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A Method for Remotely Silencing Neural Activity in Rodents During Discrete Phases of Learning
Published on: June 22, 2015
Familiarity-based stimulus generalization of conditioned suppression in rats is dependent on the perirhinal cortex
Jasper Robinson1, Emma J Whitt, Rachel R Horsley
1School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, United Kingdom. jasper.robinson@nottingham.ac.uk
Abstract:
We report that bilateral, excitoxic lesions of the perirhinal cortex attenuate rats' familiarity-based stimulus generalization. After surgery, rats were preexposed either to 2 auditory stimuli (A and B) or to only 1 auditory stimulus (B). Following preexposure, all rats received pairings of A and a footshock before assessment of generalized responding (conditioned suppression) to B. Sham rats' generalization was greater when preexposure was to both A and B than when preexposure was to B only. That pattern was abolished in lesioned rats, though no general deficiency was found in other measures of auditory processing. Our findings suggest that the perirhinal cortex is required for rats to encode familiarity as part of stimulus representations.
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