Abstract
Multiple unit recordings were made from hippocampus and various other limbic system structures during classical conditioning of the rabbit nictitating membrane response. Hippocampal cells increase their firing rate substantially during the very early phases of conditioning—long before behavioral conditioning. A variety of evidence indicates that the hippocampal increase is learning-dependent, suggesting that hippocampal neurons are particularly sensitive to temporal parameters of stimuli used in conditioning. Single unit recordings of physiologically identified hippocampal cells indicate that pyramidal neurons are the cell type exhibiting the increase pattern of activation, while other putative cell types respond in different manners. Recordings from other limbic system brain areas during conditioning show a contrast between activity patterns of the major hippocampal afferents, important similarities between hippocampal and entorhinal cortical within-trial unit patterns of cell activation, and a selective projection of heightened hippocampal discharges along precommissural rather than post-commissurral fornix pathways.
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Land, T., Berger, T. W., Patterson, M. M., & Thompson, R. F. Learning-dependent increases in hippocampal unit activity during classical tone-footshock conditioning in the rabbit. Manuscript in preparation.
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Supported by research grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (to T.W.B.) and from NIMH (MH26530), NIH (NSI12268), NSF (BNS75-00453), and the McKnight Foundation (to R.F.T.). This work was brought to completion while the last author (R.F.T.) was a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, California, with the support of Center funds and funds from NIMH (ST32MH14581-03) and NSF (BNS76-22943 A02). We thank Carol Treanor and Lynn Gale of the Center staff for helpful advice and assistance, as well as Dolores Shirk for manuscript preparation.
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Berger, T.W., Clark, G.A. & Thompson, R.F. Learning-dependent neuronal responses recorded from limbic system brain structures during classical conditioning. Psychobiology 8, 155–167 (1980). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03332846
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03332846