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Memory formation and retrieval of neuronal silencing in the auditory cortex
- Publication Year :
- 2015
- Publisher :
- National Academy of Sciences, 2015.
-
Abstract
- Sensory stimuli not only activate specific populations of cortical neurons but can also silence other populations. However, it remains unclear whether neuronal silencing per se leads to memory formation and behavioral expression. Here we show that mice can report optogenetic inactivation of auditory neuron ensembles by exhibiting fear responses or seeking a reward. Mice receiving pairings of footshock and silencing of a neuronal ensemble exhibited a fear response selectively to the subsequent silencing of the same ensemble. The valence of the neuronal silencing was preserved for at least 30 d and was susceptible to extinction training. When we silenced an ensemble in one side of auditory cortex for conditioning, silencing of an ensemble in another side induced no fear response. We also found that mice can find a reward based on the presence or absence of the silencing. Neuronal silencing was stored as working memory. Taken together, we propose that neuronal silencing without explicit activation in the cerebral cortex is enough to elicit a cognitive behavior.
- Subjects :
- Male
Light
Archaeal Proteins
Conditioning, Classical
Sensory system
Optogenetics
Auditory cortex
Transfection
Reward
medicine
Gene silencing
Animals
Fear conditioning
Freezing Reaction, Cataleptic
Auditory Cortex
Neurons
Multidisciplinary
Working memory
Association Learning
Extinction (psychology)
Fear
Biological Sciences
Mice, Inbred C57BL
medicine.anatomical_structure
nervous system
Cerebral cortex
Mental Recall
Psychology
Neuroscience
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....fdb1132c8fc1f511258a9a249ebf8948