Fidalgo Camino, Conejo Nélida María, González-Pardo Héctor, Arias Jorge Luis
Laboratory of Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Instituto de Neurociencias del Principado de Asturias (INEUROPA), University of Oviedo, Plaza Feijóo s/n, E-33003 Oviedo, Spain.
Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2014 Oct;114:165-70. doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2014.06.001. Epub 2014 Jun 14.
Visual discrimination tasks have been widely used to evaluate many types of learning and memory processes. However, little is known about the brain regions involved at different stages of visual discrimination learning. We used cytochrome c oxidase histochemistry to evaluate changes in regional brain oxidative metabolism during visual discrimination learning in a water-T maze at different time points during training. As compared with control groups, the results of the present study reveal the gradual activation of cortical (prefrontal and temporal cortices) and subcortical brain regions (including the striatum and the hippocampus) associated to the mastery of a simple visual discrimination task. On the other hand, the brain regions involved and their functional interactions changed progressively over days of training. Regions associated with novelty, emotion, visuo-spatial orientation and motor aspects of the behavioral task seem to be relevant during the earlier phase of training, whereas a brain network comprising the prefrontal cortex was found along the whole learning process. This study highlights the relevance of functional interactions among brain regions to investigate learning and memory processes.
视觉辨别任务已被广泛用于评估多种类型的学习和记忆过程。然而，对于视觉辨别学习不同阶段所涉及的脑区却知之甚少。我们使用细胞色素c氧化酶组织化学方法，在水迷宫视觉辨别学习训练的不同时间点，评估区域脑氧化代谢的变化。与对照组相比，本研究结果揭示了与掌握简单视觉辨别任务相关的皮质（前额叶和颞叶皮质）和皮质下脑区（包括纹状体和海马体）的逐渐激活。另一方面，在训练的数天中，所涉及的脑区及其功能相互作用逐渐发生变化。与新奇性、情绪、视觉空间定向和行为任务的运动方面相关的脑区在训练早期似乎很重要，而在整个学习过程中都发现了一个由前额叶皮质组成的脑网络。这项研究强调了脑区之间功能相互作用对于研究学习和记忆过程的重要性。
