Interactions between learning and memory systems in the mammal

新的证据表明，学习和记忆系统的改变可能会导致各种精神疾病。这些不同的学习和记忆系统中的异常，它们之间的动态相互作用，以及这些系统和其他大脑区域之间的相互作用，可能会调节思想和行为的正常和异常表现。目前的研究方案直接对解开这些复杂的大脑过程感兴趣，方法是利用一种突破性的范式来评估不同系统在同一任务中获得的不同类型的记忆。视觉辨别任务提供了在获得相同任务的过程中评估背侧纹状体、海马体和杏仁核学习和记忆功能的机会，并揭示了这些神经系统之间可能发生的一类新的联系和潜在的相互作用。这个研究项目的具体目的有三个：1)提供进一步的证据，证明这些系统之间的竞争相互作用代表了竞争相互作用的一个新的子类的例子。这一目标将通过运行保持和颠倒实验来实现，在该实验中，这些神经结构中的一个在获得任务后将被破坏，或者使用训练后记忆巩固范式的一组实验，其中将操纵假设的必要联系和附带联系；2)了解在训练期间的不同时间阻止NMDA可塑性在这些系统中的后果。我们将评估训练后、局部NMDA(CPP)阻断在视觉辨别习得过程中的影响；3)获得关于在训练期间不同时间阻止这些相同系统中新蛋白质合成的后果的信息。这将通过评估在视觉辨别获得过程中训练后局部新的蛋白质合成阻滞剂(茴香霉素)的效果来实现。综上所述，这些实验将为我们了解这些神经系统相互之间的动态和交互性质提供一个窗口，并提供关于支持这些复杂大脑功能的可塑性机制和这些过程的局部化的重要信息。

New evidence suggests that a variety of psychiatric disorders may be caused by alterations in learning and memory systems. Abnormalities in these different learning and memory systems, dynamic interactions between them, and interactions between these systems and other brain areas might mediate both normal and abnormal manifestations of thought and behaviour. The current research proposal is directly interested in unraveling these complex brain processes by utilizing a breakthrough paradigm for assessing different types of memories acquired by different systems on the same task. The visual discrimination task provides the opportunity to assess dorsal striatum, hippocampus, and amygdala learning and memory functions during acquisition of the same task and reveals what appears to be a novel subclass of associations and potential interactions that can occur between these neural systems. The specific aims of this research program are threefold: 1) provide further evidence that the competitive interactions between these systems represent examples of a novel subclass of competitive interactions. This aim will be achieved by running retention and reversal experiments in which one of these neural structures will be damaged after acquisition of the task or a set of experiments using the post-training memory consolidation paradigm in which the hypothesized necessary versus incidental associations will be manipulated; 2) gain an understanding of the consequences of blocking NMDA plasticity in these systems at different times during training. We will assess the effects of post-training, localized NMDA (CPP) blockade during visual discrimination acquisition; 3) obtain information about the consequences of blocking new protein synthesis in these same systems at different times during training. This will be achieved by assessing the effects of post-training, localized new protein synthesis blockade (anisomycin) during visual discrimination acquisition. Taken together, these experiments will give us a window into the dynamic and interactive nature of these neural systems with each other and provide important information about plasticity mechanisms supporting these complex brain functions and the localization of these processes.