The differential role of the dorsal hippocampus in initiating and terminating timed responses: A lesion study using the switch-timing task

Tanya A Gupta; Carter W Daniels; J Bryce Ortiz; McAllister Stephens; Paula Overby; Korinna Romero; Cheryl D Conrad; Federico Sanabria

doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2019.112184

The differential role of the dorsal hippocampus in initiating and terminating timed responses: A lesion study using the switch-timing task

Behav Brain Res. 2019 Dec 30:376:112184. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2019.112184. Epub 2019 Aug 29.

Authors

Tanya A Gupta¹, Carter W Daniels², J Bryce Ortiz³, McAllister Stephens⁴, Paula Overby⁵, Korinna Romero⁶, Cheryl D Conrad⁷, Federico Sanabria⁸

Affiliations

¹ Arizona State University, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 871104, Tempe, AZ, 85287-1104, USA. Electronic address: tgupta13@asu.edu.
² Arizona State University, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 871104, Tempe, AZ, 85287-1104, USA; Columbia University, Department of Psychiatry, 1051 Riverside Drive, New York, NY, 10032, USA. Electronic address: carter.wa.daniels@gmail.com.
³ Arizona State University, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 871104, Tempe, AZ, 85287-1104, USA; The University of Arizona, College of Medicine - Phoenix, 475 N. 5th Street, Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA. Electronic address: jbryceortiz@email.arizona.edu.
⁴ Arizona State University, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 871104, Tempe, AZ, 85287-1104, USA; The University of Kentucky, Department of Psychology, 106-B Kastle Hall, Lexington, KY 40506-0044. Electronic address: mjst267@uky.edu.
⁵ Arizona State University, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 871104, Tempe, AZ, 85287-1104, USA. Electronic address: pfoverby@asu.edu.
⁶ Arizona State University, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 871104, Tempe, AZ, 85287-1104, USA; Arizona State University, College of Health Solutions, 550 N. 3rd Street, Phoenix, AZ, 85004-0698, USA. Electronic address: keromero@asu.edu.
⁷ Arizona State University, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 871104, Tempe, AZ, 85287-1104, USA. Electronic address: conradc@asu.edu.
⁸ Arizona State University, Department of Psychology, P.O. Box 871104, Tempe, AZ, 85287-1104, USA. Electronic address: Federico.Sanabria@asu.edu.

PMID: 31473282
DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2019.112184

Abstract

This study investigated the role of the dorsal hippocampus (dHPC) in the temporal entrainment of behavior, while addressing limitations of previous evidence from peak procedure experiments. Rats were first trained on a switch-timing task in which food was obtained from one of two concurrently available levers; one lever was effective after 8 s and the other after 16 s. After performance stabilized, rats underwent either bilateral NMDA lesions of the dHPC or sham lesions. After recovery, switch-timing training resumed. In a subsequent condition, the switch-timing task was modified such that food was available after either 8 or 32 s. Although dHPC lesions had subtle and complex effects on when rats stopped seeking for food at the 8-s lever (departures), it more systematically reduced the time when rats started seeking for food at the 16-s and 32-s lever (switches). No systematic effect of dHPC lesions were observed on the coefficient of quartile variation (normalized dispersion) of latencies to switch. Within the context of the pacemaker-accumulator framework of interval timing, these findings suggest that partially or wholly independent mechanisms control the initiation and termination of timed responses, and that the dHPC is primarily involved in encoding the time to start responding.

Keywords: Dorsal hippocampus; Interval timing; Multiple clocks; Response threshold; Simultaneous timing; Switch timing.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Animals
Conditioning, Operant / drug effects
Conditioning, Operant / physiology*
Hippocampus / physiology*
Male
Rats
Rats, Wistar
Reaction Time / physiology*
Time Perception / physiology