Dr. Hampson’s research focus is in Neuroscience, in particular, the function of the hippocampus in mammalian brain.  There are three main areas contributing to this research – 1) cellular mechanisms underlying memory processes in hippocampus; 2) behavioral mechanisms of short and long-term memory in rodents and nonhuman primates; and 3) in vivo neural correlates of learning and memory in rodents and nonhuman primates.  Using these mechanisms, specific experimental projects include: development of computer algorithms to detect the neural patterns associated with processing of memory, investigation of drugs that alter memory function, examination of the effects of sleep and sleep deprivation on cognitive (memory) processing, and comparative studies of memory across different animal species.

Funding for Dr. Hampson’s research comes from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to study the effects of cannabinoids on memory processes in rats, and from the National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH) to study patterns of neural activity that represent information encoded by the brain.  The NIDA project also includes a collaborative component with the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.

Dr. Hampson is also a co-investigator with Dr. Sam Deadwyler in the Department of Physiology & Pharmacology on two Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) projects, two NIDA grants, and the Center for Neurobiological Investigation of Drug Abuse.  The DARPA research consists of two separate projects, one to study the effects of sleep deprivation on cognition, and the other to provide neural activity patterns and test the effects of stimulation of neural pathways as part of a joint project with the University of Southern California to develop a cortical prosthetic.