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Retrograde and anterograde object recognition in rats with hippocampal lesions
Author(s) -
Gaskin Stephane,
Tremblay Annie,
Mumby Dave G.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
hippocampus
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.767
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1098-1063
pISSN - 1050-9631
DOI - 10.1002/hipo.10154
Subject(s) - hippocampal formation , cognitive neuroscience of visual object recognition , hippocampus , neuroscience , psychology , recognition memory , object (grammar) , anterograde amnesia , retrograde amnesia , memoria , chemistry , artificial intelligence , cognitive psychology , cognition , computer science , amnesia
Retrograde and anterograde object‐recognition memory was assessed in rats with cytotoxic lesions of the hippocampal formation (HPC), using a paradigm based on the natural tendency of rats to spend more time exploring novel objects than familiar objects. The rats were allowed to explore a sample object for 5 min/day on 5 consecutive days, either 5 weeks or 1 week before surgery. After surgery, retrograde recognition was assessed by comparing the amount of time spent exploring the sample versus a novel object in a free‐choice situation. Control rats spent more time exploring the novel object than the sample objects from both presurgery time periods, whereas rats with HPC lesions did not discriminate between the novel objects and sample objects from either presurgery time period. Despite their deficits on the retrograde recognition test, the rats with HPC lesions performed like control rats on anterograde recognition tests, displaying a strong exploratory preference for novel objects over sample objects, with retention delays of either 15 min or 24 h. The findings suggest that extrahippocampal circuitry is capable of supporting object recognition, but only if the HPC does not participate in encoding the original encounter with the object. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.