Abrupt emergence of long-lasting memory in the pre-weanling rat.
During the course of ontogenesis does long-lasting memory emerge progressively or abruptly, and when? To examine this question, rat pups were conditioned at different ages (3-, 10-, 12-, 15- or 18-day-old) and tested at different retention intervals: from 3 days to 1 year. Conditioned aversion memory established before 12-day-old lasts for only 1 week, but when acquired after 15 days, memory survives for more than 1 year. This defines a short temporal window of 3 days for sudden emergence of a remote memory. Our result offers a precise temporal target to explore the mechanisms involved in long maintenance of memory.
Languille
Solène
S
Univ Paris-Sud, UMR 8620, Orsay F-91405, France. solene.languille@u-psud.fr
Richer
Paulette
P
Hars
Bernard
B
D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D000833:Animals, Suckling; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D051381:Rats; D055697:Taste Perception; D013997:Time Factors