Research Interests

In research with animals, my students and I use rats to study the role played by various neurotransmitters, especially dopamine, in reward-related incentive learning. Results suggest that dopamine alters the ability of environmental stimuli associated with reward to elicit approach and other responses in the future. The underlying mechanism involves D1-like receptors and a number of kinases and phosphatases possibly changing glutamate synaptic effectiveness in the striatum. Techniques include: behavioural tests of unconditioned and conditioned locomotor activity, place conditioning, lever press and maze learning and memory tasks; systemic or central injections of pharmacological compounds; and histology. In research with human participants diagnosed with Parkinson's disease or schizophrenia we study the role of dopamine and the effects of antipsychotic drugs on cognitive abilities including non-declarative memory. These studies with humans complement those with animals in revealing the role played by various neurotransmitters in the control of behaviour.

Selected Publications

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Gerdjikov TV, Beninger RJ. (2005). Differential effects of calcineurin inhibition and protein kinase A activation on amphetamine-produced conditioned place preference in rats. Eur J Neurosci 22:697-705.

Beninger RJ, Nakonechny PL, Savina I (2003) cAMP-dependent protein kinase and reward-related learning: Intra-accumbens Rp-cAMPS blocks amphetamine-produced place conditioning in rats. Psychopharmacology 170: 23-32.

Beninger RJ, Wasserman JI, Zanibbi K, Charbonneau D, Mangels J, Beninger BV (2003) Typical and atypical antipsychotic medications differentially affect two nondeclarative memory tasks in schizophrenic patients: a double dissociation. Schizophrenia Research 61: 281-292.

Beninger RJ, Miller R (1998) Dopamine D1-like receptors and reward-related incentive learning. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 22: 335-345.

Beninger RJ, Colton AM, Ingles JL, Boegman RJ, Jhamandas K (1994) Picolinic acid blocks the neurotoxic but not the neuroexcitant properties of quinolinic acid in the rat brain: Evidence from turning behaviour and tyrosine hydroxylase immunohistochemistry. Neuroscience 61: 603-612.

Beninger RJ (1983) The role of dopamine in locomotor activity and learning. Brain Research Reviews 6: 173-196.

Beninger RJ, Hahn BL (1983) Pimozide blocks establishment but not expression of amphetamine-produced environment-specific conditioning. Science 220: 1304-1306.