Long-Term Contextual Memory in Mice: Persistence and Associability with Reinforcement

Many animal species are able to use context as a conditioned signal for learning. In some cases, the initial memorization of the context and its subsequent association with an unconditioned stimulus can be separated by a long period of time – a phenomenon termed the "context preexposure effect." This type of associative learning is based on a reminder and is significantly different from the classical version, though its properties have previously been studied only in rats. The present study addressed the formation of this type of conditioned link in mice. The conditioned signal was the context of a chamber, which the animals were allowed to explore for 5 min. After different time intervals, the mice were placed in the same chamber for 2 sec, during which they were given immediate electrocutaneous shocks (ECS). The mice formed a specific aversive memory for the preexplored context; formation of the memory did not occur if the animals received the same ECS in a context which was novel for them. This associative learning occurred in mice on application of the conditioned and unconditioned stimuli with intervals ranging from 30 min to 30 days. The resulting memory was long-term, persisting for at least 30 days. These results open up the potential for using mice of various transgenic strains for studying the cellular and molecular mechanisms of this type of associative learning.

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