Reversible inactivation of the hippocampal formation in food-storing black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus)

✍ Scribed by Michael W. Shiflett; Tom V. Smulders; Lauryn Benedict; Timothy J. DeVoogd

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 219 KB
• Volume: 13
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1050-9631
• DOI: 10.1002/hipo.10065

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

The role of the hippocampal formation (HF) in memory processing was assessed in food‐storing black‐capped chickadees (Poecile atricapilla) by reversibly inactivating the HF during different memory tests. The memory tests required birds to remember a location based on spatial cues only, or based on a combination of both spatial and distinct visual cues. Inactivation of the HF impaired short‐term spatial memory, but not visual‐spatial memory. Inactivation of the HF impaired the retrieval of short‐term (15 min) spatial memories, but not long‐term (3‐h) spatial memories. The pattern of deficits produced by inactivation of the HF in chickadees suggests a possible function of the hippocampal specialization of food‐storing birds, as well as extends the notion of functional homology between the avian and mammalian HF. Hippocampus 2003;13:437–444. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.