Research output per year
Research output per year
Marc T J Exton-McGuinness, Rosemary C Patton, Lawrence B Sacco, Jonathan L C Lee
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Once consolidated, memories are dynamic entities that go through phases of instability in order to be updated with new information, via a process of reconsolidation. The phenomenon of reconsolidation has been demonstrated in a wide variety of experimental paradigms. However, the memories underpinning instrumental behaviors are currently not believed to reconsolidate. We show that well-learned lever pressing in rats does undergo reconsolidation, which can be disrupted by systemic administration of the noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonist (+)-5-methyl-10,11-dihydro-SH-dibenzo[a,d]cyclohepten-5,10-imine maleate (MK-801) when administered prior to a switch to a variable, but not fixed, ratio schedule. Disruption of reconsolidation resulted in a reduction in long-term lever pressing performance and diminished the sensitivity of behavior to contingency change. Further investigation demonstrated that expression of the reconsolidation impairment was not affected by outcome value, implying a deficit in a stimulus-response (S-R) process. The ability to disrupt the performance of well-learned instrumental behaviors is potentially of great importance in the development of reconsolidation-based clinical treatments for conditions that involve compulsive seeking behaviors.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 468-77 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Learning & memory |
Volume | 21 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Sept 2014 |
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Lee, J. (Principal Investigator)
1/04/11 → 31/03/14
Project: Research
Lee, J. (Principal Investigator)
2/03/09 → 29/02/12
Project: Research Councils