Medial prefrontal lesions in mice impair sustained attention but spare maintenance of information in working memory
- Julia B. Kahn1,
- Ryan D. Ward2,
- Lora W. Kahn2,6,8,
- Nicole M. Rudy5,
- Eric R. Kandel1,2,5,6,7,
- Peter D. Balsam1,3,4 and
- Eleanor H. Simpson1,5,9
- 1Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA
- 2Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA
- 3Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA
- 4Department of Psychology, Barnard College, New York, New York 10027, USA
- 5New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, New York 10032, USA
- 6Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA
- 7Kavli Institute for Brain Science, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA
Abstract
Working memory and attention are complex cognitive functions that are disrupted in several neuropsychiatric disorders. Mouse models of such human diseases are commonly subjected to maze-based tests that can neither distinguish between these cognitive functions nor isolate specific aspects of either function. Here, we have adapted a simple visual discrimination task, and by varying only the timing of events within the same task construct, we are able to measure independently the behavioral response to increasing attentional demand and increasing length of time that information must be maintained in working memory. We determined that mPFC lesions in mice impair attention but not working memory maintenance.
Footnotes
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↵9 Corresponding author
E-mail es534{at}columbia.edu
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[Supplemental material is available for this article.]
- Received March 8, 2012.
- Accepted July 12, 2012.
- © 2012 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
