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Age‐related Changes in Associative Learning for Olfactory and Visual Stimuli in Rodents
Author(s) -
Gilbert Paul E.,
Pirogovsky Eva,
Brushfield Andrea M.,
Luu Trinh T.,
Tolentino Jerlyn C.,
Renteria Adam F.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.03929.x
Subject(s) - psychology , neurochemical , olfactory memory , associative learning , neuroscience , odor , cognition , olfaction , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , olfactory bulb , central nervous system
Memory for olfactory stimuli may be particularly affected by age‐related brain changes in humans and may be an early indicator of cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. Studies involving rats have offered insights into impaired cognition in aged animals, but few have examined odor memory. Therefore, it is unclear whether aged rats are a good model for possible age‐related changes in odor memory in humans. Young (6‐month‐old) and old (24‐month‐old) rats were tested on associative learning tasks involving visual and olfactory stimuli. The first task examined age‐related differences in discrimination and reversal learning for olfactory and visual stimuli; the second task utilized an associative contextual learning task involving olfactory and visual cues. Although old rats were able to perform the olfactory and visual discrimination tasks as well as young rats, old rats displayed significant age‐related impairment on the reversal learning and contextual learning tasks. The results suggest that aging may have a similar deleterious effect on odor memory in rats and in humans. The findings may have important implications for the selection of memory paradigms for future research studies on aging. In addition, the use of an animal model to investigate the effects of aging on odor memory will allow researchers the ability to investigate how age‐related neuroanatomical and neurochemical changes may result in impaired odor memory.