1988 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Physiological basis of recognition
| Project/Area Number |
61450013
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
Psychology
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| Research Institution | University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
NIKI Hiroaki Professor of Psychology, Faculty of Letters, Univ. of Tokyo., 文学部, 教授 (10073074)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
HAMAMURA Yoshihisa Instructor of Psychology, Faculty of Letters, Univ. of Tokyo., 文学部, 助手 (00172990)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1986 – 1988
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| Keywords | Hippocampus / unit activity / monkey / recognition / 海馬 |
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| Research Abstract |
The main aim of this project was to examine the neuronal correlate of recognition memory. In order to attain this aim we must employ an adequate task. In the first year it was examined whether 'preferential looking' method-usually employed in the study of infant memory-could be applied to the monkey. It was found that the adult monkeys exhibit 'preferential looking'. But it turned out that this method was not always adequate for unit recording experiment. Consequently, we began to examine the single unit activity of the hippocampus while the monkey was performing a a delayed-pair comparison task (a king of recognition task). In this task two stimuli (S1 and S2) were presented successively with a short delay, and the animal was required to perform 'GO' response when the first (S1) and the second (S2) stimuli were the same. On the other hand, the animal had to perform 'NO-GO' response when these two stimuli were different. The main interest centered on the discovery of those neurons which showed differential activity during the delay period since such neurons might be related to the mnemonic process (working memory). Such differential delay units showing differential activity during delay were found in the hippocampus. The result indicates that the hippocampus is involved in the recognition task, and the differential activity during delay represents the working memory' of the first stimulus.
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