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Retrograde amnesia following hippocampal lesions in the shock‐probe conditioning test
Author(s) -
Lehmann Hugo,
Lecluse Valerie,
Houle Andrea,
Mumby Dave G.
Publication year - 2006
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.20159
Subject(s) - retrograde amnesia , hippocampal formation , amnesia , fear conditioning , psychology , neuroscience , anterograde amnesia , hippocampus , stimulus (psychology) , conditioning , memory disorder , anesthesia , classical conditioning , medicine , cognitive psychology , cognitive disorder , cognition , amygdala , statistics , mathematics , cognitive impairment
The present experiment examined the role of the hippocampal formation (HPC) in long‐term memory of an association between an object and a fear‐eliciting event. Rats either received sham or neurotoxic lesions of the HPC 1 or 14 days after learning that contacting a wire‐wrapped probe (i.e., object) elicits a shock. After recovery from the surgery, rats were re‐exposed to the wire‐wrapped probe and burying and avoidance of the probe were assessed and used as memory and fear indices. Regardless of the learning‐to‐surgery interval, the rats with hippocampal lesions buried and avoided the probe significantly less than sham rats and no more than rats that never experienced shock from the probe. These findings suggest that the lesions caused severe retrograde amnesia and that the HPC has a long‐lasting role in memory of a discrete stimulus associated with a fear‐eliciting event. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.