Flexibility and robustness of contextual modulation of associative learning

Perception is strongly influenced by experience and, by associating different stimuli with specific outcomes, animals can predict consequences and generate anticipatory behavioral responses. To study how learning reshapes behavior, we use different associative tasks in which animals have to discriminate among visual or olfactory cues to obtain a water reward. Mice have to learn to lick only for one type of trial. Previous results show that learning induced modulation of behavioral variables, including licking rate, inhalation and speed. To examine the robustness and flexibility of contextual modulation in associative learning, we performed two experiments. First, we assessed the persistence of learned odor and contextual associations by testing expert mice after 7 days without training. Providing an estimate of memory robustness Second, we investigated the flexibility of learned contextual associations using a double-reversal learning task. Mice were first trained to discriminate between two highly similar contexts until they reached expert performance. We then switched the rewarded context to the opposite one and, once mice learned the reversed contingency, switched the rewarded context back to the original one. This paradigm allowed us to assess the ability of mice to update previously acquired associations in response to changes in contextual contingencies. This behavioral characterization will allow us to design future experiments to explore the neural basis of memory.