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Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Emeriti Faculty Faculty PeopleHome >  People >  Faculty >  Emeriti Faculty > 

Robert Leaton

Professor
Ph.D., Yale University, 1963

Office: (603) 646-3183, 264 Moore
Lab: (603) 646-0057
robert.leaton@dartmouth.edu

Interests

Brain mechanisms underlying behavioral change, especially the change associated with habituation and conditioning.

Two major areas of research focus:

  1. Acoustic startle response: long-term habituation, associated cardiovascular changes, sensitization, and the modulating effects of fear conditioning.
  2. Assessment of medial cerebellar damage with particularly attention to the "emotional" changes associated with cerebellar damage.

Selected publications

  • Leaton, R. N. News and Comment: Fear and the Cerebellum. Molecular Psychiatry, 2003, 8, 461 - 462
  • Leaton, R. N. Electrolytic, but not neurotoxic, lesions to the lateral tegmental tract increase acoustic startle amplitude and reduce startle stimulus-induced freezing. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 2003,79, 89-98.
  • Borszcz, G. B., and Leaton, R. N. The effect of amygdala lesions on conditional and unconditional vocalizations in rats, Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 2003, 79, 212-225.
  • Leaton, R. N., and Brucato, F. H. Startle amplitude and fear in an acoustic startle paradigm: Lesions to the brachium of the inferior colliculus or the lateral tegmental tract. Behavioral Neuroscience, 2001,115, 477-492.
  • Leaton, R. N., and Kelso, J. M. The auditory pathways: Startle amplitude and fear in an acoustic startle response paradigm in rats. Psychobiology, 2000, 28, 492-506.
  • Pilz, P. K. D. and Leaton, R. N. Short-term and long-term habituation of the acoustic startle response as a function of stimulus rise time in rats. Psychobiology, 1999, 27, 402-414.

Last Updated: 12/13/04