Pre-exposure to context affects learning strategy selection in mice
- 1Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, USA
- 2Department of Psychology, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, USA
- 3Program in Neuroscience, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, USA
Abstract
The multiple memory systems hypothesis proposes that different types of learning strategies are mediated by distinct neural systems in the brain. Male and female mice were tested on a water plus-maze task that could be solved by either a place or response strategy. One group of mice was pre-exposed to the same context as training and testing (PTC) and the other group was pre-exposed to a different context (PDC). Our results show that the PTC condition biased mice to place strategy use in males, but this bias was dependent on the presence of ovarian hormones in females.
Footnotes
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↵4 Corresponding author.
E-mail schrader{at}tulane.edu; fax (504) 865-6785.
- Received March 26, 2010.
- Accepted May 12, 2010.
- © 2010 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
