Using Animal Models to Study Human Cognitive Disorders
Barbara Strupp

Animal models play an important role in the study of human cognitive disorders. For example, they often are critical for developing treatments for diseases which impair intellectual functioning as well as for determining if a new drug or environmental toxin might adversely affect human cognitive functioning.

In this exploration, we will discuss some of the issues involved in using animals as models for human cognitive pathology. For example, how do you know if your animal is mentally retarded, or alternatively whether it just cannot remember things? How can the type of dysfunction that you observe shed light on the type of brain damage that may have occurred? The types of methodologies that can answer these questions will be discussed and demonstrated in a tour of a lab which focuses on these questions.