Bevins Rick A, Besheer Joyce
Department of Psychology, 238 Burnett Hall, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0308, USA.
Nat Protoc. 2006;1(3):1306-11. doi: 10.1038/nprot.2006.205.
Rats and mice have a tendency to interact more with a novel object than with a familiar object. This tendency has been used by behavioral pharmacologists and neuroscientists to study learning and memory. A popular protocol for such research is the object-recognition task. Animals are first placed in an apparatus and allowed to explore an object. After a prescribed interval, the animal is returned to the apparatus, which now contains the familiar object and a novel object. Object recognition is distinguished by more time spent interacting with the novel object. Although the exact processes that underlie this 'recognition memory' requires further elucidation, this method has been used to study mutant mice, aging deficits, early developmental influences, nootropic manipulations, teratological drug exposure and novelty seeking.
大鼠和小鼠倾向于与新物体而非熟悉的物体进行更多互动。行为药理学家和神经科学家利用这种倾向来研究学习和记忆。此类研究常用的一种实验方案是物体识别任务。首先将动物放置在一个装置中，让其探索一个物体。在规定的间隔时间后，将动物放回该装置，此时装置中既有熟悉的物体，又有新物体。通过动物与新物体互动时间更长来区分物体识别情况。尽管构成这种“识别记忆”的确切过程尚需进一步阐明，但该方法已被用于研究突变小鼠、衰老缺陷、早期发育影响、益智操作、致畸药物暴露以及新奇寻求行为。
