Dr. Daniel Weese PO Box 861 Hampden-Sydney, VA 23943 Fax (434) 223-6347 Email - dweese@hsc.edu

Education

A. B. Psychology, summa cum laude, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri; Minors in Biology and Anthropology, May 1972
Ph.D. Physiological Psychology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana; Minor in Neuroscience, May 1983..
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Pharmacology, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, September, 1984 to August, 1985.
Visiting Scholar, School of Psychology, Physiological Psychology Laboratory (Verity. J. Brown, Ph.D., Principle Investigator), University of St. Andrews, Scotland, January to August, 1998.

Major Areas of Interest

Brain mechanisms and attention. The “Searchlight Hyposthesis” of attention (Crick, 1984) asserts that a region of the thalamus known as the reticular nucleus (TRN) facilitates the transfer of some sensory activity for further analysis and conscious awareness and suppresses the transmission of other activity. The cortex probably controls the movement of the searchlight, but the TRN is where the cortex exerts its influence. Employing a covert orienting task to measure changes in attention, we demonstrated that unilateral ibotenate lesions in the TRN produce attentional deficits in rats. They no longer benefit from a cue that predicts the location of a target contralateral to the lesion. It appears that when the cue is presented to the intact animal, the TRN, possbily through the influence of the cortex, primes the visual thalamus to transmit signals from a second stimulus, the target, which follows after a short delay. A lesion in the TRN eliminates this priming effect. Current research examines the role of inhibitory interneurons in the TRN on attentional processes.

Brain mechanisms and intention. According to the classical model of basal ganglia function, voluntary movement occurs when inhibition of the motor thalamus by the two major output nuclei, the entopeduncular nucleus (EP) and the substantia nigra pars reticulata, is reduced. Unilateral lesions in the EP then would be expected to disinhibit the thalamus and increase motor activity directed contralateral to the lesion. However, our findings do not appear to fit this model; unilateral lesions in the EP produced deficits in directing responses contralaterally on a variety of measures on lateralized visual discrimination tasks. While there
was no change in the time to intiate a contralateral response, significantly more time was taken to execute these responses. These results suggest that movement may be associated with a reduction in thalamo-cortical excitatory activity. Alternatively, the increase in the time to execute a response contralateral to the lesion in the present study may be due to the emergence of incompatible movements such as stereotyped behaviors.

Academic Appointments

Associate Professor of Psychology, Hampden-Sydney College
Chair, Hampden-Sydney College Department of Psychology
William W. Elliott Associate Professor of Psychology, 1995 to 1998.

Professional Associations

Society for Neuroscience
Sigma Xi
International Society for the History of the Neurosciences
Psi Chi
Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience
Pi Gamma Mu

Representative Research
Current Research:
Weese, D. & Dickens, T. Changes in covert orienting following microinjections of the GABAA agonist muscimol and antagonist bicuculline into the thalamic reticular nucleus.

Submitted:
Weese, K. & Weese, D. Memory, Incest Stories, and Narrative Form in The Sweet Hereafter. Narrative Conference, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampsshire, April 1999.

Publications:
Weese, D. and Brown, V. J. (1998), Attentional orienting in the rat is impaired by unilateral lesions in the thalamic reticular nucleus. Neuroscience Abstracts, 24, 170.

Weese, D., Eads, M. and McMahan, R. (1997). Visual discrimination deficits in rats following neglect- producing unilateral lesions in the entopeduncular nucleus. Neuroscience Abstracts, 23 469.

Putnam, D., Williams, R. A., Weese, G. D., & Whitlock, K. (1990). The effect of inpatient psychiatric hospitalization on weight gain in children and adolescents. The Psychiatric Hospital, 21, 119-123.

Weese G. D. & Frommer, G. P. (1982). “Patterns of sensorimotor and tactile discrimination deficits following unilateral lesions in the lateral hypothalamus that produce “neglect” in rats.” Neuroscience Abstracts, 8, 972.

Ackil, J. E., Weese, G. D., & Frommer, G. P. (1982). Responses induced by stimuli that predict lateral hypothalamic stimulation. Physiological Psychology, 10, 129-144.

Hoyman, L., Weese, G. D., & Frommer, G. P. (1979). Tactile discrimination deficits following neglect-producing unilateral hypothalamic lesions in the rat. Physiology and Behavior, 22, 139-147.

Weese, G. D., Niemand, D., & Finger, S. (1973). Cortical lesions and somesthesis in rats: Effects of training and overtraining prior to surgery. Experimental Brain Research, 16, 542-550.

Courses Taught

Introductory Psychology and Laboratory
Physiological Psychology and Laboratory
Behavioral Pharmacology
Neuropsychology
Sensation & Perception