Developmental Changes in the Neural Mechanisms of Eyeblink Conditioning

Abstract

Eyeblink conditioning has been used as a model system for examining the ontogeny of associative learning and its neural basis in rodents. Associative eyeblink conditioning emerges between postnatal days (P) 17 and 24 in rats. Neurophysiological studies in infant rats during eyeblink conditioning revealed developmental changes in the activity of cerebellar neurons that correspond to the ontogenetic emergence of eyeblink conditioning. The developmental changes in cerebellar neuronal activity suggest that the ontogeny of eyeblink conditioning is related to changes in learning mechanisms rather than motor performance mechanisms. Additional neurophysiological and neuroanatomical studies demonstrated that the developmental changes in neuronal activity in the cerebellum are due to developmental changes in interactions between the cerebellum and its inputs, the inferior olive and pontine nuclei. Developmental changes in cerebellar inputs and regulation of its inputs affect the induction of learning-related plasticity, thereby affecting the rate and magnitude of conditioning.