MEMORY MONITORING AND DECLARATIVE MEMORY IN MONKEYS: BEHAVIOR AND BRAIN

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The human ability to consciously monitor the contents of memory has not been accessible to study in animal models. Because humans talk about memories that are accessible to monitoring, such memories are called declarative. In contrast, nondeclarative memories cannot be subjectively monitored, but are inferred from their influence on behavior. For example, a person who may not be able to verbally report the locations of the letters on a keyboard may nonetheless type accurately and rapidly without looking at the keys. Loss of declarative memory from stroke, Alzheimer's disease, and other brain insults severely impairs higher cognitive processes including learning, planning, and adaptive decision-making. Memory monitoring is also a form of metacognition. Impaired metacognition is implicated in autism, age-related cognitive decline, and attention and impulse control disorders such as ADHD. Animal models are needed to identify the specific brain structures involved in memory monitoring and declarative memory so that we can develop improved treatments for cognitive impairment in humans. We trained 6 monkeys in a delayed-response task and replicated all the major findings from previous research in monkey metamemory. This work is summarized in the MA thesis of Victoria Templer and is currently being prepared for publication. Twelve monkeys have been trained in the matching-to-sample and classification task necessary for the next experiments in this project. Several monkeys have begun training in the metamemory task.