Long-term retention of early Pavlovian fear conditioning in infant rats.

Coulter, Xenia; Collier, Alexis C.; Campbell, Byron A.

doi:10.1037/0097-7403.2.1.48

Cited by 41 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Such capabilities are not prevented by neuromaturational process occurring over development. Moreover, one may note that ontogenetic changes of memory characteristics have been also reported in rodents with procedures other than sensory preconditioning, i.e., for different forms of first-order conditioning (Campbell and Campbell 1962;Feigley and Spear 1970;Coulter et al 1976;Campbell and Alberts 1979;Sullivan and Wilson 1995;. It is possible that during preconditioning and conditioning, very young organisms select information in different ways than adult organisms due to the ecological challenges posed by their current niche (Spear 1984;Rovee-Collier and Cuevas 2009).…”

Section: Org Downloaded Frommentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Coureaud

Tourat

2013

Learn. Mem.

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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...

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Section: Org Downloaded Frommentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Coureaud

Tourat

2013

Learn. Mem.

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“…Some of the earliest studies of infantile amnesia in rodents were conducted by Campbell and colleagues, starting in the 1960s (Campbell and Campbell 1962;Campbell et al 1968Campbell et al , 1974Coulter et al 1976;Stehouwer and Campbell 1980). These researchers trained rats of different ages (18-to 100-d old) in an aversively motivated place discrimination task and tested memory retention 0, 7, 21, or 42 d later (Campbell and Campbell 1962).…”

Section: Infantile Amnesia Is Recapitulated In Rodent Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Infantile amnesia: A neurogenic hypothesis

2012

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In the late 19th Century, Sigmund Freud described the phenomenon in which people are unable to recall events from early childhood as infantile amnesia. Although universally observed, infantile amnesia is a paradox; adults have surprisingly few memories of early childhood despite the seemingly exuberant learning capacity of young children. How can these findings be reconciled? The mechanisms underlying this form of amnesia are the subject of much debate. Psychological/cognitive theories assert that the ability to maintain detailed, declarative-like memories in the long term correlates with the development of language, theory of mind, and/or sense of "self." However, the finding that experimental animals also show infantile amnesia suggests that this phenomenon cannot be explained fully in purely human terms. Biological explanations of infantile amnesia suggest that protracted postnatal development of key brain regions important for memory interferes with stable long-term memory storage, yet they do not clearly specify which particular aspects of brain maturation are causally related to infantile amnesia. Here, we propose a hypothesis of infantile amnesia that focuses on one specific aspect of postnatal brain development-the continued addition of new neurons to the hippocampus. Infants (humans, nonhuman primates, and rodents) exhibit high levels of hippocampal neurogenesis and an inability to form lasting memories. Interestingly, the decline of postnatal neurogenesis levels corresponds to the emergence of the ability to form stable long-term memory. We propose that high neurogenesis levels negatively regulate the ability to form enduring memories, most likely by replacing synaptic connections in preexisting hippocampal memory circuits.

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“…Berk, Vigorito, & Miller, 1979;Campbell & Campbell, 1962;Campbell & Jaynes. 1966;Campbell & Spear, 1972;Coulter, Collier, & Campbell, 1976;Spear, 1973;Spear & Miller, 1981). In contrast to the behavior of these control animals, rats given an injection of epinephrine and exposed to the conditioned stimulus 1 week after conditioning, showed strong conditional fear a week after that.…”

Section: Reinstatement: Steps Toward a Model Of Human Phobiasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stress-induced recovery of fears and phobias.

Jacobs¹,

Nadel

1985

Psychological Review

296

165

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Accounts of human fears and phobias based on current conditioning models using data from adults are examined and found wanting. Instead, the characteristics of human phobias resemble the kind of learning found during the amnesic period of infancy. As certain neural systems mature, conditioning begins to exhibit adult characteristics: context dependency, sharp generalization, and rapid extinction. Although direct behavioral control by the early learning systems wanes, the adult learning system seems to be structured at least/partially through the lasting influence of infantile experience. Under (hormonal) stress, residues of early experience are reinstated and incorporated into adult memory where they directly control behavior. This control exhibits infantile characteristics. The evidence suggests that once acquired, such conditional fears might never be eliminated using traditional extinction or counterconditioning procedures. The view leads to a renewed emphasis upon the role of experience in human development, accepting the disproportionate importance of infant experience as the foundation upon which subsequent learning and cognitive function rest.It is plain from clinical experience that certain patients experience critical incidents in which the fear has an onset. What is particularly interesting is the fact that quite frequently these same people have been exposed to the same stimulus repeatedly in the past without acquiring the fear. It seems that for acute onset fears, there are certain psychological states in which the person is vulnerable to the acquisition of fears. To take a clinical example, in those agoraphobic patients who report an acute onset of fear, one needs to know why the fear arose on the day that it did, at the time that it did. And why do they acquire a fear of public transport, crowded or open spaces, or whatever the content of their phobia, when on hundreds or thousands The first author acknowledges the fundamental contributions of David Furrow, Scon Mendelson, Michael Buttrick.

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Long-term retention of early Pavlovian fear conditioning in infant rats.

Cited by 41 publications

References 13 publications

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

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

Infantile amnesia: A neurogenic hypothesis

Stress-induced recovery of fears and phobias.

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