Francesco Leri

Dr. Leri completed his Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Experimental Psychology at McGill University and his post-doctoral training at the Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology at Concordia University. His first academic appointment was in the Department of Psychology at the University of Guelph, where he was promoted to the rank of professor in 2014. He is now a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto Scarborough, where he also serves as Associate Vice-Principal Research and Innovation for Research Facilitation and Infrastructure (AVPRI – RFI).

Sponsored by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Dr. Leri and his research team have been investigating how reinforcing stimuli modify behaviour by enhancing the stability of memories formed during their experience. The laboratory has conducted a comprehensive analysis of the post-training effects of heroin and amphetamine in rats, subsequently broadened to include palatable foods and other prominent drug reinforcers such as nicotine and cocaine. These studies have identified conditions that determine whether post-training treatments enhance or impair learning and have also generated surprising findings. Notably, the laboratory found that both opiate administration and withdrawal from opioid drugs produce indistinguishable effects on the consolidation of object memory, suggesting that the neural systems mediating the impact of these drug states on memory formation operate downstream of their direct pharmacological actions.

Importantly, exposure to reinforcers not only "stamps in" memories but also increases the salience of the environmental stimuli that are present at the time of exposure. Consequently, in line with the established expertise in the neurobiology of “conditioned” reinforcers, Leri’s group demonstrated that environmental stimuli paired with both incentive (nicotine, cocaine, heroin) and aversive (opioid withdrawal) reinforcers significantly impact memory consolidation, potentially via shared actions on brain’s monoamine and stress-responsive systems. 

The primary objective of the research planned at the University of Toronto Scarborough is to identify neurochemical and hormonal mechanisms involved in both conditioned and unconditioned memory modulation. Understanding how these stimuli affect memory functions is important across several disciplines, including psychology, neuroscience, education, and mental health, as it helps clarify how environmental factors contribute to the development and persistence of both adaptive and maladaptive behaviors.