TY - JOUR
T1 - The amygdala is not necessary for the familiarity aspect of recognition memory
AU - Basile, Benjamin M.
AU - Costa, Vincent D.
AU - Schafroth, Jamie L.
AU - Karaskiewicz, Chloe L.
AU - Lucas, Daniel R.
AU - Murray, Elisabeth A.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply.
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - Dual-process accounts of item recognition posit two memory processes: slow but detailed recollection, and quick but vague familiarity. It has been proposed, based on prior rodent work, that the amygdala is critical for the familiarity aspect of item recognition. Here, we evaluated this proposal in male rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) with selective bilateral excitotoxic amygdala damage. We used four established visual memory tests designed to assess different aspects of familiarity, all administered on touchscreen computers. Specifically, we assessed monkeys’ tendencies to make low-latency false alarms, to make false alarms to recently seen lures, to produce curvilinear ROC curves, and to discriminate stimuli based on repetition across days. Three of the four tests showed no familiarity impairment and the fourth was explained by a deficit in reward processing. Consistent with this, amygdala damage did produce an anticipated deficit in reward processing in a three-arm-bandit gambling task, verifying the effectiveness of the lesions. Together, these results contradict prior rodent work and suggest that the amygdala is not critical for the familiarity aspect of item recognition.
AB - Dual-process accounts of item recognition posit two memory processes: slow but detailed recollection, and quick but vague familiarity. It has been proposed, based on prior rodent work, that the amygdala is critical for the familiarity aspect of item recognition. Here, we evaluated this proposal in male rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) with selective bilateral excitotoxic amygdala damage. We used four established visual memory tests designed to assess different aspects of familiarity, all administered on touchscreen computers. Specifically, we assessed monkeys’ tendencies to make low-latency false alarms, to make false alarms to recently seen lures, to produce curvilinear ROC curves, and to discriminate stimuli based on repetition across days. Three of the four tests showed no familiarity impairment and the fourth was explained by a deficit in reward processing. Consistent with this, amygdala damage did produce an anticipated deficit in reward processing in a three-arm-bandit gambling task, verifying the effectiveness of the lesions. Together, these results contradict prior rodent work and suggest that the amygdala is not critical for the familiarity aspect of item recognition.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41467-023-43906-8
DO - 10.1038/s41467-023-43906-8
M3 - Article
C2 - 38062014
AN - SCOPUS:85178931044
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 14
JO - Nature communications
JF - Nature communications
IS - 1
M1 - 8109
ER -