Short-term social memory in the laboratory rat: its susceptibility to disturbance

Burman, Ohp; Mendl, Michael

doi:10.1016/s0168-1591(99)00120-3

Cited by 38 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 27 publications

(39 reference statements)

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“…The current results may appear to be in conflict with other work showing that exposing an animal to a novel environment alone, impaired spatial memory in food foraging and social recognition tasks (Diamond et al 1996;Mendl 1999;Burman and Mendl 2000) and blocked the induction of hippocampal synaptic plasticity (Diamond et al 1990(Diamond et al , 1994(Diamond et al , 1999aXu et al 1997Xu et al , 1998. We suggest that differences in the effects of novelty on memory and plasticity arise from differences in the stressfulness of the training tasks.…”

Section: Figure 3 Mean ‫ע(‬ Sem) Data For Memory Errors (Rt Data Fromcontrasting

confidence: 97%

Emotion-Induced Amnesia in Rats: Working Memory-Specific Impairment, Corticosterone-Memory Correlation, and Fear Versus Arousal Effects on Memory

Woodson

Macintosh²,

Fleshner³

et al. 2003

Learn. Mem.

158

103

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We have shown previously that psychological stress (predator exposure) impairs spatial memory in rats. We have extended that finding here to show that predator stress selectively impaired recently acquired (hippocampaldependent) spatial working memory without affecting long-term (hippocampal-independent) spatial reference memory. We also investigated why predator exposure impairs memory. Was spatial memory impaired because of the fear-provoking aspects of predator exposure or only because the cat was a novel and arousing stimulus? If the latter possibility was correct, then any novel and arousing stimulus, independent of its emotional valence (i.e., aversive or appetitive), would impair memory. We found that spatial working memory was not impaired when the male rats were exposed to a sexually receptive female rat, a stimulus that was novel and arousing to them, but not aversive. We also found that there was an equivalent increase in serum corticosterone levels in male rats exposed to either a cat or a female rat, but only the cat-exposed rats exhibited a significant correlation between corticosterone levels and impaired memory. Overall, this series of experiments demonstrates that (1) predator stress selectively impaired working (hippocampal-dependent), but not reference (hippocampal-independent), memory; (2) a fear-provoking stimulus, and not merely novelty and increased arousal, impaired spatial memory; and (3) increased corticosterone levels correlated with impaired spatial working memory only under predator exposure, that is, fear-provoking conditions.

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Section: Figure 3 Mean ‫ע(‬ Sem) Data For Memory Errors (Rt Data Fromcontrasting

confidence: 97%

Emotion-Induced Amnesia in Rats: Working Memory-Specific Impairment, Corticosterone-Memory Correlation, and Fear Versus Arousal Effects on Memory

Woodson

Macintosh²,

Fleshner³

et al. 2003

Learn. Mem.

158

103

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In rats, it has been suggested that social and individual recognition is based on olfactory cues (Gheusi et al 1994). However, memory of the identity of a conspecific in laboratory rats was reduced when a third individual was introduced between interactions (Burman and Mendl 2000). Thus, even if a species evolved the ability to recognise conspecifics individually, memory capacity may not always suffice to keep track of frequent interactions with changing partners.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of social experience on cooperative behaviour of rats (Rattus norvegicus): direct vs generalised reciprocity

Rutte

Taborsky

2007

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

171

223

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Cooperation among non-kin has been attributed sometimes to reciprocal altruism: Two or more individuals exchange behaviour that benefits the respective partner. According to direct reciprocity, cooperation is based on past behaviour of a known partner. In contrast, in generalised reciprocity, cooperation is based on anonymous social experience where the identity of the partner is irrelevant. In a previous study, female Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) were found to cooperate according to a generalised reciprocity mechanism. In this study, we tested whether Norway rats would also cooperate as predicted by a direct reciprocity mechanism and whether direct reciprocity would cause a higher propensity to cooperate than generalised reciprocity. Focal animals were experimentally manipulated to receive social experience from known or unknown, helpful or defecting partners in an instrumental cooperative task. Our first experiment shows that rats are more helpful towards a partner from which they had received help before than towards a partner that had not helped (i.e. direct reciprocity). Our second experiment revealed that after receiving help by others, rats were more helpful towards a partner from which they had received help before than towards a new partner (i.e. direct reciprocity generated a higher cooperation propensity than generalised reciprocity). We conclude that in female Norway rats, the tendency to cooperate is influenced by partner-specific information. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate direct reciprocity in rodents, and it is the first study testing direct vs generalised reciprocity in animals.

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“…It has been shown that such a cage change does not disturb the social memory of Long-Evans rats [30]. Total investigation included direct investigation of the juvenile (predominantly olfactory investigation of the ano-genital area) as well as investigation of juvenile-exposed bedding.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social recognition memory: Influence of age, sex, and ovarian hormonal status

Markham

Juraska

2007

Physiology & Behavior

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Social recognition memory underlies many forms of rodent interaction and can be easily tested in the laboratory. Sex differences in aspects of this memory have been reported among young adults, and some studies indicate an age-related decline among male rats. In contrast, neither the impact of natural fluctuations in ovarian hormones nor the performance of aged female rats on social recognition memory has been previously evaluated. In experiments 1 and 2, the social recognition memory of young adult female Long-Evans rats (age 3-5 mos.) was compared during proestrus and estrus, and performance was found to be stable across estrous cycle phases. In experiment 3, the social recognition memory of young adults as compared to aged (16.5-19.5 mos.) rats was tested using the social discrimination procedure, following delays of 15, 45, 90 or 120 minutes. The estropausal status of aged female rats was tracked during the experiment but was not found to influence memory ability. Males of both ages investigated juveniles (both novel and familiar) more than did females, although despite this difference, both sexes demonstrated robust memory. Interestingly, only young adult females were capable of demonstrating memory following the longest delay. Collectively, our findings indicate that the pattern of age-related changes in social recognition memory is subtle and that aging does not greatly alter the behavioral sex differences observed among young adults.

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Short-term social memory in the laboratory rat: its susceptibility to disturbance

Cited by 38 publications

References 27 publications

Emotion-Induced Amnesia in Rats: Working Memory-Specific Impairment, Corticosterone-Memory Correlation, and Fear Versus Arousal Effects on Memory

Emotion-Induced Amnesia in Rats: Working Memory-Specific Impairment, Corticosterone-Memory Correlation, and Fear Versus Arousal Effects on Memory

The influence of social experience on cooperative behaviour of rats (Rattus norvegicus): direct vs generalised reciprocity

Social recognition memory: Influence of age, sex, and ovarian hormonal status

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