Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 4 April 2008:
Vol. 320. no. 5872, pp. 113 - 115
DOI: 10.1126/science.1152709
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Episodic-Like Memory in Rats: Is It Based on When or How Long Ago?

William A. Roberts,1* Miranda C. Feeney,1 Krista MacPherson,1 Mark Petter,2 Neil McMillan,1 Evanya Musolino1

Recent experiments with rats suggest that they show episodic-like or what-where-when memory for a preferred food found on a radial maze. Although memory for when a salient event occurred suggests that rats can mentally travel in time to a moment in the past, an alternative possibility is that they remember how long ago the food was found. Three groups of rats were tested for memory of previously encountered food. The different groups could use only the cues of when, how long ago, or when + how long ago. Only the cue of how long ago food was encountered was used successfully. These results suggest that episodic-like memory in rats is qualitatively different from human episodic memory.

1 Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 5C2, Canada.
2 Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 4J1, Canada.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: roberts{at}uwo.ca

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Evidence for remembering when events occurred in a rodent model of episodic memory.
W. Zhou and J. D. Crystal (2009)
PNAS 106, 9525-9529
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Fat-induced satiety factor oleoylethanolamide enhances memory consolidation.
P. Campolongo, B. Roozendaal, V. Trezza, V. Cuomo, G. Astarita, J. Fu, J. L. McGaugh, and D. Piomelli (2009)
PNAS 106, 8027-8031
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Prediction, sequences and the hippocampus.
J. Lisman and A.D. Redish (2009)
Phil Trans R Soc B 364, 1193-1201
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mental time travel and the shaping of the human mind.
T. Suddendorf, D. R. Addis, and M. C. Corballis (2009)
Phil Trans R Soc B 364, 1317-1324
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)