Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2012 Oct;36(9):1985-2006. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2012.07.003. Epub 2012 Jul 20.
Much research shows that early life manipulations have enduring behavioral, neural, and hormonal effects. However, findings of learning and memory performance vary widely across studies. We reviewed studies in which pre-weaning rat pups were exposed to stressors and tested on learning and memory tasks in adulthood. Tasks were classified as aversive conditioning, inhibitory learning, or spatial/relational memory. Variables of duration, type, and timing of neonatal manipulation and sex and strain of animals were examined to determine if any predict enhanced or impaired performance. Brief separations enhanced and prolonged separations impaired performance on spatial/relational tasks. Performance was impaired in aversive conditioning and enhanced in inhibitory learning tasks regardless of manipulation duration. Opposing effects on performance for spatial/relational memory also depended upon timing of manipulation. Enhanced performance was likely if the manipulation occurred during postnatal week 3 but performance was impaired if it was confined to the first two postnatal weeks. Thus, the relationship between early life experiences and adulthood learning and memory performance is multifaceted and decidedly task-dependent.
大量研究表明，早期生活的人为操作会对行为、神经和激素产生持久的影响。然而，学习和记忆表现的研究结果差异很大。我们回顾了在这个过程中，对断奶前的幼鼠施加压力，并在成年后测试其学习和记忆能力的研究。这些任务被分为厌恶条件反射、抑制性学习或空间/关系记忆。研究还考察了新生儿操作的持续时间、类型和时间以及动物的性别和品系等变量，以确定是否有任何因素可以预测增强或损害表现。短暂的分离会增强空间/关系任务的表现，而长时间的分离则会损害表现。无论操作持续时间如何，厌恶条件反射和抑制性学习任务的表现都会受损。空间/关系记忆的表现也取决于操作的时间。如果操作发生在出生后第 3 周，那么表现就会增强，但如果只局限于出生后的前两周，那么表现就会受损。因此，早期生活经历与成年后学习和记忆表现之间的关系是多方面的，并且取决于任务的性质。
