Dr Alister Nicol, Bsc PhD
Research Associate, Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour, Department of Zoology.

+44 (0)1223 741814
aun10@cam.ac.uk

Research Interests
Neural mechanisms of learning and memory.

My research interests are broadly in the area of learning and memory - how do brains build and store memories? In much of my research I have addressed this using visual imprinting in the domestic chick. This is an ideal model for the study of learning and memory; a visually naive chick can learn to recognise a stimulus simply by being exposed to it, and subsequently expresses the strength of this learning by preferentially approaching the training stumulus rather than an alternative. A small part of the chick forebrain, the intermediate medial mesopallium, is known to serve as a store for the memory underlying imprinting, and is therefore extremely valuable in studies of the neural mechanisms of learning and memory, providing a target area for examining molecular, biochemical and physiological changes accompanying the behavoural expression of learning and memory. As an electrophysiologist my objects are to elucidate the mechanisms of communication between neurons in the IMM, and between this area and other associated regions, and how this communication alters to support the memory that underpins imprinting.

Selected Publications

Kendrick, K.M., Zhan, Y., Fischer, H., Nicol, A.U. and Feng, J.F. (2011). Learning alters theta amplitude, theta-gamma coupling and neuronal synchronization in inferotemporal cortex. BMC Neuroscience Volume 12, Article Number 55, DOI: 10.1186/1471-2202-12-55

Walters, E., Segonds-Pichon, A. and Nicol. A.U. (2008). The correlation determinant in tests for synchronization in neuronal spike data. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 172, 60-66, DOI: 10.1016/j.neurmeth.2008.04.003

Jackson, C., McCabe, B.J., Grout, A.S., Brown, M.W. and Horn.G. (2008). Dynamic effects of a memory trace: Sleep on consolidation. Current Biology 18, 393-400, DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2008.01.062.

Horton, P.M., Nicol. A.U., Kendrick, K., Feng, J.F. (2006). Spike sorting based upon machine learning algorithms (SOMA). Journal of Neuroscience Methods 160, 52-68, DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2006.08.013

Christen, M., Nicol, A.U., Kendrick, K., Ott, T. and Stoop, R. (2006). Odour encoding in olfactory neuronal networks beyond synchronization. NeuroReport 17, 1499-1502, DOI: 10.1097/wnr.0000234750.58065.99

Horton, P.M., Bonny, L., Nicol. A.U., Kendrick, K., Feng, J.F. (2005). Applications of multi-variate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to multi-electrode array electrophysiological data. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 146, 22-41, DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2005.01.008

Horn, G., Nicol. A.U., Brown, M.W. (2001). Tracking memory's trace. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 98, 5282-5287, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.091094798