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Acute Ethanol Impairs Spatial Memory But Not Stimulus/Response Memory in the Rat
Author(s) -
Matthews Douglas B.,
Simson Peter E.,
Best Phillip J.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1995.tb00965.x
Subject(s) - hippocampal formation , neuroscience , stimulus (psychology) , hippocampus , psychology , spatial memory , electrophysiology , working memory , cognitive psychology , cognition
The present studies investigate how acutely administered ethanol (ETOH) affects the use of spatial memory. Previous electrophysiological results have shown that acutely administered ETOH alters the firing of hippocampal neurons and that prenatal or chronic exposure to ETOH produces deficits on spatial learning tasks, tasks dependent on the hippocampus. In contrast, it has also been demonstrated that acutely administered ETOH does not impair spatial localization. In the current studies, rats were trained to perform a spatial or stimulus/response task under saline. After training, rats were injected with ETOH, and the use of spatial or stimulus/response memory was tested. Acutely administered ETOH impaired the use of spatial memory, but not the use of stimulushesponse memory. Because the use of spatial memory requires an intact hippocampus, the present studies suggest that acutely administered ETOH selectively impairs behaviors dependent on the hippocampus.