Robert W. Stackman, Jr.

Associate Professor of Psychology, Psychobiology and Neuroscience

Ph.D. 1995

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Program in Behavioral Neuroscience, Department of Psychology

Research Area:

Behavioral Neuroscience

Contact Information:

Office: 522 Behavioral Science Building
Telephone: (561) 297-2270
Fax: (561) 297-2160
E-mail: rstackma@fau.edu

General Research Interests

Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
Spatial Navigation
Brain Representations of Space (i.e., place cells and head direction cells)
Mouse Models of Alzheimer's disease

My lab employs a systems level approach to investigate the brain mechanisms that underlie complex behaviors such as learning, memory and spatial navigation. We use multiple techniques, including neuropharmacological tools and electrophysiological methods, to examine how the brain stores and represents information. Our research focuses on the hippocampal formation, an essential brain structure for memory and navigation. The hippocampal formation is compromised by aging and Alzheimer's disease. One goal of this work is to identify mechanisms that might be useful targets for the development of novel treatments of age-related cognitive decline.

Current projects include:

(i) examination of the acute effects of alcohol on spatial navigation and the firing properties of hippocampal place cells and thalamic head direction cells (with support from the National Institutes of Health: NIAAA award #AA014407)

(ii) examination of the influences of small conductance calcium-activated potassium channels (SK channels) on hippocampal learning and memory (with support from the National Science Foundation: Integrative Organismal Biology award #0517689)

(iii) examination of the interactive influences of head direction cells and place cells on spatial navigation

(iv) testing the cognitive influences of the neurosteroid allopregnanolone.

Representative Publications

Quinn, J.F., Bussiere J.R., Hammond R.S., Montine, T.J., Henson, E., Jones, R.E., and Stackman, R.W. (2007). Chronic dietary alpha-lipoic acid reduces deficits in hippocampal memory of aged Tg2576 mice. Neurobiology of Aging. Abstract | Article

Hammond, R.S., Bond, C.T., Ngo-Anh, T.J., Adelman, J.P., Maylie, J. and Stackman, R.W. (2006) Small-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channel 2 (SK2) overexpression impairs hippocampal learning, memory, and synaptic plasticity. Journal of Neuroscience. 26(6): 1844-1853. Abstract | Article

Stackman, R.W. and Zugaro, M.B. (2005). Influences of self-motion cues on head direction cell responses, and outcomes of intermodality cue conflicts. In: Head Direction Cells and the Neural Mechanisms of Spatial Orientation. (S.I. Wiener and J.S. Taube, Eds.), MIT Press, Boston. pp. 137-162.

Taube, J.S., Stackman, R.W., Calton, J. and Oman, C.M. (2004). Rat head direction cell responses in 0-G parabolic flight. Journal of Neurophysiology. 92, 2887-2997. Abstract | Article

Hammond, R.S., Tull, L.E., and Stackman, R.W. (2004). On the delay-dependent involvement of the hippocampus in object memory. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. 82, 26-34. Abstract | Article

Stackman, R.W., Golob, E.J., Bassett, J. and Taube, J.S. (2003). Passive transport disrupts directional path integration by rat head direction cells. Journal of Neurophysiology. 90, 2862-2874. Abstract | Article

Stackman, R.W., Hammond, R.S., Linardatos, E., Gerlach, A., Maylie, J., Adelman, J and Tzounopoulos, T. (2002). Small conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels modulate synaptic plasticity and memory encoding. Journal of Neuroscience. 22, 10163-10171. Abstract | Article

Stackman, R.W., Clark, A.S. and Taube, J.S. (2002). Hippocampal spatial representations require vestibular input. Hippocampus. 12, 291-303. Abstract | Article

| Poster