PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Flore Lormant AU - Vitor Hugo Bessa Ferreira AU - Julie Lemarchand AU - Fabien Cornilleau AU - Paul Constantin AU - Céline Parias AU - Aline Bertin AU - Léa Lansade AU - Christine Leterrier AU - Frédéric Lévy AU - Ludovic Calandreau TI - Training level reveals a dynamic dialogue between stress and memory systems in birds AID - 10.1101/2021.01.05.425468 DP - 2021 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 2021.01.05.425468 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/01/06/2021.01.05.425468.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/01/06/2021.01.05.425468.full AB - It is now well-accepted that memory is a dynamic process, and that stress and training level may influence which memory system an individual engages when solving a task. In this work, we investigated whether and how chronic stress impacts spatial and cue-based memories according to training level. To that aim, control and chronically stressed Japanese quail were trained in a task that could be solved using spatial and cue-based memory and tested for their memory performances after 5 and 15 training days (initial training and overtraining, respectively) and following an emotional challenge (exposure to an open field). While chronic stress negatively impacted spatial memory in chronically stressed birds after initial training, this impact was lowered after overtraining compared to control quail. Interestingly, the emotional challenge reinstated the differences in performance between the two groups, revealing that chronic stress/overtraining did not eliminate spatial memory. Differences caused by previous stressors can re-emerge depending on the more immediate psychological state of the individual. Contrary to spatial memory, cue-based memory was not impaired in any test occasion, confirming that this form of memory is resistant to chronic stress. Altogether these findings reveal a dynamic dialogue between stress, training, and memory systems in birds.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.