DeVietti T L, Kirkpatrick B R
Science. 1976 Oct 22;194(4263):438-40. doi: 10.1126/science.988635.
Rats were conditioned to fear a tone paired with shock to the feet. Retention tests 4 days later showed that consolidation had occurred. Other animals were not tested for retention at 4 days, but the tone was presented in order to reactivate their memories of the conditioning. An amnesia gradient was generated by low-intensity electrical stimulation of the amygdaloid complex at different intervals after the tone, but stimulation was without effect either when given to rats not previously conditioned or when given to conditioned rats without preceding memory reactivation. Thus, stimulation of the amygdaloid complex can can affect memory retrieval. Moreover, the data call into question the assumption that an amnesia gradient indicates that the memory consolidation process has been modified.
使大鼠形成对与足部电击配对的音调的恐惧条件反射。4天后的记忆保持测试表明巩固已经发生。其他动物在4天时未进行记忆保持测试，但呈现音调以重新激活它们对条件反射的记忆。在音调出现后的不同间隔时间，通过对杏仁核复合体进行低强度电刺激产生了遗忘梯度，但当对未预先形成条件反射的大鼠进行刺激或对未预先进行记忆重新激活的条件反射大鼠进行刺激时，刺激均无效果。因此，对杏仁核复合体的刺激会影响记忆提取。此外，这些数据对遗忘梯度表明记忆巩固过程已被改变这一假设提出了质疑。
