Elizabeth P. Dunaway, PhD

     Broadly speaking, I am interested in the mechanisms involved in learning. To date, the majority of my research has centered on studying these mechanisms through Pavlovian fear conditioning procedures in rats using conditioned emotional responding. I am particularly interested in assessing the effects of different environmental conditions in increasing the efficacy of treatments intended to attenuate conditioned fear.

     In addition to working with rodents, I have also collaborated in the development of novel techniques to study Pavlovian learning in the common garden slug, Lehmannia Valentiana. Through this work, my collaborators and I have demonstrated that slugs learn through Pavlovian conditioning in much the same way that humans do and are sensitive to treatment techniques that attenuate conditioned responding.