Using Place-Sound Association Paradigms to Explore Mechanisms of Plasticity and Memory Storage in Rats

            Learning contributes to the development of new patterns of correlated neural activity across multiple brain structures. During Attention, high-frequency coupling between pre-frontal and sensory cortices has been observed. A lot of the information from these structures is funneled into hippocampus and processed to eventually form memories. Much is known about all these structures and their mechanisms individually, but we have yet to know where or how memories are consolidated and stored in the long-term. Knowing the mechanisms of how long-term memories are formed, stored, and retrieved can help us further understand diseases that affect memory, such as Alzheimer’s, and eventually work to treat those illnesses. To aid this cause, we designed a behavioral paradigm on a track, similar to a W-track, which will test the rat’s capacity to associate place and sound. Similar to humans, rats code for their position and surroundings using place cells which also lie within the hippocampus. By playing distinct noises in specific locations on the track the rats should form place-sound associations between neurons which will eventually become memories. We are currently running behavioral experiments with the rats on the track to see if the current behavior paradigm is simple enough to learn, but complex enough to reliably employ the hippocampus for memory formation. If successful, we can then acquire data using brain tetrodes during the task to quantify the neuronal activity involved with memory storage and retrieval.