Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Investigation of Synaptic Tagging/Capture and Cross-capture using Acute Hippocampal Slices from Rodents
Published on: September 4, 2015
Behavioral tagging is a general mechanism of long-term memory formation
Fabricio Ballarini1, Diego Moncada, Maria Cecilia Martinez
1Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencias, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires-CONICET, Paraguay 2155, CP 1121 Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Abstract:
In daily life, memories are intertwined events. Little is known about the mechanisms involved in their interactions. Using two hippocampus-dependent (spatial object recognition and contextual fear conditioning) and one hippocampus-independent (conditioned taste aversion) learning tasks, we show that in rats subjected to weak training protocols that induce solely short term memory (STM), long term memory (LTM) is promoted and formed only if training sessions took place in contingence with a novel, but not familiar, experience occurring during a critical time window around training. This process requires newly synthesized proteins induced by novelty and reveals a general mechanism of LTM formation that begins with the setting of a "learning tag" established by a weak training. These findings represent the first comprehensive set of evidences indicating the existence of a behavioral tagging process that in analogy to the synaptic tagging and capture process, need the creation of a transient, protein synthesis-independent, and input specific tag.
Related Concept Videos
Long-Term Memory
Long-term memory can be categorized into two primary types: explicit and implicit memory. Explicit memory, also known as declarative memory, involves the conscious recollection of information that we deliberately try to remember, recall, and articulate. This type of memory encompasses specific facts, events, and...
Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory
System of Memory
Chunking and Rehearsal in Sensory Memory
Storage
Implicit Memories
One key aspect of implicit...
