Open AccessContributions of postrhinal and perirhinal cortex to contextual information processing.
Author(s) -
David J. Bucci,
Russell G. Phillips,
Rebecca D. Burwell
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
behavioral neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.918
H-Index - 140
eISSN - 1939-0084
pISSN - 0735-7044
DOI - 10.1037/bne0000436
Subject(s) - perirhinal cortex , psychology , conditioning , fear conditioning , neuroscience , classical conditioning , sensory system , cognitive psychology , cognition , recognition memory , amygdala , statistics , mathematics
The role of the postrhinal cortex (POR) and the perirhinal cortex (PER) in processing relational or contextual information was examined with Pavlovian fear conditioning. Rats with electrolytic or neurotoxic lesions of the POR or PER were tested in 2 contextual fear conditioning paradigms. In Experiment 1, electrolytic lesions of the POR or PER produced impairments in contextual fear conditioning but not in conditioning to a phasic auditory conditioned stimulus. Neurotoxic lesions of the POR or PER likewise resulted in anterograde (Experiment 2) and retrograde (Experiment 3) deficits in fear conditioning to the training context in an unsignaled shock paradigm. The results suggest that operations performed on sensory information by the POR and PER are necessary to support contextual learning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).