Grant: Operating Grant

An important aspect of intelligence - and part of what makes us 'human' - is the ability to exert flexible control over our behaviour. Think of our response to a crosswalk light: when green, we can cross the intersection; when red, we should wait. But what if something jumps into the intersection, even though we have the right of way? We must continually adapt our behaviour based on our intentions and the changing environment. Here we present a multi-tiered project that is designed to investigate how the brain provides this flexible control over behaviour by using the saccadic eye movement system as the model platform. The eye movement system is used because we have extensive knowledge of both the sensory component (vision) and the motor component (eye movement) of the system. Specific experiments have been designed to combine high speed eye movement recording with modern brain imaging techniques to identify brain regions that provide flexible control over behaviour. We will investigate the maturation of this flexible control across the lifespan and we will conduct these same experiments in various patient groups (e.g., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and Parkinson's disease) in which flexible control over behaviour is compromised.