RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Incidental Temporal Binding in Rats: A Novel Behavioral Task Relevant to Episodic Memory
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.08.30.505895
DO 10.1101/2022.08.30.505895
A1 Dominika Radostova
A1 Daniela Kuncicka
A1 Branislav Krajcovic
A1 Lukas Hejtmanek
A1 Tomas Petrasek
A1 Jan Svoboda
A1 Ales Stuchlik
A1 Hana Brozka
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/09/02/2022.08.30.505895.abstract
AB We designed a behavioral task called One-Trial Trace Escape Reaction (OTTER), in which rats incidentally associate two temporally discontinuous stimuli: a neutral acoustic cue (CS) with an aversive stimulus (US) which occurs two seconds later (CS-2s-US sequence). Rats are first habituated to two similar environmental contexts (A and B), each consisting of an interconnected dark and light chamber. Next, rats experience the CS-2s-US sequence in the dark chamber of one of the contexts (either A or B); the US is terminated immediately after a rat escapes into the light chamber. The CS-2s-US sequence is presented only once to ensure the incidental acquisition of the association. The recall is tested 24 h later when rats are presented with only the CS in the alternate context (B or A), and their behavioral response is observed. Our results show that 59 % of the rats responded to the CS by escaping to the light chamber, although they experienced only one CS-2s-US pairing. The OTTER task offers a flexible high throughput tool to study memory acquired incidentally after a single experience. Incidental acquisition of association between temporally discontinuous events is highly relevant to episodic memory formation.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.