New paradigm to measure retrieval induced forgetting in rats

MARÍA RENNER; PEDRO BEKINSCHTEIN; MICHAEL ANDERSON; NOELIA WEISSTAUB

Huerta Grande

Congreso; Segunda Reunion Conjunta de Neurociencias; 2010

Sociedad Argentina de Neurociencias

Retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) refers to the observation that repeated retrieval of a given item causes loss of retrieval access to other related items. When retrieving specific events, the cues that guide retrieval are related to other traces that may interfere in the process of retrieving the desired item. RIF has been attributed to inhibitory control mechanisms that are recruited to overcome interference caused by competing memory traces. In humans it has been shown, using declarative memory tasks, that retrieval of specific items will induce forgetting of category related but not unrelated items, suggesting that RIF is caused by inhibitory processes specific to the situation of recall. Imaging studies indicate that different regions of the frontal lobe including pre frontal and orbitofrontal cortex, are activated during RIF.  Retrieval-induced forgetting has been studied exclusively in humans limiting the ability to understand the mechanisms involved. Then, our aim is to develop an animal protocol that parallel the human task used to study RIF. Novel object recognition tests exploit an animal’s natural tendency to explore novel or relatively less familiar stimulus. It is considered an equivalent of declarative memory in humans. Based on this task, we developed a paradigm that allowed us to measure RIF in rats.