Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour


Dr. Brian McCabe - Neural Mechanisms of Learning and Memory
University Lecturer in Zoology; Fellow and Director of Studies in Natural Sciences (Biological), Robinson College.

+44 (0)1223 741810
bjm1@cam.ac.uk

BSc (Chemistry and Physiology), University of Leeds
PhD (Neurophysiology), University College London
MA, University of Cambridge

Research Interests
The neural mechanisms of learning and memory, particularly imprinting in the domestic chick. The young of many species, when exposed to a conspicuous object (an imprinting stimulus), rapidly learn the object's characteristics and subsequently narrow their social preferences to it. This learning process is called imprinting, the study of which has yielded important insights into the nature of learning and memory. A part of the chick forebrain (the IMM) has been identified that is critical for imprinting. The available evidence indicates that the IMM is a site of memory for features of the imprinting stimulus. Currently, learning-specific changes in the IMM are being studied using behavioural analysis, electrophysiology, immunocytochemistry and molecular biology.


Selected Publications
McCabe BJ, Kendrick KM, Horn G (2001) Gamma-aminobutyric acid, taurine and learning: release of amino acids from slices of chick brain following filial imprinting. Neuroscience, 105:317-324

Solomonia RO, Morgan K, Kotorashvili A, McCabe BJ, Jackson AP, Horn G (2003) Analysis of differential gene expression supports a role for amyloid precursor protein and a protein kinase C substrate (MARCKS) in long-term memory. Eur J Neurosci, 17:1073-1081

Meredith RM, McCabe BJ, Kendrick KM, Horn G (2004) Amino acid neurotransmitter release and learning: a study of visual imprinting. Neuroscience, 126:249-256

Suge R, McCabe BJ (2004) Early stages of memory formation in filial imprinting: Fos-like immunoreactivity and behavior in the domestic chick. Neuroscience, 123:847-856

Solomonia RO, Kotorashvili A, Kiguradze T, McCabe BJ, Horn G (2005) Ca2+/calmodulin protein kinase II and memory: learning-related changes in a localized region of the domestic chick brain. J Physiol (London), 569:643-653

McCabe BJ, Kendrick KM, Horn G (2001) Association between GABA and taurine release contingent upon learning. Behavioural Pharmacology, 12:S64

Bolhuis JJ, McCabe BJ, Horn G, Kendrick K (2003) Serotonin (5-HT), dopamine (DA) and learning: studies of visual imprinting. Act Neurobiol Exper, 63:S54

Suge R, Kato H, McCabe BJ (2004) Time-course of c-fos expression in the IMHV after imprinting in the domestic chick. FENS Congress, Lisbon , July 2004

Jackson C, McCabe BJ, Horn G (2005) The relationship between predispositions and imprinting in the domestic chick (Gallus gallus domesticus). Proceedings, 29th International Ethology Conference, Budapest

Katugampola N, Pinfield ECR, Reeve RJ, Ridgway M, McCabe BJ (2005) Imprinting: modification by novel stimuli. British Neurosci Assoc Abstr, 18:P104

Shurell EM, McCabe BJ, Horn G (2006) Imprinting and AMPA receptor binding in a memory system of the chick brain. FENS Forum Abstracts, 3:325

Jackson C, McCabe BJ, Nicol AU, Grout AS , Brown MW, Horn G (2008) Dynamics of a memory trace: effects of sleep on consolidation. Curr Biol, 18: 393-400 [see also Stickgold R (2008) Sleep: the ebb and flow of memory consolidation. Curr Biol, 18: R423-R425]

 

Solomonia RO, Apkhazava D, Nozadze M, Jackson AP, McCabe BJ & Horn G (2008) Different forms of MARCKS protein are involved in memory formation in the learning process of imprinting. Exp Brain Res, 188: 323-330

 

Suge R, Kato H & McCabe BJ (2010) Rapid induction of the immediate early gene c-fos in a chick forebrain system involved in memory. Exp Brain Res, 200:183-188

Solomonia RO, Kunelauri N, Mikautadze E, Apkhazava D, McCabe BJ & Horn G (2011) Mitochondrial proteins, learning and memory: biochemical specialization of a memory system. Neuroscience, 194: 112-123

McCabe BJ (2013) Imprinting. WIREs Cogn Sci, 2:1231. doi: 10.102/wcs.1231


Research Associate
Dr Alister Nicol

Research Technician
Caroline Barnes

Graduate Students


Collaborations
Prof Johan Bolhuis (University of Utrecht)
Prof Malcolm Brown (University of Bristol)
Prof Dave Burt (Roslin Institute and University of Edinburgh)
Prof Sir Gabriel Horn (University of Cambridge)

Dr Cinzia Chiandetti (University of Trieste)
Dr Tony Jackson (University of Cambridge)
Dr Keith Kendrick (Babraham Institute)

Prof Lucia Regolin (University of Padua)
Prof. Revaz Solomonia (Georgian Academy of Sciences,Tbilisi, Georgia)
Dr Rie Suge (Saitama University, Tokyo)
Prof Giorgio Vallortiagara (University of Trento)

Past Post-doctoral Colleagues
Ranjini Ambalavanar
Karina Potter
Yunguo Yu

Claire Jackson

Past Graduate Students
Mary Bradford
Daniel Griffiths
Rhiannon Meredith
Rie Suge

Elizabeth Shurell
Stephen Town



 
Brian McCabe

Research Groups
- Behavioural neuroscience
- Neural mechanisms of learning and memory
- Behavioural inhibition in young children
- Alternative modes of development: plasticity and epigenesis
- Comparative Cognition
- Cognition and Culture in the Wild

Copyright (c) 2012
maintained by Diane Pearce