Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Seville, Spain.
Physiol Behav. 2013 Jun 13;118:45-51. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2013.05.020. Epub 2013 May 14.
The role of context in the retrieval of learned information has been widely analyzed in the associative learning domain. However, evidence about the effect of context on flavor memory retrieval is more limited. We have carried out four experiments with rats testing for possible interactions between neophobia habituation and the context in which flavors are presented, by manipulating prior experience with contexts. Our results point to the relevance of context familiarity for the establishment and recovery of a safe taste memory trace. More specifically, the use of the animals' home cages as experimental context favored neophobia habituation (Experiments 1A and 2), reduced dopamine levels induced by administration of the dopamine D1-like receptor antagonist SCH-23390 disrupted neophobia habituation when tested in presence of a new context (Experiment 1B), and testing in the animal's home cage increases the amount of flavor consumed, even when such flavor had a previous history of aversive conditioning (Experiment 3). We propose that exploring context without aversive consequences generates a safe memory trace of such context that becomes in the basis of increased flavor consumption.
语境在联想学习领域中对所学信息的检索作用已得到广泛分析。然而，关于语境对味觉记忆检索影响的证据则更为有限。我们通过操纵动物对环境的先前经验，用大鼠进行了四项实验，以检验新恐惧症习惯形成和呈现味道的环境之间可能存在的相互作用。我们的结果表明，对于建立和恢复安全味觉记忆痕迹，语境熟悉度是很重要的。具体而言，当在新环境中进行测试时，使用动物的家笼作为实验环境会促进新恐惧症习惯形成（实验 1A 和 2），当在新环境中进行测试时，使用动物的家笼作为实验环境会促进新恐惧症习惯形成（实验 1A 和 2），而施用多巴胺 D1 样受体拮抗剂 SCH-23390 引起的多巴胺水平降低会破坏在新环境中进行测试时的新恐惧症习惯形成（实验 1B），并且在动物的家笼中进行测试会增加对味道的消耗，即使这种味道以前有过厌恶条件作用的历史（实验 3）。我们提出，在没有负面后果的情况下探索环境会生成该环境的安全记忆痕迹，从而增加对味道的消耗。
