Ben Clark


Phone: (403) 394-3959

Research Interests

Ben’s current research is directed at better understanding how the mammalian brain derives an accurate representation of current spatial orientation—that is, how do we know where we are and what direction we are facing? Specific questions of interest are: how does the brain create spatial representations of our current directional heading (head direction cells) and location (grid cells and place cells) from multi-modal sensory inputs? How does the brain utilize this information to get us from one place to another, and how is this information used to form enduring memories?

Biography

Ben received his Ph.D. in Psychological and Brain Sciences at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. His dissertation research was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Jeffrey Taube and was directed at understanding how the limbic head direction cell signal is generated and processed in the rodent brain. Ben’s dissertation work also examined the functional relationship between head direction cell and grid cell systems within the medial entorhinal cortex and parasubiculum. After completing his Ph.D. in the summer of 2011, Ben joined the Lethbridge Brain Dynamics group as a postdoctoral research associate in the laboratory of Dr. Bruce McNaughton. Ben’s postdoctoral work is supported by a fellowship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Degrees

  • Ph.D. Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.
  • B.Sc. Neuroscience (honours), University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB.

Publications

  1. Clark BJ, Taube JS. (2012). Vestibular and attractor network basis of the head direction cell signal in subcortical circuits. Frontiers in Neural Circuits, 6(7):doi: 10.3389/fncir.2012.00007.
  2. Clark BJ, Harris MJ, Taube JS. (2012). Control of anterodorsal thalamic head direction cells by environmental boundaries: comparison with conflicting distal landmarks. Hippocampus, 22(2):172-187.
  3. Yoder RM, Clark BJ, Taube JS. (2011). Origins of landmark encoding for the brain. Trends in Neuroscience, 34(11):561-571.
  4. Clark BJ, Taube JS. (2011). Intact landmark control and angular path integration by head direction cells in the anterodorsal thalamus after lesions of the medial entorhinal cortex. Hippocampus, 21(7):767-782.
  5. Yoder RM, Clark BJ, Brown JE, Lamia M, Valerio S, Shinder M, Taube JS. (2011). Both visual and idiothetic cues contribute to head direction cell stability during navigation along complex routes. Journal of Neurophysiology, 105(6):2989-3001.
  6. Clark BJ, Bassett JP, Wang S, Taube JS. (2010). Impaired head direction cell representation in the anterodorsal thalamus after lesions of the retrosplenial cortex. Journal of Neuroscience, 30(15):5289-5302.
  7. Valerio S, Clark BJ, Chan JHM, Frost CP, Harris MJ, Taube JS. (2010). Directional learning, but no spatial mapping by rats performing a navigational task in an inverted orientation. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 93(4):495-505.
  8. Clark BJ, Taube JS. (2009). Deficits in landmark navigation and path integration after lesions of the interpeduncular nucleus. Behavioral Neuroscience, 123(3):490-503.
  9. Clark BJ, Sarma A, Taube JS. (2009). Head direction cell instability in the anterior dorsal thalamus after lesions of the interpeduncular nucleus. Journal of Neuroscience, 29(2):493-507.
  10. Lehmann H, Clark BJ, Whishaw IQ. (2007). Similar development of cued and conditioned home bases in control and hippocampal-damaged rats in an open field exploratory task. Hippocampus, 17(5):370-80.
  11. Whishaw IQ, Gharbawie OA, Clark BJ, Lehmann H. (2006). The exploratory behavior of rats in an open environment optimizes security. Behavioural Brain Research, 171(2):230-9.
  12. Clark BJ, Hamilton DA, Whishaw IQ. (2006). Motor Activity (exploration) and formation of home bases in mice (C57BL/6) influenced by visual and tactile cues: modification of movement distribution, distance, location, and speed. Physiology & Behavior, 87(4):805-16.
  13. Clark BJ, Hines DJ, Hamilton DA, Whishaw IQ. (2005). Movements of exploration intact in rats with hippocampal lesions. Behavioural Brain Research, 163(1):91-9.