Neurogenesis and the Spacing Effect: Learning over Time Enhances Memory and the Survival of New Neurons

Autor/inn/en	Sisti, Helene M.; Glass, Arnold L.; Shors, Tracey J.
Titel	Neurogenesis and the Spacing Effect: Learning over Time Enhances Memory and the Survival of New Neurons
Quelle	In: Learning & Memory, 14 (2007) 5, S.368-375 (8 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1072-0502
DOI	10.1101/lm.488707
Schlagwörter	Time Factors (Learning); Animals; Retention (Psychology); Brain; Intervals; Learning Processes; Neurological Organization; Adults; Physiology; Training; Experiments; Behavioral Science Research; Animal Behavior + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Animal; Tier; Tiere; Merkfähigkeit; Gehirn; Learning process; Lernprozess; Physiologie; Ausbildung; Erprobung; Tierverhalten
Abstract	Information that is spaced over time is better remembered than the same amount of information massed together. This phenomenon, known as the spacing effect, was explored with respect to its effect on learning and neurogenesis in the adult dentate gyrus of the hippocampal formation. Because the cells are generated over time and because learning enhances their survival, we hypothesized that training with spaced trials would rescue more new neurons from death than the same number of massed trials. In the first experiment, animals trained with spaced trials in the Morris water maze outperformed animals trained with massed trials, but there was not a direct effect of trial spacing on cell survival. Rather, animals that learned well retained more cells than animals that did not learn or learned poorly. Moreover, performance during acquisition correlated with the number of cells remaining in the dentate gyrus after training. In the second experiment, the time between blocks of trials was increased. Consequently, animals trained with spaced trials performed as well as those trained with massed, but remembered the location better two weeks later. The strength of that memory correlated with the number of new cells remaining in the hippocampus. Together, these data indicate that learning, and not mere exposure to training, enhances the survival of cells that are generated 1 wk before training. They also indicate that learning over an extended period of time induces a more persistent memory, which then relates to the number of cells that reside in the hippocampus. (Author).
Anmerkungen	Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. 500 Sunnyside Boulevard, Woodbury, NY 11797-2924. Tel: 800-843-4388; 516-367-8800; Fax: 516-422-4097; e-mail: cshpres@cshl.edu; Web site: http://www.learnmem.org/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10