Neural substrates of crossmodal association memory in monkeys: the amygdala versus the anterior rhinal cortex

Behav Neurosci. 2001 Apr;115(2):271-84.

Abstract

Nine rhesus monkeys were trained on visual, tactual, and crossmodal (tactual-visual) versions of delayed nonmatching-to-sample (DNMS). They then received bilateral aspiration lesions of the anterior rhinal cortex or bilateral excitotoxic lesions of the amygdala or were retained as unoperated controls. Monkeys with anterior rhinal cortex lesions displayed a persistent deficit on crossmodal DNMS as well as a deficit on tactual DNMS. In contrast, monkeys with amygdala lesions exhibited only a transient impairment on crossmodal DNMS, and their difficulty appeared to be related to inadvertent damage to the anterior rhinal cortex. The present findings support the idea that the rhinal cortex is important for the formation and retrieval of stimulus-stimulus associations across sensory modalities.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Amygdala / physiology*
  • Animals
  • Association Learning / physiology*
  • Brain Mapping
  • Conditioning, Operant / physiology
  • Entorhinal Cortex / physiology*
  • Macaca mulatta / physiology*
  • Male
  • Mental Recall / physiology*
  • Neural Pathways / physiology
  • Pattern Recognition, Visual / physiology*
  • Problem Solving / physiology
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology*
  • Sensory Deprivation / physiology
  • Touch / physiology*