages situationally appropriate responding. However, alterations in this type of learning and memory are common in symptomology that underlies several neuropsychiatric disorders, ranging from PTSD to age-related dementia. Understanding how memory for context is formed, retrieved, and altered at both the circuit and molecular levels will provide one crucial step forward to treatments aimed at reducing maladaptive behaviors stemming from contextually inappropriate responding.Selected Publications:
Trask, S., & Fournier, D. I. (in press). Examining a role for the retrosplenial cortex in age-related memory impairment. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory.
Trask, S., & Helmstetter, F. J. (in press). Unique roles for the anterior and posterior retrosplenial cortices in encoding and retrieval of memory for context. Cerebral Cortex.
Trask, S., Ferrara, N. C., Grisales, K., & Helmstetter, F. J. (2021). Optogenetic inhibition of either the anterior or posterior retrosplenial cortex disrupts retrieval of a trace, but not delay, fear memory. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 185, 107530. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2021.107530
Trask, S., Ferrara, N.C., Jasnow, A.M., Kwapis, J.L. (2021). Contributions of the cingulate-retrosplenial cortical axis to associative learning and memory: A proposed circuit for persistent memory maintenance. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 130, 178-184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.08.023
Trask, S., Dulka, B. N., & Helmstetter, F. J. (2020). Age-related memory impairment is associated with increased zif268 protein accumulation and decreased Rpt6 phosphorylation. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21, 5352. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21155352
Trask, S., Reis, D. S., Ferrara, N. C., & Helmstetter, F. J. (2020). Decreased cued fear discrimination learning in female rats as a function of estrous phase. Learning & Memory, 27, 254-257. http://www.learnmem.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/lm.051185.119
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