PATRICIA E. SHARP

Professor Emeritus, Department of Psychology
Member of J.P. Scott Center
B.A. (Magna Cum Laude) Psychology, Macalester College
M.A.  Psychology, Yale University
Ph.D.  Psychology, University of Colorado, Boulder

Phone: (419) 372-8059
Email: psharp@bgsu.edu
Lab Page: N/A

Research Interests:

• Neural basis of spatial cognitive mapping
• Neural basis of Buddhist Meditation and its consequences
• Neural Network Modeling of Meditation and other Cognitive Processes
• Buddhist philosophy and Science

Selected Publications:

Sharp PE (2013) Meditation-induced bliss viewed as release from conditioned neural (thought) patterns that block reward signals in the brain pleasure center.  Religion, Brain and Behavior, 4, 202-258.

Sharp PE (2011) Buddhist Enlightenment and the Destruction of Attractor Networks:  A Neuroscientific Speculation on the Buddhist Path from Everyday Consciousness to Buddha-Awakening. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 18, 137 - 152.

Sharp PE (2008)  Context-specific versus context-invariant spatial coding in the hippocampal formation: Implications for episodic memory.  In Hippocampal Place Cells: Relevance to Learning and Memory.  Mizumori SYJ (Ed.)  Oxford University Press.

Bingman VP, Sharp PE (2006) Neuronal implementation of hippocampal-mediated spatial behavior: A comparative-evolutionary perspective.  Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience Reviews, 5, 80-91.

Sharp PE (2005). Regional distribution and variation in the firing properties of Head Direction cells.  In Head Direction Cells and the Neural Mechanisms Underlying Directional Orientation. Taube JS And Wiener SI (Ed.s) MIT Press, Cambridge.

Sharp PE (Ed) (2001) The Neural Basis of Navigation: Evidence from Single Cell Recording. Kluwer Academic Publishers.  Norwell, MA, 2001.

Sharp PE, Blair HT, Cho J (2001) The anatomical and computational basis of the Head Direction cell signal in the rat.  Trends in Neuroscience, 24, 289-294.

Sharp PE (1999) Complimentary roles for hippocampal versus subicular/entorhinal place cells in coding place, context, and events. Hippocampus, 9, 432-443.

Blair HT, Cho J, Sharp PE (1998)  Role of the lateral mammillary nucleus in the rat head direction circuit: A combined single-unit recording and lesion study.  Neuron, 21, 1387-1397.