Abstract
Electrophysiological recording of neural unit activity during paired training trials from the ipsilateral cerebellum in rabbits well trained in short-delay classical conditioning of the nictitating membrane (NM) and eyelid responses showed CS- and UCS-evoked responses and a pattern of increased neural activity that correlates with the learned behavioral response. Large ablations of the ipsilateral cerebellum completely and permanently abolished the conditioned response in well trained animals, as did more localized stereotaxic lesions. These lesions had no effect at all on the unconditioned reflex response. In marked contrast, conditioned responses were easily trained in the eye contralateral to the cerebellar lesion. We suggest that at least a part of the “engram,” the essential neuronal plasticity that codes the learned response, may be localized to the cerebellum.
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Weiss, D. J., Solomon, P. R., & Thompson, R. F. The hippocampus appears necessary for trace conditioning. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, St. Louis, Mo., November 1980.
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Lavond, D. G., Judson, S. M., & Thompson, R. F. Simultaneous recordingsfrom neurons of the accessorysixth and seventh cranial nuclei during classical conditioning of the nictitating membrane and eyelid responses. Manuscript in preparation, 1981.
McCormick, D. A., & Thompson, R. F. Pattern of response of the facial musculature during classical conditioning of the nictitating membrane and eyelid response. Manuscript in preparation, 1981.
McCormick, D. A., Kettner, R. E., & Thompson, R. F. Effects of bilateral ablation of the inferior colliculi on classical conditioning of the nictitating membrane and eyelid responses to an acoustic CS. Manuscript in preparation, 1981.
Lavond, D. G., McCormick, D. A., Clark, G. A., Holmes, D. T., & Thompson, R. F. Effects of rostral ipsilateral pontine reticular lesions on retention of classical conditioning of the nicitating membrane and eyelid responses. Manuscript in preparation, 1981.
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This work was supported in part by a research grant from the National Science Foundation (BNS-8106648). We thank Jann Lincoln for assistance in histology.
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Mccormick, D.A., Lavond, D.G., Clark, G.A. et al. The engram found? Role of the cerebellum in classical conditioning of nictitating membrane and eyelid responses. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 18, 103–105 (1981). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333573
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03333573