Etan Markus

Professor and Associate Department Head of Graduate Studies

Psychological Sciences

---

Education

Ph.D., 1989 University of Toronto, Toronto

---

Webpages

• Markus Lab
• Precollege Program
• UCONN Brain&Behavior@TAU: TelAviv Summer Psychology/Neuroscience Program
• Markus PSYC2209 Website – Learning & memory: From Brain to Behavior

---

Research Interests

• Brain basis of behavior, focusing on rats. Specifically:
  Memory formation
• Aging
• Hippocampal system
• Navigation
• Social Interactions

---

Research Synopsis

The broad goal is understanding how an experience gets “turned into” a memory. The lab focuses on how neurons process and represent information in a specific brain system, the hippocampus. The hippocampus is important for episodic memory and knowing your location while navigating through the environment. Techniques used include training rats on an array of behavioral tasks (mazes), brain inactivation, and monitoring the activity of individual cells during behavior.

---

Teaching

Undergraduate

• PSYC 2500 Learning
• PSYC 3250w Animal Behavior & Learning Lab

Graduate

• PSYC 5351: Neural Foundations of Learning and Memory
• PSYC 5285: Neurobiology of Aging: Changes in Cognitive Processes

---

Publications

Recent

See publications at PubMed National Library of Medicine

Representative

Jacobson TK, Schmidt B, Hinman JR, Escabi­ MA, Markus EJ. (2015). Age-related decrease in theta and gamma coherence across dorsal ca1 pyramidale and radiatum layers. Hippocampus 25(11):1327-35

Schmidt B (g), Hinman JR, Jacobson TK (g), Szkudlarek E (u), Argraves M (u), Escabi­ MA, Markus EJ (2013). Dissociation between Dorsal and Ventral Hippocampal Theta Oscillations during Decision-Making. J. Neuroscience 33(14):6212-24

Jacobson TK, Howe MD, Schmidt B, Hinman JR, Escabi M, Markus EJ (2013). Hippocampal theta, gamma, and theta-gamma coupling: Effects of aging, environmental change, and cholinergic activation. J. Neurophysiology 109(7):1852-65

Schmidt B, Papale A, Redish AD & Markus EJ (2013). Conflict between Place and Response Navigation Strategies: Effects on Vicarious Trial and Error (VTE) Behaviors. Learning & Memory 15;20(3):130-8

Schmidt B, Marrone D, and Markus EJ (2011). Disambiguating the similar: The dentate gyrus and pattern separation. Behavioral Brain Research. 226(1):56-65

 

---

Honors and Awards

• 2016 AAUP Teaching Excellence Career Award
• 2016 CLAS Excellence in Teaching Award
• 2016 OURs Faculty Mentorship Excellence Award