THE ROLE OF THE AVIAN HIPPOCAMPAL FORMATION IN COMBATTING MEMORY INTERFERENCE

Memory interference occurs when similar stimuli create retrieval challenges, leading to confusion and errors in recall. To combat this interference, organisms rely on processes within the hippocampal formation (HF) that support the discrimination of highly similar memories. Memory interference has been extensively studied in mammals, showing that the pattern separation abilities of the dentate gyrus are critical for this process. The extent to which birds, which lack a dentate gyrus, utilize HF-dependent mechanisms to mitigate memory retrieval errors remains unclear. This study investigates the ability of Japanese quail (Coturnix Japonica) to discriminate its neural mechanisms. Using a radial arm maze (RAM) , quail are trained in a spatial reference memory task across conditions varying in distance. Quails begin with low-interference trials and eventually graduate to higher-interference trials once they reach a pre-established learning criterion. Following aspiration surgeries to the HF centring on the triangular regions and area V (proposed homologs of the dentate), quails are retrained and tested on their abilities to distinguish between both high-interference and low-interference options. The experimental design includes two groups: HF-lesioned and sham lesions. Preliminary results suggest that quails in both groups can discriminate in low-interference conditions, while lesioned quails show impairments in high-interference conditions, thus indicating potential HF involvement in interference reduction. By assessing the extent to which quail rely on HF-dependent processes for task performance, this study contributes to a broader understanding of memory function in avian species.