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Developmental trajectory of episodic-like memory in rats
Antonis Asiminas1,2,3,4, Stephanie A Lyon5, Rosamund F Langston5
1Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
|December 16, 2022
Summary
Episodic memory in rats develops in stages, with object recognition emerging early. Object-context, object-in-place, and full episodic-like memory mature later in postnatal development. These findings map the ontogeny of memory systems.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Episodic memory involves binding associations for detailed recall.
- Its development in rats is not fully understood, particularly from weaning to adulthood.
- Spontaneous object exploration tasks are suitable for studying memory ontogeny.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize the ontogeny of episodic-like memory and its components in rats.
- To investigate the developmental trajectories of object, object-context, object-place, and object-place-context recognition.
- To compare these trajectories across three common rat strains.
Main Methods:
- Utilized four spontaneous short-term object exploration tasks (OR, OCR, OPR, OPCR).
- Employed longitudinal studies from 3-4 weeks of age and cross-sectional protocols.
- Tested Lister Hooded, Long Evans Hooded, and Sprague Dawley rat strains.
Main Results:
- Short-term object recognition memory is present before 3 weeks of age.
- Object-context memory develops around 5 weeks of age.
- Object-in-place and episodic-like memory mature around 7 weeks of age.
Conclusions:
- Rat episodic-like memory exhibits distinct developmental trajectories based on associative complexity.
- Spontaneous object exploration tasks offer high temporal resolution for studying memory ontogeny.
- These findings provide a detailed map of memory development in rats.
