CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 176Memory and Neural MechanismsMemory Processes and InfluencesNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research

Basolateral amygdala is not critical for cognitive memory of contextual fear conditioning

Open access
Vazdarjanova, Almira, McGaugh, James L.·1998·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
DOI 10.1073/pnas.95.25.15003PMC PMC24565
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Evidence that lesions of the basolateral amygdala complex (BLC) impair memory for fear conditioning in rats, measured by lack of “freezing” behavior in the presence of cues previously paired with footshocks, has suggested that the BLC may be a critical locus for the memory of fear conditioning. However, evidence that BLC lesions may impair unlearned as well as conditioned freezing makes it difficult to interpret the findings of studies assessing conditioned fear with freezing. The present study investigated whether such lesions prevent the expression of several measures of memory for contextual fear conditioning in addition to freezing. On day 1, rats with sham lesions or BLC lesions explored a Y maze. The BLC-lesioned rats (BLC rats) displayed a greater exploratory activity. On day 2, each of the rats was placed in the “shock” arm of the maze, and all of the sham and half of the BLC rats received footshocks. A 24-hr retention test assessed the freezing, time spent per arm, entries per arm, and initial entry into the shock arm. As previously reported, shocked BLC rats displayed little freezing. However, the other measures indicated that the shocked BLC rats remembered the fear conditioning. They entered less readily and less often and spent less time in the shock arm than did the control nonshocked BLC rats. Compared with the sham rats, the shocked BLC rats entered more quickly and more often and spent more time in the shock arm. These findings indicate that an intact BLC is not essential for the formation and expression of long-term cognitive/explicit memory of contextual fear conditioning.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1073/pnas.95.25.15003

Cites

3 of 3 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Even rats do many things within a single emotion category: in the face of threat, they can freeze, flee, or engage in defensive treading.

    “Even rats do many things within a single emotion category: in the face of a threat, rats can freeze (e.g., LeDoux et al. 1990), flee (Vazdarjanova & McGaugh 1998), or engage in “defensive treading,” in which they kick bedding in the direction of a known threat (Reynolds & Berridge 2002; 2003; 2008).”

    From The brain basis of emotion: a meta-analytic review (2012) · cites this paper as Vazdarjanova & McGaugh 1998

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 33

  1. [1]Maren S. J Neurosci. 1998;18:3088–3097. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.18-08-03088.1998. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  2. [2]Maren S, Aharonov G, Fanselow M S. Behav Neurosci. 1996;110:718–726. doi: 10.1037//0735-7044.110.4.718. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  3. [3]Kim J J, Rison R A, Fanselow M S. Behav Neurosci. 1993;107:1093–1098. doi: 10.1037//0735-7044.107.6.1093. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI · Paper page
  4. [4]Phillips R G, LeDoux J E. Behav Neurosci. 1992;106:274–285. doi: 10.1037//0735-7044.106.2.274. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  5. [5]LeDoux J E, Muller J. Philos Trans R Soc London B. 1997;352:1719–1726. doi: 10.1098/rstb.1997.0154. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  6. [6]Muller J, Corodimas K P, Fridel Z, LeDoux J E. Behav Neurosci. 1997;111:683–691. doi: 10.1037//0735-7044.111.4.683. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  7. [7]Helmstetter F J, Bellgowan P S. Behav Neurosci. 1994;108:1005–1009. doi: 10.1037//0735-7044.108.5.1005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  8. [8]Blanchard D C, Blanchard R J. J Comp Physiol Psychol. 1972;81:281–290. doi: 10.1037/h0033521. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  9. [9]Lorenzini C, Bucherelli C, Giachetti A, Mugnai L, Tassoni G. Physiol Behav. 1991;49:765–770. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(91)90316-g. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  10. [10]Burns L H, Annett L, Kelley A E, Everitt B J, Robbins T W. Behav Neurosci. 1996;110:60–73. doi: 10.1037//0735-7044.110.1.60. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  11. [11]Walker D L, Davis M. J Neurosci. 1997;17:9375–9383. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.17-23-09375.1997. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI · Paper page
  12. [12]Mesches M H, Bianchin M, McGaugh J L. Neurobiol Learn Mem. 1996;66:324–340. doi: 10.1006/nlme.1996.0073. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  13. [13]Sanders S K, Shekhar A. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 1995;52:701–706. doi: 10.1016/0091-3057(95)00153-n. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  14. [14]Bellgowan P S, Helmstetter F J. Behav Neurosci. 1996;110:727–736. doi: 10.1037//0735-7044.110.4.727. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  15. [15]Kemble E D, Blanchard D C, Blanchard R J. Physiol Behav. 1990;48:1–5. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(90)90251-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  16. [16]Swanson L W. Brain Maps: Structure of the Rat Brain. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 1992. [Google Scholar]
  17. [17]Paxinos G, Watson C. The Rat Brain in Stereotaxic Coordinates. San Diego: Academic; 1997. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. [18]Tolman E C. Purposive Behavior in Animals and Men. New York: Appleton-Century; 1932. [Google Scholar]
  19. [20]Selden N R W, Everitt B J, Jarrard L E, Robbins T W. Neuroscience. 1991;42:335–350. doi: 10.1016/0306-4522(91)90379-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  20. [21]Parent M B, Avila E, McGaugh J L. Brain Res. 1995;676:235–244. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(95)00095-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  21. [22]Parent M B, Quirarte G L, Cahill L, McGaugh J L. Behav Neurosci. 1995;109:803–807. doi: 10.1037//0735-7044.109.4.803. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  22. [23]Roozendaal B, McGaugh J L. Neurobiol Learn Mem. 1996;65:1–8. doi: 10.1006/nlme.1996.0001. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  23. [24]Tomaz C, Dickinson-Anson H, McGaugh J L. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1992;89:3615–3619. doi: 10.1073/pnas.89.8.3615. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  24. [25]Cahill L, McGaugh J L. Trends Neurosci. 1998;21:294–299. doi: 10.1016/s0166-2236(97)01214-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI · Paper page
  25. [26]McGaugh J L, Cahill L, Roozendaal B. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1996;93:13508–13514. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.24.13508. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  26. [27]Roozendaal B, Portillo-Marquez G, McGaugh J L. Behav Neurosci. 1996;110:1074–1083. doi: 10.1037//0735-7044.110.5.1074. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  27. [28]Quirarte G L, Roozendaal B, McGaugh J L. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1997;94:14048–14053. doi: 10.1073/pnas.94.25.14048. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  28. [29]Parent M B, McGaugh J L. Brain Res. 1994;661:97–103. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(94)91186-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  29. [30]Liang K C, Hon W, Davis M. Behav Neurosci. 1994;108:241–253. doi: 10.1037//0735-7044.108.2.241. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  30. [31]Roozendaal B, McGaugh J L. Europ J Neurosci. 1997;9:76–83. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-9568.1997.tb01355.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  31. [32]Ikegaya Y, Saito H, Abe K. Brain Res. 1995;671:351–354. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(94)01403-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
  32. [33]Packard M G, Cahill L, McGaugh J L. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 1994;91:8477–8481. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.18.8477. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI · Paper page
  33. [34]Squire L R, Alvarez P. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 1995;5:169–177. doi: 10.1016/0959-4388(95)80023-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Vazdarjanova, A., & McGaugh, J. L.
Affiliations
University of California, Irvine (US)
ORCID
Vazdarjanova, Almira
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Published
1998-12-08
Volume
95
Issue
25
Pages
15003-15007
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
DOI
10.1073/pnas.95.25.15003
PMC
PMC24565
OpenAlex
W1981494566
Cited by
176
References
3
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 14
FWCI
7.47
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • U.S. Public Health Service
  • University of California, Irvine
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH012526, MH12526, R56MH012526)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
Keywords
basolateral amygdala, contextual fear conditioning, fear memory, freezing behavior, lesion studies, memory expression, long-term memory, exploratory activity
MeSH terms
Amygdala, Animals, Fear, Male, Memory, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Rats

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review