Independence of first- and second-order memories in newborn rabbits

Coureaud, Gérard; Languille, Solène; Joly, Virginie; Schaal, Benoı̂st; Hars, Bernard

doi:10.1101/lm.2145111

Cited by 10 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Some of the present results are similar to those obtained by Coureaud et al (2011) Odor memories created by sensory preconditioning using two pairs of odorants. (A) Case of two overlapping odor pairs.…”

Section: Org Downloaded Fromsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…To determine whether olfactory preconditioning is functional in newborn rabbits, 25 pups were exposed on day 1 to odorants A+B (ethyl isobutyrate+ethyl maltol; Sigma-Aldrich; see Coureaud et al [2008Coureaud et al [ , 2009b for concentrations) for 5 min, before MP (2-metylbut-2-enal; Sigma-Aldrich)-induced conditioning to odorant A for 5 min on day 2 (previous description of exposure and conditioning in Coureaud et al [2006Coureaud et al [ , 2009aCoureaud et al [ , 2011). On day 3, they were submitted to a behavioral assay during which each pup was immobilized in one hand of the experimenter, its head being left free, and the stimulus was presented for 10 sec with a glass-stick 0.5 cm in front of the nares (e.g., Coureaud et al 2006Coureaud et al , 2008Coureaud et al , 2009aCoureaud et al ,b, 2011.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On day 3, they were submitted to a behavioral assay during which each pup was immobilized in one hand of the experimenter, its head being left free, and the stimulus was presented for 10 sec with a glass-stick 0.5 cm in front of the nares (e.g., Coureaud et al 2006Coureaud et al , 2008Coureaud et al , 2009aCoureaud et al ,b, 2011. The variable was the proportion of pups responding by specific head-scanning movements followed by labial seizing of the stick; nonresponding pups displayed no response except sniffing.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Then, we investigated the dependence/independence of the preconditioned CSs after conditioning through disruption of reconsolidation induced by administration of amnesic treatment after reactivation of CS1 (for a similar approach, see Debiec et al 2006;Coureaud et al 2009aCoureaud et al , 2011. Thus, 27 pups were exposed to odorants A+B on day 1 (5 min), conditioned to A on day 2 (5 min), and reactivated with A on day 3 (2 min) immediately before injection of anisomycin (AN [Sigma-Aldrich], 42 mg/kg i.p., n ¼ 17 pups) or saline (n ¼ 10).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Sensory preconditioning in newborn rabbits: from common to distinct odor memories

Coureaud

Tourat

2013

Learn. Mem.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This study evaluated whether olfactory preconditioning is functional in newborn rabbits and based on joined or independent memory of odorants. First, after exposure to odorants A+B, the conditioning of A led to high responsiveness to odorant B. Second, responsiveness to B persisted after amnesia of A. Third, preconditioning was also functional with two overlapping pairs of odorants (A+B and B+C) and amnesia of one odorant did not affect memory of the others. Thus, incidental pairing of odorants allows reinforcement of one odorant to implicitly reinforce the others, the bond then vanishes, and the memory of each element becomes independent.Although the mechanisms of first-order conditioning, based on simple association between conditioned and unconditioned stimuli (CS, US, respectively), are the focus of intense research, much less is known about higher-order conditioning in which a CS2 acquires significance by being paired with another CS (CS1) rather than a US. The CS2 is paired with CS1 before CS1+US association in sensory preconditioning, or after CS1+US association in second-order conditioning (e.g., Brogden 1939;Rescorla and Cunningham 1978;Rescorla 1980;Kehoe et al. 1981).The effectiveness of second-order conditioning has been shown recently in newborn rabbits. In this species, the mammary pheromone (MP) emitted by lactating females triggers orocephalic movements involved in neonatal localization and oral grasping of the nipples (Coureaud 2001;Schaal et al. 2003). It also promotes first-order conditioning acting as US; after a single and brief pairing with the MP, a novel odorant or mixture of odorants (CS1) becomes able to produce the conditioned grasping response 24-48 h later (Coureaud et al. , 2008Charra et al. 2013; for review, see Coureaud et al. 2010). Moreover, rabbit pups also learn to respond to CS2 when CS1+MP pairing is followed by CS1+CS2 pairing . In this second-order conditioning, amnesia of CS1 induced after recall of CS1 (by blockade of reconsolidation process) (see Coureaud et al. 2009a) leaves the CS2 memory intact . Thus, response to CS2 seems not to be based on the associative chain CS2 CS1 US/response but rather on a direct link CS2 US/response. This indicates in newborn rabbits that CS2 is independent of CS1 representation after second-order conditioning.Interestingly, behavioral differences were observed between second-order conditioning and sensory preconditioning in adult mammals. Extinction of CS1 eliminates CS2 in sensory preconditioning only (Rizley and Rescorla 1972), suggesting that this learning process is primarily mediated by associative chains (CS2 CS1 response). However, the organization of associative memory in sensory preconditioning could be different in newborns as ontogenetic differences have been reported in rodents and humans, with better abilities in such paradigms in younger organisms (for reviews, see Spear and Kucharski 1984; Rovee-Collier and Giles 2010). Until now, chemosensory preconditioning was demonstrated in newborn rats (Cheslock et al. 2003), but the...

show abstract

Section: Org Downloaded Fromsupporting

confidence: 89%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Sensory preconditioning in newborn rabbits: from common to distinct odor memories

Coureaud

Tourat

2013

Learn. Mem.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Moreover, this process is selective to the reactivated memory. For instance, in newborn rabbits initially conditioned to two odorants, injection of AN after reactivating only one of the elements abolishes the response to this odorant without interfering with the response to the other non-reactivated odorant [28,29].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neonatal representation of odour objects: distinct memories of the whole and its parts

et al. 2014

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Extraction of relevant information from highly complex environments is a prerequisite to survival. Within odour mixtures, such information is contained in the odours of specific elements or in the mixture configuration perceived as a whole unique odour. For instance, an AB mixture of the element A (ethyl isobutyrate) and the element B (ethyl maltol) generates a configural AB percept in humans and apparently in another species, the rabbit. Here, we examined whether the memory of such a configuration is distinct from the memory of the individual odorants. Taking advantage of the newborn rabbit's ability to learn odour mixtures, we combined behavioural and pharmacological tools to specifically eliminate elemental memory of A and B after conditioning to the AB mixture and evaluate consequences on configural memory of AB. The amnesic treatment suppressed responsiveness to A and B but not to AB. Two other experiments confirmed the specific perception and particular memory of the AB mixture. These data demonstrate the existence of configurations in certain odour mixtures and their representation as unique objects: after learning, animals form a configural memory of these mixtures, which coexists with, but is relatively dissociated from, memory of their elements. This capability emerges very early in life.

show abstract

Key odorants or key associations? Insights into elemental and configural odour processing

Romagny

Coureaud

Thomas‐Danguin

2017

Flavour & Fragrance J

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Determining whether odorants can be perceived in an odour mixture or whether the mixture smells different from its components remains challenging. Even in highly complex mixtures, the odour qualities of some elements can be perceived; thus, their identity is conserved within the mixture. Such elements are considered key components and support the elemental perception of the mixture. The concept of key components is also related to elements that do not necessarily carry the odour quality of the mixture but that induce a change in overall mixture perception when they are omitted. In this case, mixture perception often relies on configural processing.To disentangle these multiple aspects of these so-called key odorants, we sought to study the perceptual role of odorants included in mixtures that are elementally or configurally perceived.Two mixtures, known to be processed configurally and elementally and containing the same 6 odorants in different proportions, were used as references in 4 similarity-rating experiments. A total of 246 participants evaluated the similarity between the references and single odorants or mixtures of 2 to 6 odorants. This procedure aimed to evaluate whether single odorants or combinations of odorants can evoke the odour quality of the mixtures. Overall, the results highlighted that elemental perception depended primarily on the odour quality and concentration ratio of many of the mixed odorants, whereas configural perception depended on specific associations of odorants in strict concentration ratios. These results led us to reconsider the impact of key elements in odour mixtures within the framework of a perceptual model stating that elemental perception of odour mixtures relies on perception of key odorants, the perceptual features of which are still perceived within the mixture, whereas configural perception relies on key associations of odorants that lose their individual identity when mixed at specific concentration ratios.

show abstract

Independence of first- and second-order memories in newborn rabbits

Cited by 10 publications

References 32 publications

Sensory preconditioning in newborn rabbits: from common to distinct odor memories

Sensory preconditioning in newborn rabbits: from common to distinct odor memories

Neonatal representation of odour objects: distinct memories of the whole and its parts

Key odorants or key associations? Insights into elemental and configural odour processing

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About