Fate of the Original Retrieval Cues Following the Transfer of Memory in Rats

Abstract

Exposure to contextual cues immediately after conditioning enables the new stimuli to retrieve the target memory. But what is the fate of the original cues after this type of transfer of properties? Have they been supplanted by the new cues, or are both sets of stimuli now effective? To address this issue, an experiment was conducted investigating the effectiveness of the original training cues following the transfer of retrieval cues to a new context. Rats were exposed to contextual cues different from training immediately after learning a punishment task. Subjects tested in the new context treated the context as if it were the original, i.e., retrieval cues were transferred to the shifted context. In addition, this transfer had no effect on the original memory as rats that were tested in the original context behaved similarly to those tested in the shifted context. It appears that this transfer of retrieval cues is not a case of erase-and-update, but rather the cues remain for the original context and also become associated with the new context where exposure took place.