scholarly journals Engram reactivation during memory retrieval predicts long-term memory performance in aged mice

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kubra Gulmez Karaca ◽  
David V.C. Brito ◽  
Benjamin Zeuch ◽  
Ana M.M. Oliveira

AbstractAge-related cognitive decline preferentially targets long-lasting episodic memories that require intact hippocampal function. Memory traces (or engrams) are believed to be encoded within the neurons activated during learning (neuronal ensembles), and recalled by reactivation of the same population. However, whether engram reactivation dictates memory performance in late life is not known. Here, we labelled neuronal ensembles formed during object location recognition learning in the dentate gyrus, and analyzed the reactivation of this population by long-term memory recall in young adult, cognitively impaired- and unimpaired-aged mice. We found that reactivation of memory-encoding neuronal ensembles at long-term memory recall was disrupted in impaired- but not unimpaired-aged mice. Furthermore, we showed that the memory performance in the aged population correlated with the degree of engram reactivation at long-term memory recall. Overall, our data implicates recall-induced engram reactivation as a prediction factor of memory performance throughout aging. Moreover, our findings suggest impairments in neuronal ensemble stabilization and/or reactivation as an underlying mechanism in age-dependent cognitive decline.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lea M. Bartsch ◽  
Vanessa M. Loaiza ◽  
Lutz Jäncke ◽  
Klaus Oberauer ◽  
Jarrod A. Lewis-Peacock

AbstractMaintenance of information in working memory (WM) is assumed to rely on refreshing and elaboration, but clear mechanistic descriptions of these cognitive processes are lacking, and it is unclear whether they are simply two labels for the same process. This fMRI study investigated the extent to which refreshing, elaboration, and repeating of items in WM are distinct neural processes with dissociable behavioral outcomes in WM and long-term memory (LTM). Multivariate pattern analyses of fMRI data revealed differentiable neural signatures for these processes, which we also replicated in an independent sample of older adults. In some cases, the degree of neural separation within an individual predicted their memory performance. Elaboration improved LTM, but not WM, and this benefit increased as its neural signature became more distinct from repetition. Refreshing had no impact on LTM, but did improve WM, although the neural discrimination of this process was not predictive of the degree of improvement. These results demonstrate that refreshing and elaboration are separate processes that differently contribute to memory performance.HighlightsRepeated reading, refreshing, and elaboration are differentiable in brain activation patterns in both young and older adults.Elaboration selectively improved long-term memory for young adults, and the size of the benefit was related to the neural separability of elaboration from other processes.Older adults implemented a sub-optimal form of elaboration, and this may be a factor contributing to age-related deficits in long-term memory.Ethics statementThe study was approved by the ethical review board of the canton of Zurich (BASEC-No. 2017-00190) and all subjects gave informed written consent in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.Data and code availability statementAll behavioral data and analysis scripts can be assessed on the Open Science Framework (osf.io/p2h8b/). The fMRI data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, LMB. The fMRI data are not publicly available due to restrictions of the Swiss Ethics Committees on research involving humans regarding data containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine L. Kwapis ◽  
Yasaman Alaghband ◽  
Enikö A. Kramár ◽  
Alberto J. López ◽  
Annie Vogel Ciernia ◽  
...  

AbstractAging is accompanied by impairments in both circadian rhythmicity and long-term memory. Although it is clear that memory performance is affected by circadian cycling, it is unknown whether age-related disruption of the circadian clock causes impaired hippocampal memory. Here, we show that the repressive histone deacetylase HDAC3 restricts long-term memory, synaptic plasticity, and learning-induced expression of the circadian genePer1in the aging hippocampus without affecting rhythmic circadian activity patterns. We also demonstrate that hippocampalPer1is critical for long-term memory formation. Together, our data challenge the traditional idea that alterations in the core circadian clock drive circadian-related changes in memory formation and instead argue for a more autonomous role for circadian clock gene function in hippocampal cells to gate the likelihood of long-term memory formation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 101 ◽  
pp. 256-261
Author(s):  
Kubra Gulmez Karaca ◽  
David V.C. Brito ◽  
Janina Kupke ◽  
Benjamin Zeuch ◽  
Ana M.M. Oliveira

Author(s):  
Ian Neath ◽  
Jean Saint-Aubin ◽  
Tamra J. Bireta ◽  
Andrew J. Gabel ◽  
Chelsea G. Hudson ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela S. Rivera ◽  
Carolina B. Lindsay ◽  
Carolina A. Oliva ◽  
Francisco Bozinovic ◽  
Nibaldo C. Inestrosa

Aging is a progressive functional decline characterized by a gradual deterioration in physiological function and behavior. The most important age-related change in cognitive function is decline in cognitive performance (i.e., the processing or transformation of information to make decisions that includes speed of processing, working memory, and learning). The purpose of this study is to outline the changes in age-related cognitive performance (i.e., short-term recognition memory and long-term learning and memory) in long-lived Octodon degus. The strong similarity between degus and humans in social, metabolic, biochemical, and cognitive aspects makes it a unique animal model for exploring the mechanisms underlying the behavioral and cognitive deficits related to natural aging. In this study, we examined young adult female degus (12- and 24-months-old) and aged female degus (38-, 56-, and 75-months-old) that were exposed to a battery of cognitive-behavioral tests. Multivariate analyses of data from the Social Interaction test or Novel Object/Local Recognition (to measure short-term recognition memory), and the Barnes maze test (to measure long-term learning and memory) revealed a consistent pattern. Young animals formed a separate group of aged degus for both short- and long-term memories. The association between the first component of the principal component analysis (PCA) from short-term memory with the first component of the PCA from long-term memory showed a significant negative correlation. This suggests age-dependent differences in both memories, with the aged degus having higher values of long-term memory ability but poor short-term recognition memory, whereas in the young degus an opposite pattern was found. Approximately 5% of the young and 80% of the aged degus showed an impaired short-term recognition memory; whereas for long-term memory about 32% of the young degus and 57% of the aged degus showed decreased performance on the Barnes maze test. Throughout this study, we outlined age-dependent cognitive performance decline during natural aging in degus. Moreover, we also demonstrated that the use of a multivariate approach let us explore and visualize complex behavioral variables, and identified specific behavioral patterns that allowed us to make powerful conclusions that will facilitate further the study on the biology of aging. In addition, this study could help predict the onset of the aging process based on behavioral performance.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hayden Schill ◽  
Jeremy Wolfe ◽  
Timothy F. Brady

Memory capacity depends on prior knowledge, both in working memory and in long-term memory. For example, radiologists have improved long-term memory for medical images compared to novices. Furthermore, people tend to remember abnormal or surprising items best. This is often claimed to arise primarily because such items attract additional attention at encoding. How do expertise and abnormality interact when experts are actively searching for abnormalities; e.g. radiologists looking at mammograms? In the current work, we investigate whether expert radiologists (N=32) show improved memory performance for abnormal images compared to novice participants (N=60). We consider two types of “abnormality.” A mammogram can have a focal abnormality that can be localized or it could simply be the mammogram of a woman known to have cancer (e.g. the image of the breast contralateral to the focal abnormality). Must an image have a focal abnormality for additional attentional processing to be engaged? We found that experts have better memory for mammograms than novice participants and enhanced memory for abnormal images relative to normal images. Overall, radiologists showed no memory benefit for the contralateral-abnormal images and did not discriminate them from normal images, but had enhanced memory for images with focal abnormalities. Our results suggest that focal abnormalities play an important role in enhancing memory of expert observers.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Norwardatun Mohamed Razali

Colours are mentioned many times in the Holy Qur’an. Some are mentioned as colours in general, and some of them in specific; yellow, white, black, red, green and blue. Each colour has its special connotations in the Holy Qur’an and among these colours, yellow and red are considered as warm colours. This study aimed to find the significance of warm colours in the Holy Qur’an and its relationship to human psychology; focusing on memory performance. This research had used an inductive approach in terms of selecting Quranic verses; in which yellow and red colour were mentioned. These verses were then analysed by referring to the books of exegetical considerations in order to know the implications of these colours’ usage, as well as referring to psychology books and scientific articles. The research found that yellow and red colour in the Holy Qur’an mostly indicate attracting attention or pleasing viewers. Some examples included the yellow colour in resemblance to the colour of the cow, attention to decay and destruction such as yellow colour in the withering plants, and attention to resurrection like the red colour resembling scene of the Day of Resurrection. This indication in the Holy Qur’an is consistent with psychologists’ discovery; warm colours such as red and yellow are more effective and attractive in the process of transferring information from external to sensory memory, and thus to short-term and long-term memory.


2020 ◽  
Vol 86 ◽  
pp. 11-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica M. Alapin ◽  
Monica Dines ◽  
Raphael Lamprecht

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