Retrograde Amnesia for Contextual Fear Conditioning

摘要PI: Fanselow， Michael S.提案号：IBN-9723295当信息第一次被学习时，大脑以一种非常容易被破坏的形式存储这种新的记忆。随着时间的推移，大脑的一个特殊部分，海马体，会将这些记忆巩固成一种更不可磨灭的形式。如果海马体在某一特定经历的巩固完成之前受损或中断，就会对该经历产生健忘症。虽然我们知道这种记忆巩固会持续很长一段时间，但我们对导致记忆巩固发生的原因以及控制这一过程持续时间的因素知之甚少。这个项目提供了关于内存巩固是如何完成的重要信息。有两种调查方法。第一篇研究了几种可以防止健忘症或缩短或延长巩固期的环境操纵。这些实验提供了导致大脑巩固其经验的心理过程的信息。第二项研究确定了海马体的各个部分是如何参与巩固过程的。这个项目的两个部分共同提供了关于大脑如何对我们的经历进行操作以创造永久记忆的信息。

Lay Abstract PI: Fanselow, Michael S. Proposal Number: IBN-9723295 When information is first learned, the brain stores this new memory in a form that is very susceptible to disruption. Over time, one particular part of the brain, the hippocampus, acts to consolidate these memories into a more indelible form. If the hippocampus is damaged or disrupted before consolidation of a particular experience is complete, there is an amnesia for that experience. While it is known that this memory consolidation goes on for a very long time, very little is known about what causes consolidation to occur or what factors control the duration of this process. This project provides crucial information about how memory consolidation is accomplished. There are two lines of investigation. The first examines several environmental manipulations that prevent this amnesia or shorten or extend the period of consolidation. These experiments provide information on the mental processes that cause the brain to consolidate its experiences. The second line of research determines how the various parts of the hippocampus are involved in the consolidation process. Together the two parts of this project provide information about how the brain operates on our experiences to create permanent memories.