Memory dysfunction is an increasingly important problem among Americans today. Factors contributing to many memory disorders involve either a reduced or exaggerated capacity to experience arousal. These outcomes result in impaired neurotransmitter release in brain areas that process memory which includes limbic structures such as the amygdala and hippocampus. However, there are multiple pathways by which emotionally arousing information can be consolidated into memory but very little attention has been devoted to identifying the role of norepinephrine release in the nucleus accumbens during this process. Of particular interest is the shell region of the accumbens because it receives noradrenergic terminals exclusively from brainstem A2 neurons in the nucleus of the solitary tract that convey information regarding increased activity in peripheral autonomic systems following emotionally arousing events. Input from the NTS may contribute to the enhancement in memory for emotional events by increasing the responsiveness of accumbens neurons to the other constellation of inputs transmitted to the shell from the amygdala representing the affective components of emotional events, from the hippocampus relating to the contextual features of an event, and from the ventral tegmentum regarding reward related components of learning experiences. Given the multitude of inputs that converge upon the accumbens during learning, it is possible that this structure plays an important role in consolidating and binding information regarding the individual features of learned events into memory storage.
Responsibilities
Kerfoot, E. C., Chattillion, E. A., & Williams, C. L. (2008). Role of nucleus accumbens shell neurons in processing memory for emotionally arousing events. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 89, 47-60.
Kerfoot, E. C., Lee, H. J., Agarwal, I., & Holland, P. C. (2007). Control of appetitive and aversive taste-reactivity responses by an auditory conditioned stimulus in a devaluation task: a FOS and behavioral analysis. Learning & Memory, 14, 581-589.
Maddux, J. M., Kerfoot, E. C., Chatterjee, S., & Holland, P. C. (2007). Dissociation of attention in learning and action: Effects of lesions of the amygdala central nucleus, medial prefrontal cortex, and posterior parietal cortex. Behavioral Neuroscience, 121, 63-79.
Groshek, F., Kerfoot, E., McKenna, V., Polackwich, A. S., Gallagher, M., & Holland, P. C. (2005). Amygdala central nucleus function is necessary for learning but not expression of conditioned auditory orienting. Behavioral Neuroscience, 119, 202-212.
McDannald, M., Kerfoot, E., Gallagher, M., & Holland, P. C. (2004). Amygdala central nucleus function is necessary for learning but not expression of conditioned visual orienting. European Journal of Neuroscience, 20, 240-248.
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