We were honoured to welcome MP Gordie Hogg to CGR this week to discuss our CIHR project grant awarded in January. The new project, led by Prof Catharine Winstanley and in collaboration with Mariya Cherkasova, Jon Stoessl, Vesna Sossi and Doris Doudet at the Djavid Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, will look at the effects of sensory feedback (i.e. intense audit
ory and visual stimulation – bells and whistles – that accompany wins) on risky decision-making in people with gambling problems. The project is inspired by an animal model developed in the Winstanlay lab (Barrus & Winstanley 2016 Journal of Neuroscience). We will also use dopamine PET imaging at the Centre for Brain Health to test the hypothesis that sensory feedback increases risk taking via its actions on the dopamine system. If you are interested in participating in the preliminary phase of this project (which doesn’t involve brain imaging) please contact Mariya Cherkasova or check out our participation page.