November 5, 2019
Kimberly Kirkpatrick to present 'The Neurobiology of Timing and Impulsivity'
Submitted by Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
Kimberly Kirkpatrick, director of the K-State Cognitive and Neurobiological Approaches to Plasticity Center, will be the featured speaker for Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Seminar on Nov. 6. She will present "The Neurobiology of Timing and Impulsivity" at 4 p.m. in 120 Ackert Hall.
Presentation: Impulsive choices involve choosing a smaller reward available sooner when the larger-later reward is more optimal. Impulsive choice is a stable, but modifiable trait that is related to a wide range of diseases and disorders. Time-based interventions promote self-control and have proven to be both durable and generalizable, suggesting that they modify general choice behavior. In addition, these interventions promote timing, which is a key potential process that may guide choice behavior. The interventions may also change reward valuation through exposure to short delays. The interventions likely act on a dual process system in which the impulsive process (emerging from limbic structures) is regulated by executive processes (emerging from frontal cortices). The time-based interventions are proposed to operate to enhance the executive top-down regulation system. Preliminary research using chemogenetics suggests that we can target the interface of the timing and reward systems, which is the likely source of intervention effects.