Integration of appetitive and aversive reinforcers and the neuromodulation of reward seeking and pain avoidance [Elektronische Ressource] / Anton Ilango Micheal

Integration of appetitive and aversive reinforcers and the neuromodulation of reward seeking and pain avoidance Dissertation Zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades doctor rerum naturalium (Dr. rer. nat.) genehmigt durch die Fakultät für Naturwissenschaften der Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg von: M.Sc, Anton Ilango Micheal geb. am 03. Mai 1978 in Tirunelveli, Indien Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Frank W. Ohl Prof. Dr. Holger Schulze eingereicht am: 21. Juni 2010 verteidigt am: 27. Oktober 2010 Acknowledgements First, I would like to thank Prof. Frank Ohl and Dr. Wolfram Wetzel who have been the best supervisors I could have wished for. Their support, guidance and encouragement made it all possible. Thanks to Prof. Henning Scheich for showing me the true path, for introducing to the exciting field of behavioural neuroscience. Thanks to Achim, Antje, Jennifer, Evan, Mario for making the workplace a bit lively and for the lunch time. Thanks to Kathrin Ohl for teaching the stereotaxic surgery and help with the histology. Thanks to Lydia Löw for ordering animals and taking care of them. Thanks to Karin Schmidt and Beate Traore for taking care of the administrative procedures. Thanks to Jason Shumake for getting me to finish many of the projects. I learned a lot from him and he stimulated my curiosity to learn more about brain systems and learning. Also, I thank him for explaining statistics to me very patiently.