Sleep deprivation and Pavlovian fear conditioning.
Sleep has been suggested to play a role in memory consolidation. Prior rodent studies have used sleep deprivation to examine this relationship. First, we reexamined the effects of sleep deprivation on Pavlovian fear conditioning. We found that the deprivation method itself (i.e., gentle handling) induced deficits independent of sleep. Second, we examined an alternative method of sleep deprivation using amphetamine and found that this method failed to induce amnesia. These data indicate that sleep deprivation is a problematic way to examine the role of sleep in memory consolidation, and an alternative paradigm is proposed.
Cai
Denise J
DJ
Molecular Cognition Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, California 92093-0109, USA. dcai@ucsd.edu
Shuman
Tristan
T
Harrison
Elizabeth M
EM
Sage
Jennifer R
JR
Anagnostaras
Stephan G
SG
D000661:Amphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000494:pharmacology; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000209:etiology*
D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D000661:Amphetamine