Spatial Learning and Memory in Animal Models and Humans

Haley, Gwendolen E.; Raber, Jacob

doi:10.1007/978-1-60761-883-6_4

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Spatial and object tasks in rodents are useful for the development of parallel, translational object/context and maze learning assays in human behavior experiments (48). To expand our analysis of infantile amnesia to an active, maze-based task, we probed memory for a spatial location in infant and adult C57BL/6 J mice using a cued version of the Barnes maze (Fig.…”

Section: Mia Offspring Do Not Show Infantile Amnesia For Spatial or O...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Immune activation state modulates infant engram expression across development

Power,

Stewart,

Zielke

et al. 2023

Sci. Adv.

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Infantile amnesia is possibly the most ubiquitous form of memory loss in mammals. We investigated how memories are stored in the brain throughout development by integrating engram labeling technology with mouse models of infantile amnesia. Here, we found a phenomenon in which male offspring in maternal immune activation models of autism spectrum disorder do not experience infantile amnesia. Maternal immune activation altered engram ensemble size and dendritic spine plasticity. We rescued the same apparently forgotten infantile memories in neurotypical mice by optogenetically reactivating dentate gyrus engram cells labeled during complex experiences in infancy. Furthermore, we permanently reinstated lost infantile memories by artificially updating the memory engram, demonstrating that infantile amnesia is a reversible process. Our findings suggest not only that infantile amnesia is due to a reversible retrieval deficit in engram expression but also that immune activation during development modulates innate, and reversible, forgetting switches that determine whether infantile amnesia will occur.

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Section: Mia Offspring Do Not Show Infantile Amnesia For Spatial or O...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Immune activation state modulates infant engram expression across development

Power,

Stewart,

Zielke

et al. 2023

Sci. Adv.

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“…Classical fear conditioning can be conducted in human populations (Alvarez et al, 2008 ), although some investigators are reluctant to employ a paradigm that requires the application of shock to humans. A parallel assessment for spatial learning and memory in rodents (Morris water maze and Barnes maze) that uses virtual reality has been elaborated recently and tested in children and older adults (Haley and Raber, 2011 ). With EBCC, the power of conclusions regarding age-related performance deficits in humans is only strengthened by the similarity in performance across species.…”

Section: Behavioral Tests and Age Sensitivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Age sensitivity of behavioral tests and brain substrates of normal aging in mice

Kennard

Woodruff-Pak

2011

Front. Ag. Neurosci.

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Knowledge of age sensitivity, the capacity of a behavioral test to reliably detect age-related changes, has utility in the design of experiments to elucidate processes of normal aging. We review the application of these tests in studies of normal aging and compare and contrast the age sensitivity of the Barnes maze, eyeblink classical conditioning, fear conditioning, Morris water maze, and rotorod. These tests have all been implemented to assess normal age-related changes in learning and memory in rodents, which generalize in many cases to age-related changes in learning and memory in all mammals, including humans. Behavioral assessments are a valuable means to measure functional outcomes of neuroscientific studies of aging. Highlighted in this review are the attributes and limitations of these measures in mice in the context of age sensitivity and processes of brain aging. Attributes of these tests include reliability and validity as assessments of learning and memory, well-defined neural substrates, and sensitivity to neural and pharmacological manipulations and disruptions. These tests engage the hippocampus and/or the cerebellum, two structures centrally involved in learning and memory that undergo functional and anatomical changes in normal aging. A test that is less well represented in studies of normal aging, the context pre-exposure facilitation effect (CPFE) in fear conditioning, is described as a method to increase sensitivity of contextual fear conditioning to changes in the hippocampus. Recommendations for increasing the age sensitivity of all measures of normal aging in mice are included, as well as a discussion of the potential of the under-studied CPFE to advance understanding of subtle hippocampus-mediated phenomena.

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“…The T-maze has been used as a standard tool for the assessment of cognitive processes (Haley and Raber, 2011), such as spatial memory and associative learning, as well as motor function in many species, from mollusks (Painter et al, 1998) to rats (Carillo-Mora et al, 2009) to primates (Easton et al, 2003). In cats, Levine et al (1987) utilized the T-maze to examine the effect of aging in cats.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of a T-maze to measure cognitive–motor function in cats (Felis catus)

Sherman

Gruen

Meeker

et al. 2013

Journal of Veterinary Behavior

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Few tests have been developed to test the cognitive and motor capabilities of domestic cats, in spite of the suitability of cats for specific studies of neuroanatomy, infectious diseases, development, aging, and behavior. The present study evaluated a T-maze apparatus as a sensitive and reliable measure of cognition and motor function of cats. Eighteen purpose-bred, specific-pathogen-free, male, neutered domestic shorthair cats (Felis catus), 1-2 years of age, were trained and tested to a T-maze protocol using food rewards. The test protocol consisted of positional discrimination training (left arm or right arm) to criterion followed by two discrimination reversal tests. The two reversal tests documented the ability of the subjects to respond to a new reward location, and switch arms of the T-maze. Data were collected on side preference, number of correct responses, and latency of responses by the subjects. Aided by a customized computer program (CanCog Technologies), data were recorded electronically as each cat progressed from the start box to the reward arm. The protocol facilitated rapid training to a high and consistent level of performance during the discrimination training. This learning was associated with a decrease in the latency to traverse the maze to a mean of 4.80 ± 0.87 s indicating strong motivation and consistent performance. When the rewarded side was reversed in the test phase, cats required more trials to reach criterion, as expected, but again showed reliable learning. The latency to reward in the first session of reversal increased 86% from the first to the last trial indicating that it may provide a useful index of cognitive processing. Latencies subsequently decreased as the new reversal paradigm was learned. This paradigm provides a relatively rapid and reliable test of cognitive motor performance that can be used in various settings for evaluation of feline cognitive and motor function.

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Spatial Learning and Memory in Animal Models and Humans

Cited by 6 publications

References 68 publications

Immune activation state modulates infant engram expression across development

Immune activation state modulates infant engram expression across development

Age sensitivity of behavioral tests and brain substrates of normal aging in mice

The use of a T-maze to measure cognitive–motor function in cats (Felis catus)

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