Negative transfer effects between reference memory and working memory training in the water maze in C57BL/6 mice

6533b82efe1ef96bd129279f

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Negative transfer effects between reference memory and working memory training in the water maze in C57BL/6 mice

Lucas Ezequiel Serrano Sponton Lucas Ezequiel Serrano Sponton Pascual Angel Gargiulo Benjamin K. Yee Benjamin K. Yee Joram Feldon Sylvain Dubroqua Philipp Singer Gonzalo Jose Soria

subject

0301 basic medicine Working memory training Male CIENCIAS MÉDICAS Y DE LA SALUD Transfer Psychology Interference theory WATER MAZE Inmunología Negative transfer Spatial Behavior Mnemonic Water maze MOUSE Developmental psychology 03 medical and health sciences Behavioral Neuroscience TRANSFER EFFECT 0302 clinical medicine Animals Attention Maze Learning Behavior Animal Working memory Cognition Mice Inbred C57BL Medicina Básica 030104 developmental biology Memory Short-Term SPATIAL LEARNING Reference memory Psychology 030217 neurology & neurosurgery Cognitive psychology

description

The water maze is one of the most widely employed spatial learning paradigms in the cognitive profiling of genetically modified mice. Oftentimes, tests of reference memory (RM) and working memory (WM) in the water maze are sequentially evaluated in the same animals. However, critical difference in the rules governing efficient escape from the water between WM and RM tests is expected to promote the adoption of incompatible mnemonic or navigational strategies. Hence, performance in a given test is likely poorer if it follows the other test instead of being conducted first. Yet, the presence of such negative transfer effects (or proactive interference) between WM and RM training in the water maze is often overlooked in the literature. To gauge whether this constitutes a serious concern, the present study determined empirically the magnitude, persistence, and directionality of the transfer effect in wild-type C57BL/6 mice. We contrasted the order of tests between two cohorts of mice. Performance between the two cohorts in the WM and RM tests were then separately compared. We showed that prior training of either test significantly reduced performance in the subsequent one. The statistical effect sizes in both directions were moderate to large. Although extended training could overcome the deficit, it could re-emerge later albeit in a more transient fashion. Whenever RM and WM water maze tests are conducted sequentially in the same animals – regardless of the test order, extra caution is necessary when interpreting the outcomes in the second test. Counterbalancing test orders between animals is recommended. Fil: Serrano Sponton, Lucas Ezequiel. Mainz University Hospital. Department of Neurosurger; Alemania. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza; Argentina Fil: Soria, Gonzalo Jose. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza; Argentina Fil: Dubroqua, Sylvain. Institute of Brain and Cognitive Science; China. Laboratory of Behavioural Neurobiology; Suiza Fil: Singer, Philipp. Institute of Brain and Cognitive Science; China. Roche Diagnostics; Suiza Fil: Feldon, Joram. Laboratory of Behavioural Neurobiology; Suiza. Roche Diagnostics; Suiza Fil: Gargiulo, Pascual Angel. Universidad Nacional de cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza; Argentina Fil: Yee, Benjamin K.. Laboratory of Behavioural Neurobiology; Suiza. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Faculty of Health and Social Sciences,; China

year	journal	country	edition	language
2017-07-26

10.1016/j.bbr.2017.10.033 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166432817312081