Disconnection of the Perirhinal and Postrhinal Cortices Impairs Recognition of Objects in Context But Not Contextual Fear Conditioning
Autor: | Devon L. Poeta, Victoria R. Heimer-McGinn, Krishan Aghi, Methma Udawatta, Rebecca D. Burwell |
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Rok vydání: | 2017 |
Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
Male Conditioning Classical Hippocampus Postrhinal cortex Context (language use) Extinction Psychological 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Perirhinal cortex Neural Pathways medicine Avoidance Learning Animals Rats Long-Evans Research Articles Recognition memory Perirhinal Cortex General Neuroscience Cognitive neuroscience of visual object recognition Cognition Fear medicine.disease Rats 030104 developmental biology medicine.anatomical_structure Pattern Recognition Visual Schizophrenia Cues Nerve Net Psychology 030217 neurology & neurosurgery Cognitive psychology |
Zdroj: | The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 37(18) |
ISSN: | 1529-2401 |
Popis: | The perirhinal cortex (PER) is known to process object information, whereas the rodent postrhinal cortex (POR), homolog to the parahippocampal cortex in primates, is thought to process spatial information. A number of studies, however, provide evidence that both areas are involved in processing contextual information. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the rat POR relies on object information received from the PER to form complex representations of context. Using three fear-conditioning (FC) paradigms (signaled, unsignaled, and renewal) and two context-guided object recognition tasks (with 3D and 2D objects), we examined the effects of crossed excitotoxic lesions to the POR and the contralateral PER. Performance of rats with crossed lesions was compared with that of rats with ipsilateral POR plus PER lesions and sham-operated rats. We found that rats with contralateral PER–POR lesions were impaired in object–context recognition but not in contextual FC. Therefore, interaction between the POR and PER is necessary for context-guided exploratory behavior but not for associating fear with context. Our results provide evidence for the hypothesis that the POR relies on object and pattern information from the PER to encode representations of context. The association of fear with a context, however, may be supported by alternate cortical and/or subcortical pathways when PER–POR interaction is not available. Our results suggest that contextual FC may represent a special case of context-guided behavior.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTRepresentations of context are important for perception, memory, decision making, and other cognitive processes. Moreover, there is extensive evidence that the use of contextual representations to guide appropriate behavior is disrupted in neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders including developmental disorders, schizophrenia, affective disorders, and Alzheimer's disease. Many of these disorders are accompanied by changes in parahippocampal and hippocampal structures. Understanding how context is represented in the brain and how parahippocampal structures are involved will enhance our understanding and treatment of the cognitive and behavioral symptoms associated with neurological disorders and neuropsychiatric disease. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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