Motivational Neuronal Network Conference 2007

The May 26-29, 2007, MNN meeting will focus on "Reward, Compulsions and Habit Formation".

As in the past, this will be an informal meeting centered around workshops and discussion groups. We address key issues centered on the regulation and dysregulation of prefrontal cortex and its associative neural network in psychiatric disorders. There are four workshop topics:

Workshop I: Building and breaking automatized behavioral sequences

Workshop II: Drug addiction, obsessive compulsive disorders, Tourette syndrome, and eating disorders: commonalities and differences

Workshop III: Nature versus Nurture: environment interactions, why exposure doesn't always lead to addiction and compulsions

Workshop IV: The dorsal/ventral divide: a dated concept?

There are no primary data presentations with the exception of two invited speakers who deliver 'perspective' addresses: Dr. Peter Redgrave, The University of Sheffield, Scotland; and Dr. Scott L. Rauch, Harvard University. Other than these speakers, there are no planned formal data presentations by senior scientists. However, there will be an evening poster session for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior scientists.

There is a focus group for each theme that is comprised of a cross section of 6+ scientists including both clinical and basic scientists. These groups help determine some initial questions and issues to begin the workshops. Each workshop encourages active participation from all attendees, addressing questions and new directions that cut across the field. This meeting therefore continues the unique format developed for our previous three meetings that focused on "The role of the ventral striatum in learning and plasticity" (2000), "The role of the ventral striatum in emotion" (2002), and "Regulation and development of the prefrontal cortex: Basic and clinical perspectives" (2005).

For more information about this meeting, please contact:

Suzanne N. Haber (suzanne_haber@urmc.rochester.edu), University of Rochester, or

Christelle Baunez (cbaunez@up.univ-mrs.fr), CNRS-UMR6155 Universite de Provence).