Recently it has been proposed that impairments related to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may reflect a more fundamental disruption in time perception. Here, we examined whether in utero exposure to valproic acid (VPA) can generate specific behavioral deficits related to ASD and time perception. Pups from control and VPA groups were tested using…

Strong evidence supports a role for protein degradation in fear memory formation. However, these data have been largely done in only male animals. Here, we found that following contextual fear conditioning, females, but not males, had increased levels of proteasome activity and K48 polyubiquitin protein targeting in the dorsal hippocampus, the…

Conditioned stimuli (CS) have multiple psychological functions that can potentially contribute to their effect on memory formation. It is generally believed that CS-induced memory modulation is primarily due to conditioned emotional responses, however, well-learned CSs not only generate the appropriate behavioral and physiological reactions…

Protein kinase M[zeta] (PKM[zeta]) maintains long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term memory through persistent increases in kinase expression. Early-life adversity is a precursor to adult mood and anxiety disorders, in part, through persistent disruption of emotional memory throughout life. Here we subjected 10- to 16-wk-old male bonnet…

Behavioral flexibility is important in a changing environment. Previous research suggests that systems consolidation, a long-term poststorage process that alters memory traces, may reduce behavioral flexibility. However, exactly how systems consolidation affects flexibility is unknown. Here, we tested how systems consolidation affects: (1)…

The ubiquitin proteasome system (UPS) is a primary mechanism through which proteins are degraded in cells. UPS activity in the dorsal hippocampus (DH) is necessary for multiple types of memory, including object memory, in male rodents. However, sex differences in DH UPS activation after fear conditioning suggest that other forms of learning may…

This paper examines recent evidence from behavioral and neuroscience research with nonhuman animals that suggests the intriguing possibility that they, like their human counterparts, are vulnerable to creating false memories. Once considered a uniquely human memory phenomenon, the creation of false memories in lower animals can be seen especially…

Histone acetylation, catalyzed by e, has emerged as a promising therapeutic strategy in Alzheimer's disease (AD). By longitudinally characterizing spatial memory at 3, 6, and 9 mo of age, we show that acute activation and inhibition of the histone acetyltransferase PCAF remediated memory impairments in 3xTG-AD mice in an age-related bidirectional…

Recent data reveal that the thalamic nucleus reuniens (RE) has a critical role in the extinction of conditioned fear. Muscimol (MUS) infusions into the RE impair within-session extinction of conditioned freezing and result in poor long-term extinction memories in rats. Although this suggests that RE inactivation impairs extinction learning, it is…

A more thorough description of the changes in synaptic strength underlying synaptic plasticity may be achieved with quantal resolution measurements at individual synaptic sites. Here, we demonstrate that by using a membrane targeted genetic calcium sensor, we can measure quantal synaptic events at the individual synaptic sites of…

In word learning, learners need to identify the referent of words by leveraging the fact that the same word may co-occur with different sets of objects. This raises the question, what do children remember from "in the moment" that they can use for cross-situational learning? Furthermore, do children represent pictures of familiar animals…

Free-recall paradigms have greatly influenced our understanding of memory. The majority of this research involves laboratory-based events (e.g., word lists) that are studied and tested within minutes. This literature shows that adults recall events in a temporally organized way, with successive responses often coming from neighboring list…

Differences in the learning associated transcriptional profiles between mouse strains with distinct learning abilities could provide insight into the molecular basis of learning and memory. The inbred mouse strain DBA/2 shows deficits in hippocampus-dependent memory, yet the transcriptional responses to learning and the underlying mechanisms of…

Fear generalization is one of the main symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. In rodents, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the hippocampus (HPC) control the expression of contextual fear memory generalization. Consistently, ACC projections to the ventral HPC contribute to contextual fear generalization. However, the roles of ACC…

The ability to generate memories that persist throughout a lifetime (that is, memory persistence) emerges in early development across species. Although it has been shown that persistent fear memories emerge between late infancy and adolescence in mice, it is unclear exactly when this transition takes place, and whether two major fear conditioning…