Darlene Skinner

Darlene Skinner is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at Memorial University of Newfoundland, affiliated with the Faculty of Science and the field of Behavioural Neuroscience. She holds a B.Sc.(Hons.) from Memorial University and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on head direction cells and their role in spatial navigation, orientation, and neural networks in mammals. She investigates how disruptions in neural pathways (e.g., lesions, inactivation) affect spatial tasks requiring directional heading.

Key research interests include spatial cognition, neural mechanisms of navigation, and the developmental hierarchy of spatial cells (head direction, place, grid). Her work emphasizes direction learning’s foundational role in spatial problem-solving. Recent studies explore the functional significance of head direction cells across brain regions like the postsubiculum, thalamus, and dorsal tegmental nucleus.

Publications highlight experimental paradigms such as water T-mazes and foraging tasks to assess spatial learning. While no scientific awards are explicitly listed, her contributions advance models of navigation and spatial memory. Her lab’s findings bridge behavioral outcomes with neural circuitry, contributing to theoretical frameworks in spatial cognition.