QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, September 3, 2008, 28(36):8945-8954; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1893-08.2008

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Robitsek, R. J. Articles by Eichenbaum, H. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Robitsek, R. J. Articles by Eichenbaum, H. Pubmed/NCBI databases Medline Plus Health Information Memory Seniors' Health

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Cognitive Aging: A Common Decline of Episodic Recollection and Spatial Memory in Rats

R. Jonathan Robitsek,¹ Norbert J. Fortin,¹ Ming Teng Koh,² Michela Gallagher,² and Howard Eichenbaum¹

¹Center for Memory and Brain, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, and ²Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218

Correspondence should be addressed to Howard Eichenbaum, Center for Memory and Brain, 2 Cummington Street, Boston, MA 02215. Email: hbe{at}bu.edu

In humans, recognition memory declines with aging, and this impairment is characterized by a selective loss in recollection of previously studied items contrasted with relative sparing of familiarity for items in the study list. Rodent models of cognitive aging have focused on water maze learning and have demonstrated an age-associated loss in spatial, but not cued memory. The current study examined odor recognition memory in young and aged rats and compared performance in recognition with that in water maze learning. In the recognition task, young rats used both recollection and familiarity. In contrast, the aged rats showed a selective loss of recollection and relative sparing of familiarity, similar to the effects of hippocampal damage. Furthermore, performance on the recall component, but not the familiarity component, of recognition was correlated with spatial memory and recollection was poorer in aged rats that were also impaired in spatial memory. These results extend the pattern of impairment in recollection and relative sparing of familiarity observed in human cognitive aging to rats, and suggest a common age-related impairment in both spatial learning and the recollective component of nonspatial recognition memory.

Key words: aging; hippocampus; recollection; familiarity; spatial memory; receiver operating characteristic

---

Received April 29, 2008; revised June 17, 2008; accepted July 9, 2008.

Correspondence should be addressed to Howard Eichenbaum, Center for Memory and Brain, 2 Cummington Street, Boston, MA 02215. Email: hbe{at}bu.edu

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Farovik, L. M. Dupont, M. Arce, and H. Eichenbaum Medial Prefrontal Cortex Supports Recollection, But Not Familiarity, in the Rat J. Neurosci., December 10, 2008; 28(50): 13428 - 13434. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help