Developmental changes in eye-blink conditioning and neuronal activity in the cerebellar interpositus nucleus.
Neuronal activity was recorded in the cerebellar interpositus nucleus in infant rats during classical conditioning of the eye-blink response. The percentage and amplitude of eye-blink conditioned responses increased as a function of postnatal age. Learning-specific neuronal activity in the cerebellum emerged ontogenetically in parallel with the eye-blink conditioned response. There were also age-specific changes in neuronal activity after the onset of the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli. The results indicate that the development of the eye-blink conditioned response may depend on the development of stimulus-evoked neuronal responses and learning-specific plasticity in the cerebellum. Functional immaturity in the afferent neural pathways may limit the induction of neural plasticity in the cerebellum and thereby limit the development of the eye-blink conditioned response.
Freeman
J H
JH
Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA. johnfreeman@uiowa.edu
Nicholson
D A
DA
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001767:Blinking / Q000502:physiology*; D002529:Cerebellar Nuclei / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004576:Electromyography; D004594:Electrophysiology / Q000379:methods; D004597:Electroshock; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans