Spatial working memory deficits in GluA1 AMPA receptor subunit knockout mice reflect impaired short-term habituation: evidence for Wagner's dual-process memory model.

ABSTRACT: Genetically modified mice, lacking the GluA1 AMPA receptor subunit, are impaired on spatial working memory tasks, but display normal acquisition of spatial reference memory tasks. One explanation for this dissociation is that working memory, win-shift performance engages a GluA1-dependent, non-associative, short-term memory process through which animals choose relatively novel arms in preference to relatively familiar options. In contrast, spatial reference memory, as exemplified by the Morris water maze task, reflects a GluA1-independent, associative, long-term memory mechanism. These results can be accommodated by Wagner's dual-process model of memory in which short and long-term memory mechanisms exist in parallel and, under certain circumstances, compete with each other. According to o

SUBMITTER: Sanderson DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2938569 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature