1987 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Physio- and pharmaco-psychological studies on animal memory.
| Project/Area Number |
61510030
|
|---|
| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
|
| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
|---|
| Research Field |
Psychology
|
|---|
| Research Institution | University of Tsukuba |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
IWASAKI Tsuneo Institute of Psychology, University of Tsukuba, 心理学系, 助教授 (70092509)
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
1986 – 1987
|
| Keywords | Animal memory / Working memory / Delayed-matching-to-sample / Cholinergic system / Hippocampus / ラット |
|---|
| Research Abstract |
The purpose of this study was to clarify the characteristics of working memory in rats and its mechanisms in the central nervous system. In this study, the delayed-matching-to-sample (DMTS) and the delayed-nonmatching-to-sample (DNMTS) tasks were employed to determine the working memory. The following results were obtained.
1. The DNMTS task was easier than the DMTS to be acquired by rats,because the innate tendency of spontaneous alternation favored the former task.
2. As the training proceeded successively, working memory was retained during such longer delay-time as 20 min than generally expected.
3. The working memory was impaired by the treatment of anticholinergic scopolamine but not of metylscopolamine. It was also impaired by the chronic treatment of physostigmine, which produced the decrease in the brain cholinergic receptors.
4. The working memory was impaired by the lesion of hippocampus but not of amygdala.
5. The aged rats (21 months old) performed fairly well as compared with younger animals.
These results suggest that the working memory is mainly mediated by the hippocampal cholinergic system.
|
