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REMEMBERING THE FUTURE: MOTHERS
KNOWS BEST
Adam Franssen, Kelly Rafferty, Sarah Byce,
and Craig Kinsley
In the Beginning…
Effects of Parenthood on Parents
???
Effects of Pregnancy: Boldness
Effects of Pregnancy: Better Foraging
Effects of Pregnancy: Better Non-Spatial Memory
Effects of Pregnancy: Better Spatial Memory
Habituation: Days 1-4 Tests: days 5-8Measures: Latency to approach baited and non-baited wells, number of baited and non-baited wells visited, latency to eat first/only Froot Loop, total time to find and eat all FLs, number of FLs found and eaten
Effects of Pregnancy: Mothers are less likely to suffer from
Alzheimers
Virgins Mothers
Effects of Pregnancy: Mothers suffering TBI outperform Control Virgins at memory tasks
Virgin KA
Mother KA
And then there was prospective memory… (and it was good)
What IS Prospective Memory?
Types of MemoryWorking Memory – actively
trying to remember something
Retrospective – recalling event from the past
Prospective – the anticipation of future events
Who utilizes PM?
?
What do RATS have to remember?
Retrospective:Where are the best places to
find food?How do I get back to my nest?
Prospective:Remember to maximize my
foraging so that I have enough food to survive drought conditions
Mothers vs. Non-Mothers
Given: Reproductive experience modifies a host of behavioral, neurobiological and physiological features.We hypothesize that it is evolutionarily
advantageous for mothers to remember to forage more efficiently in order to better care for their young
Experimental Design
1. Mother, Virgin, and Male rats are deprived of water for 16 hours
2. They are then placed in an Open Field Maze (OFM) for 30 minutes and allowed to forage for water
Rat in the Open Field Maze
Experimental Design
1. Next, rats are placed back into their home cage where:
Control rats have waterExperimental rats do NOT have water
2. After returning to the home cage, rats are placed back into the open field maze.
3. If the rats are using prospective memory, experimental rats should spend more time drinking in the maze than the control rats.
Mother in OFM Control
Mother in OFMExperimental
Data Suggest That Mother Rats (Primiparous Females)
Are Utilizing Prospective Memory
Time Spent Drinking Latency To Find Water
Mothers spend more time drinking than other groups
p = 0.03; n = 6; Mean + SEM
No significance w/in groups
n = 6; Mean + SEM
Con
trol
Pro
spec
tive
Con
trol
Pro
spec
tive
Con
trol
Pro
spec
tive
Male Nulliparous Primiparous
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Tim
e S
pen
t D
rin
kin
g (
sec)
Con
trol
Pro
spec
tive
Con
trol
Pro
spec
tive
Con
trol
Pro
spec
tive
Male Nulliparous Primiparous
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
Lat
ency
to
Fin
d W
ater
(se
c)
Preliminary Conclusions I Male and Virgin rats
did NOT demonstrate prospective memory
Regardless of condition, males and virgins spent the same time drinking while in the OFM Control Prospective
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
MaleNulliparousPrimiparous
ConditionTi
me
Spen
t Dri
nkin
g (s
ec)
Preliminary Conclusions II
Mother rats demonstrated prospective memory Experimental moms drank
more water in the OFM – indicating that they knew that there would not be water in the home cage
Control moms drank less – indicating that they knew water was going to be available in their home cage.
Control Prospective0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
MaleNulliparousPrimiparous
Condition
Tim
e Sp
ent D
rink
ing
(sec
)
Why the difference between groups?
Current/Future Directions Investigate the brain!
Where is the brain activated during prospective memory?
cfos activation no cfos activation
Current/Future Directions What about dads?
Current/Future Directions:Peromyscus californicus
Franssen et al. 2010 J Neurosci (in prep)
Monogamous/Biparental
Dad caring for young
Acknowledgements
Catherine and Elle Kinsley Lab