The University of Sheffield
Department of Psychology

Professor Peter Redgrave MSc, PhD

Peter RedgraveAddress
The University of Sheffield
Sheffield S10 2TP, UK
Tel: (+44) 0114 222 6562
Fax: (+44) 0114 276 6515
Email: P.Redgrave@sheffield.ac.uk
Room: 2-13

Qualifications

MSc, PhD (University of Hull)

Teaching and administrative duties

I teach on module 108 and module 101. I am also P/g Tutor P Sci and sit on the Psychology Management Committee and Postgraduate Studies Committee.

Research Interests

My research philosophy assumes that to diagnose and correct what has gone wrong in a complicated system, it is helpful to have a good understanding of its normal function.

Normal functions of the basal ganglia
Consequently, as a prelude to the development of more effective treatments for diseases associated with basal ganglia dysfunction (including Parkinson´s disease, schizophrenia, Tourette´s syndrome, obsessive compulsive disorder, attention deficit disorder and the many forms of addiction) my research is part of the research effort to elucidate normal functions of the basal ganglia.

Along with the cerebellum, cortex and hippocampus, the basal ganglia constitute one of the brain´s principal processing units. Common to all is a repeating internal micro-architecture that receives input from, and provides output to functionally diverse regions of the brain. An understanding of the computational processes performed by the basal ganglia on one of its functional inputs is therefore likely to provide profound insights into how inputs from other functional systems are treated.

Basal ganglia function in interaction with the superior colliculus
Thus, we have chosen to investigate how a subcortical sensorimotor structure, the superior colliculus, interacts with the basal ganglia. The superior colliculus was selected because it is one of the few brain structures whose function is comparatively well understood. It is responsible for generating the gaze-shift which brings an unexpected event onto the retinal fovea for more detailed analysis. If we can appreciate exactly how the basal ganglia contribute to this function we are likely to have a much clearer idea of what the basal ganglia do more generally.

We use a wide range of anatomical, electrophysiological, electrochemical, pharmacological and behavioural techniques to investigate the functional architecture of the circuitry through which the superior colliculus and basal ganglia interact. This information is used to constrain the computational models of these circuits that have been constructed by my computational neuroscience collaborators within the Department here in Sheffield, notably, Kevin Gurney and Tony Prescott.

In the near future we intend to include the expertise we have in functional imaging within the Department to augment our systems analysis of basal ganglia function.

Grants

BBSRC Project Grant P Redgrave and P.G. Overton: Short latency auditory and somatosensory input to dopaminergic neurones. (2006-2009) £304,451

EPSRC Cluster grant (P Redgrave with Gurney, Prescott, + Universities of Bristol (R. Bogacz and R, Baddeley) , Aberystwyth (M.Lee), UMIST (P. Dudek), Oxford (P.D Nixon), Cambridge, (P.N Tobler), Dundee (B.W Tatler) and BAE Systems)) to study "Integrative computation for autonomous agents: a novel approach based on the vertebrate brain" £1,720,000 (£711,000 to Sheffield)

EPSRC Project Grant (GR/S19639/01) P Redgrave, AJ Prescott and K. Gurney: Whiskerbot: A Robot Whisker System Modelled on the Rat Mystacial Vibrissae (Facial Whiskers). (2003-2006) £430,503

Macquarie University (Sydney, Australia) Research Grant (Visiting Scholar Award) P Redgrave with Dr Charles Blaha, (2003) £1993

MRC Programme Grant (G0100538) P Redgrave and J.E.W. Mayhew: Haemodynamic models of cortical sensorimotor processing in behaving rats (2002-2007) £704,840

Wellcome Trust Project Grant (GR068021) P Redgrave and P.G. Overton: The tectonigral projection: A potential source of short latency visual input to dopaminergic neurones. (2002-2005) £186,178

EPSRC Project Grant (GR/R95722/01) P Redgrave, AJ Prescott and K. Gurney: Robot control using a model of central structures in the vertebrate brain. (2002-2005) £161,244

Wellcome Trust Grant (059735) P Redgrave and GWM Westby: Is superior colliculus a source of short latency visual information for mesencephalic dopamine neurones? (2000-2002) £103,678

Activities and Distinctions

Invited talks: Departmental Seminars

Invited talks: Conferences

Key Publications

REDGRAVE P. and GURNEY KN. (2006)
The short-latency dopamine signal: A role in discovering novel actions?
Nature Reviews Neurosci. (in press)

DOMMETT E, COIZET V, BLAHA CD, MARTINDALE J, LEFEBVRE V, WALTON N, MAYHEW JE, OVERTON PG and REDGRAVE P. (2005).
How visual stimuli activate dopaminergic neurons at short latency.
Science 307(5714):1476-1479.

COMOLI E, COIZET V, BOYES J, BOLAM JP, CANTERAS NS, QUIRK RH, OVERTON PG and REDGRAVE P. (2003).
A direct projection from superior colliculus to substantia nigra for detecting salient visual events.
Nature Neurosci 6:974-980.

MCHAFFIE JG, STANFORD TR, STEIN BE, COIZET V and REDGRAVE P. (2005).
Subcortical loops through the basal ganglia.
Trends Neurosci 28(8):401-407

COIZET, V. OVERTON, PG and REDGRAVE P. (2006)
Collateralisation of the tectonigral projection with other major output pathways of superior colliculus in the rat.
J. Comp. Neurol. (in press).

KROUT K.E., LOEWY A.D., WESTBY, G.W.M. and REDGRAVE, P. (2001)
Superior colliculus projections to midline and intralaminar thalamic nuclei of the rat.
J Comp Neurol. 431, 198-216

View a full list of Peter Redgrave's publications.

Postgraduate Students

Research Assistants