Experimental Psychology Seminar - Roles of hippocampus and neocortex in learning and memory in mice – from synapse to behaviour
21 November 2017, 1:00 pm–2:00 pm
Event Information
Location
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Room 305, Bedford Way
We recently identified a left-right dissociation of synaptic plasticity in the mouse hippocampus. To investigate possible effects on behaviour, we used optogenetics to unilaterally silence hippocampal CA3 pyramidal cells in mice performing hippocampus-dependent memory tasks. Whilst silencing of either the left or the right CA3 caused a short-term memory deficit, strikingly, only left CA3 silencing impaired long-term memory. Our data suggests that memory is routed via distinct left-right pathways within the mouse hippocampus. We are currently investigating whether this hemispheric specialisation extends to neocortical structures involved in associative memory.