CHAPTER 15. UNVEILING UNEXPRESSED MEMORIES: THE NATURE OF MEMORY MODULATION THROUGH THE GLASSES OF NEOHELICE

A. DELORENZI; F. MAZA; H. GONZALEZ; P. N. FERNÁNDEZ LARROSA

Neohelice granulata, a Model Species for Studies on Crustaceans

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Año: 2019;

Not all experiences are remembered. Why some experiences form memories that stay for lifetime, but others vanish within the term of a few hours or even minutes? Research in memory modulation encompasses the studies concerning the neurobiological bases that underline such variations. The central hypothesis that has been guiding this research proposed that ?the slow consolidation of memories serves an adaptive function by enabling endogenous processes activated by an experience to modulate memory strength?(J. L. McGaugh 2000). Today, considerable evidence supporting this vision have been accumulated in evolutionarily distant species: hormones and neuromodulators triggered by arousal or challenging experiences have essential functions to modulate the strength of newly acquired memories during consolidation. Although learning skills vary across species depending upon specific adaptations to environmental particularities (Randolf Menzel 2007), the molecular machinery and the dynamics of the memory processes are conserved throughout evolution (R. Menzel 1999; Glanzman 2010) and the modulatory systems that influence memory processes are not the exception. There is a long tradition of studies on both the neurobiology of learning and memory with a multidisciplinary approach and the physiological adaptive systems to the habitat in Neohelice granulata (formerly Chasmagnathus granulatus). Thus, this crab appeared as exceptional species for the study of how environmental challenges trigger adaptive functions that enable endogenous processes activated by experiences to modulate the strength of memories.