ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL OF AMNESIC EFFECTS OF VARIOUS AGENTS IN GOLDFISH

Fish given a single electroconvulsive shock or intracranial administration of puromycin, acetoxycycloheximide, or KCl immediately following shock avoidance training show amnesia on retraining days later. When the treatments are given 24 hr after training no amnesia develops. But amnesia can be obtained 24 hr after training with KCl, puromycin and acetoxycycloheximide, if the fish are replaced in the intertrial environment for a brief period just prior to injection. Implications of these results to the consolidation hypothesis of memory formation are discussed. Previously unreported results on the amnesic effects of intracranial KCl in goldfish are also described. © 1969.