K. Colemanmesches et Jl. Mcgaugh, DIFFERENTIAL INVOLVEMENT OF THE RIGHT AND LEFT AMYGDALAE IN EXPRESSION OF MEMORY FOR AVERSIVELY MOTIVATED TRAINING, Brain research, 670(1), 1995, pp. 75-81
The present study investigated possible lateralization of amygdala inv
olvement in memory for aversively motivated training. Rats with bilate
ral cannulae aimed at the amygdalae were trained in a one-trial inhibi
tory avoidance task. Twenty-four h or 10 days later, animals received
bilateral pre-test microinjections of either vehicle, 2% lidocaine, or
unilateral infusions of each simultaneously. Five min after the infus
ions, retention was tested. Retention latencies of rats given bilatera
l lidocaine or unilateral lidocaine into only the right amygdala were
significantly lower than controls. These results suggest that the righ
t and left amygdalae may make differential contributions to the expres
sion of memory, and that the contribution of the right amygdala may be
more important to the expression of memory for aversively motivated t
raining.