Developmental trajectory of object recognition memory in infant rhesus macaques with and without neonatal hippocampal lesions.
To examine the developmental trajectory of object recognition memory and its neural substrate, 10-12-d-old monkeys (Macaca mulatta) received sham operations or neurotoxic hippocampal lesions and were tested at the ages of 1.5, 6, and 18 months on the visual paired-comparison task using delays of 10, 30, 60, and 120 s. In sham-operated controls, incidental recognition memory was present at 1.5 months, became more robust at 6 months, and was delay-dependent by 18 months of age, suggesting that the brain structures mediating these early developing recognition abilities may undergo significant modifications after 6 months of age in monkeys. A similar developmental progression was also observed in animals with neonatal hippocampal lesions, although the delay-dependent effect at 18 months was significantly more pronounced after the neonatal hippocampal lesions, suggesting that with maturation animals with neonatal hippocampal lesions grow into a recognition-memory deficit. These findings suggest not only that the medial temporal cortical areas, known to mediate incidental recognition memory processes in adulthood, could support these processes in early infancy even when long delays are used, but also that later in development, after reaching functional maturity, the hippocampus begins to interact with the medial temporal cortical areas to mediate this function.
Zeamer
Alyson
A
Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107, USA. alyson.zeamer@jefferson.edu
Heuer
Eric
E
Bachevalier
Jocelyne
J
D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000254:growth & development / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*