Dr. Givens areas of expertise include: Behavioral neuroscience; physiology and pharmacology of cognitive processes; neural mechanisms underlying ethanol-induced cognitive deficits; electrophysiological correlates of memory and attention in rats (Joint appointment with Neuroscience).

Selected Publications

Napier, T.C., B.S. Givens, D.W. Schultz, B.S. Bunney, G.R. Breese, and R.B. Mailman. SCH-23390 effects on apomorphine-induced responses of nigral dopaminergic neurons. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 236: 838, 1986.

McCown, T.J., B.S. Givens and G.R. Breese. Amino acid influences on seizures elicited within the inferior colliculus. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 243(2): 603-608, 1987.

Duncan, G.E., W.E. Stumpf, O. Brustle, B.S. Givens, G.R. Breese and C. Pilgram. Topography of basal glucose utilization in the hippocampus determined with 1-14C-glucose. Neuroscience 24:877-883, 1988.

Breese, G.R., B.S. Givens, T.J. McCown and H.E. Criswell. Strategy for investigating functions altered by ethanol at specific sites in brain: Evidence that ethanol influences GABA-benzodiazepine receptor complex function. In K. Kuriyma, A. Takada, and H. Ishii (eds.): Biomedical and Social Aspects of Alcohol and Alcoholism. Elsevier: Amsterdam, pp. 273-276, 1988.

Givens, B.S. and G.R. Breese. Enhancement of GABA-mediated inhibition by ethanol occurs selectively in the medial septal area. Alcoholism - Clinical and Experimental Research 12:309, 1989.

Givens, B.S. and G.R. Breese. Electrophysiological evidence that ethanol alters function of medial septal area without affecting lateral septal function. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 253:95-103, 1989.

Givens, B.S. and G.R. Breese. Site-specific enhancement of GABA-mediated inhibition of neural activity by ethanol in the rat septal area. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 254:528-538, 1990.

Givens, B.S. and D.S. Olton. Cholinergic and GABAergic modulation of medial septal area: Effect on working memory. Behavioral Neuroscience 104:849-855, 1990.

Olton, D.S., A. Markowska, M.L. Voyko, B. Givens, L. Gorman, and G.L. Wenk. Basal Forebrain cholinergic system: a functional analysis. In The Basal Forebrain: Anatomy to Function. Eds., T.C. Napier, P.W. Kalivas and I. Hanin. Plenum: New York. 1991.

Napier, T.C., P.E. Simson, and B.S. Givens. Dopamine electrophysiology of ventral palladal/substantia innominata neurons: Comparison with the dorsal globus palladus. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 258:249-262, 1991.

Crawley, J.N., Fiske, S.M., Austin, M.C. and Givens, B. Behavioral actions of galanin and galanin fragments. In T. Hokfelt, T. Bartfai, D. Jacobwitz and D. Otteson (Eds.), Galanin: A new multifunctional peptide in the neuro-endocrine system, MacMillan, New York. 1991.

Olton, D.S., Givens, B.S., Markowska, A.L., Shapiro, M. and Golski, S.. Mnemonic Functions of the Cholinergic Septohippocampal Pathway. In Squire, L.R., Weinberger, N.M., Lynch, G., and McGaugh, J.L. Memory: Organization and Locus of Change. Oxford University Press, New York. 1991.

Givens, B., Olton, D.S., and Crawley, J.N. Galanin in the medial septal area impairs working memory. Brain Research 582:71-77, 1992.

Givens, B. and Olton, D.S. Working memory and cholinergic autoregulation in the medial septal area. In Neurotransmitter interactions and cognitive functions. E.D. Levin, M. Decker, and J.L. McGaugh (eds.). 1992.

Gorman, L.K., Pang, K., Frick, K.M., Givens, B. and Olton, D.S. Acetylcholine release in the hippocampus: Effects of cholinergic and GABAergic compounds in the medial septal area. Neuroscience Letters 166:199-202, 1994.

Givens, B. and Olton, D.S. Local modulation of basal forebrain: Effects on working and reference memory. Journal of Neuroscience 14:3578-3587, 1994.

Wan, R-Q., Givens, B., and Olton, D. Opioid modulation of working memory: Intraseptal, but not intra-amygdaloid, infusions of -endorphin impair performance in spatial alternation. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory 63:64-86, 1995.

Markowska, A.L., Olton, D., and Givens, B. Cholinergic manipulations in the medial septal area: Age-related effects on working memory and hippocampal electrophysiology. Journal of Neuroscience 15:2063-2073., 1995.

Givens, B. and Olton, D.S. Bi-directional modulation of scopolamine-induced working memory impairments by muscarinic activation of the medial septal area. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory 63:269-276, 1995.

Givens, B. Low doses of ethanol impair spatial working memory and reduce hippocampal theta activity. Alcoholism - Clinical and Experimental Research 19:763-767, 1995.

Givens, B. and McMahon, K. Ethanol suppresses the induction of long term potentiation in vivo. Brain Research 688, 27-33, 1995.

Givens, B. Behavioral Correlates of single units in the medial septal area: The effect of ethanol. Neuroscience 71, 417-427, 1996.

Sarter, M., Bruno, J.P., Givens, B., Moore, H., and McGaughy,J. McMahon,K. Neuronal mechanisms of drug effects on cognition: behavior as a necessary intervening variable. Cognitive Brain Research 3, 329-343, 1996.

Sarter, M., Berntson, G.G., Bruno, J.P. and Givens, B. Agonizing over antagonizing: what do benzodiazepine receptor antagonists demonstrate? Psychopharmacology 126:182-184, 1996.

Givens, B. Resetting of hippocampal rhythmic activity: Relation to working memory. NeuroReport 8:159-163, 1996.

Givens, B. and Sarter, M. Modulation of cognitive processes by transsynaptic activation of the basal forebrain. Behavioral Brain Research 84:1-22, 1997.

Givens, B. Effect of ethanol on sustained attention in rats. Psychopharmacology 129:135-140, 1997.

Givens, B. and McMahon, K. The effect of ethanol on nonspatial working memory and attention in the rat. Behavioral Neuroscience 111:275-282, 1997.

Givens, B., Williams, J., and Gill, T. M. Cognitive correlates of single neuron activity in task-performing animals: Applications to ethanol research. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 22:23-31, 1998.