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Recognizing Others: Rodent’s Social Memories

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Book cover Social Behavior from Rodents to Humans

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences ((CTBN,volume 30))

Abstract

We provide in this chapter a brief overview of the present knowledge about social memory in laboratory rodents with a focus on mice and rats. We discuss in the first part the relevance of the processing of olfactory cues for social recognition in these animals and present information about the brain areas involved in the generation of a long-term social memory including cellular mechanisms thought to underlie memory consolidation. In the second part, we suggest that sensory modalities beyond olfaction may also be important in contributing to the long-term social memory trace including audition and taction (and vision). The exposure to stimuli activating the auditory system and taction is able to produce interference phenomena at defined time points during the consolidation of social memory. This ability of such—nonsocial—stimuli may provide a new approach to dissect the brain processes underlying the generation of the social memory trace in further studies.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Rita Murau for expert technical assistance. J.C.P was supported by stipends from the Leibniz Graduate School and the Medical Faculty Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. AG Neuroendokrinologie & Verhalten, Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, Institut für Biochemie und Zellbiologie, Leipziger Str. 44/Haus 1, 39120, Magdeburg, Germany

    Judith Camats Perna

  2. AG Neuroendokrinologie & Verhalten, Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, Institut für Biochemie und Zellbiologie, Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Leipziger Str. 44/Haus 1, 39120, Magdeburg, Germany

    Mario Engelmann

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  1. Judith Camats Perna
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Correspondence to Judith Camats Perna .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Behavioral Neuroscience, Experim. and Physiological Psychology Philipps-University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany

    Markus Wöhr

  2. Dep of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University of Marburg, Marburg, Germany

    Sören Krach

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Camats Perna, J., Engelmann, M. (2015). Recognizing Others: Rodent’s Social Memories. In: Wöhr, M., Krach, S. (eds) Social Behavior from Rodents to Humans. Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences, vol 30. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2015_413

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