Experience of a First, “Whisker-Dependent,” Skill Affects the Induction of c-Fos Expression in Somatosensory Cortex Barrel Field Neurons in Rats on Training to a Second Skill

Abstract

We report here studies in which a controlled history of sequential learning of two skills was created with the aim of identifying the pattern of activation of neurons for the first skill on formation of the second. Animals were initially trained to an operant drinking behavior requiring use of the whiskers on the left or right side (a “whisker-dependent” skill), which was followed by training to a food-procuring pedal-pressing skill not requiring use of the whiskers. The results showed that training to a food-procuring skill induced c-Fos expression in a significantly larger number of neurons in the barrel field in animals previously trained to the operant drinking (whisker-dependent) skill than in the analogous area of control animals previously trained to a non-operant drinking skill. Our data suggest that activation of c-Fos expression on repeat training also occurred in those neurons which had already become specialized in relation to the first, whisker-dependent, skill.