Source Paper
Impaired Recognition Memory in Rats after Damage to the Hippocampus
Robert E. Clark, Stuart M. Zola, Larry R. Squire
Journal of Neuroscience • 2000
Visual Paired Comparison Task
Objective: Test recognition memory in rats at five different delay intervals ranging from 10 seconds to 24 hours using the visual paired comparison task
This is a Visual Paired Comparison Task protocol using rat as the model organism. The procedure involves 5 procedural steps, 2 equipment items, 1 materials. Extracted from a 2000 paper published in Journal of Neuroscience.
Model and subjects
rat • Not specified • Not specified • Not specified • Not specified • Not specified
Study window
~48.1 hours hands-on
Core workflow
Surgical lesion creation • Visual Paired Comparison task at 10 second delay • Visual Paired Comparison task at 1 minute delay
Primary readouts
- Recognition memory performance at 10 second delay
- Recognition memory performance at 1 minute delay
- Recognition memory performance at longer delay intervals up to 24 hours
- Spatial memory performance on spontaneous alternation task
Key equipment and reagents
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Protocol Steps
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Surgical lesion creation
Create radio-frequency or ibotenic acid lesions of the hippocampus, or radio-frequency lesions of the fornix in separate rat groups
Note: Three separate lesion groups were created for comparison
View evidence from paper
“Rats with radio-frequency or ibotenic acid lesions of the hippocampus and rats with radio-frequency lesions of the fornix”
Visual Paired Comparison task at 10 second delay
Test recognition memory at 10 second delay interval
Note: All operated groups performed normally at this shorter delay
View evidence from paper
“Memory was assessed at five different delay intervals ranging from 10 sec to 24 hr. All operated groups performed normally at the shorter delays (10 sec and 1 min)”
Visual Paired Comparison task at 1 minute delay
Test recognition memory at 1 minute delay interval
Note: All operated groups performed normally at this shorter delay
View evidence from paper
“All operated groups performed normally at the shorter delays (10 sec and 1 min)”
Visual Paired Comparison task at longer delay intervals
Test recognition memory at longer delay intervals (beyond 1 minute up to 24 hours)
Note: Hippocampal damage groups showed impairment at longer delays
View evidence from paper
“Across longer delays, the two groups with hippocampal damage were impaired”
Spontaneous alternation task
Test spatial memory in rats with fornix lesions
Note: Fornix lesion group was impaired on this spatial task despite normal VPC performance
View evidence from paper
“Rats with fornix lesions performed well on the VPC task but were impaired on a spatial task (spontaneous alternation)”