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Hippocampus is necessary for spatial discrimination using distal cue‐configuration

Hippocampus is necessary for spatial discrimination using distal cue‐configuration The role of the hippocampus in processing contextual cues has been well recognized. Contextual manipulation often involves transferring animals between different rooms. Because of vague definition of context in such a paradigm, however, it has been difficult to study the role of the hippocampus parametrically in contextual information processing. We designed a novel task in which a different context can be parametrically defined by the spatial configuration of distal cues. In this task, rats were trained to associate two different configurations of distal cue‐sets (standard contexts) with different food‐well locations at the end of a radial arm. Experiment 1 tested the role of the dorsal hippocampus in retrieving well‐learned associations between standard contexts and rewarding food‐well locations by comparing rats with neurotoxic lesions in the dorsal hippocampus with controls. We found that the hippocampal‐lesioned rats were unable to retrieve the context‐place paired associations learned before surgery. To further test the role of the hippocampus in generalizing altered context, in Experiment 2, rats were trained in a task in which modified versions of the standard contexts (ambiguous contexts) were presented, intermixed with the standard contexts. Rats were able to process the ambiguous contexts immediately by using their similarities to the standard contexts, whereas muscimol inactivation of the dorsal hippocampus in the same animals reversibly deprived such capability. The results suggest that rats can effectively associate discrete spatial locations with spatial configuration of distal cues. More important, rats can generalize or orthogonalize modified contextual environments using learned contextual representation of the environment. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Hippocampus Wiley

Hippocampus is necessary for spatial discrimination using distal cue‐configuration

Kim, Jangjin; Lee, Inah
Hippocampus , Volume 21 (6) – Jun 1, 2011
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References (40)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
ISSN
1050-9631
eISSN
1098-1063
DOI
10.1002/hipo.20784
pmid
20623761
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The role of the hippocampus in processing contextual cues has been well recognized. Contextual manipulation often involves transferring animals between different rooms. Because of vague definition of context in such a paradigm, however, it has been difficult to study the role of the hippocampus parametrically in contextual information processing. We designed a novel task in which a different context can be parametrically defined by the spatial configuration of distal cues. In this task, rats were trained to associate two different configurations of distal cue‐sets (standard contexts) with different food‐well locations at the end of a radial arm. Experiment 1 tested the role of the dorsal hippocampus in retrieving well‐learned associations between standard contexts and rewarding food‐well locations by comparing rats with neurotoxic lesions in the dorsal hippocampus with controls. We found that the hippocampal‐lesioned rats were unable to retrieve the context‐place paired associations learned before surgery. To further test the role of the hippocampus in generalizing altered context, in Experiment 2, rats were trained in a task in which modified versions of the standard contexts (ambiguous contexts) were presented, intermixed with the standard contexts. Rats were able to process the ambiguous contexts immediately by using their similarities to the standard contexts, whereas muscimol inactivation of the dorsal hippocampus in the same animals reversibly deprived such capability. The results suggest that rats can effectively associate discrete spatial locations with spatial configuration of distal cues. More important, rats can generalize or orthogonalize modified contextual environments using learned contextual representation of the environment. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Journal

Hippocampus – Wiley

Published: Jun 1, 2011

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