title: The medial prefrontal cortex and memory of cue location in the rat.
abstract: We developed a single-trial cue-location memory task in which rats experienced an auditory cue while exploring an environment. They then recalled and avoided the sound origination point after the cue was paired with shock in a separate context. Subjects with medial prefrontal cortical (mPFC) lesions made no such avoidance response, but both lesioned and control subjects avoided the cue itself when presented at test. A follow up assessment revealed no spatial learning impairment in either group. These findings suggest that the rodent mPFC is required for incidental learning or recollection of the location at which a discrete cue occurred, but is not required for cue recognition or for allocentric spatial memory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of New England, Armidale NSW 2351, Australia.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rawson
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: O'Kane
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Talk
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000293:injuries / Q000502:physiology*; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology