Locus Coeruleus and Dopamine-Dependent Memory Consolidation

Figure 1

Two distinct novelty systems. There are two types of novelty: “environmental novelty” (e.g., new environment with objects never seen before) and “reward-associated novelty” (e.g., new reward in an unexpected location). They are associated with release of dopamine (DA) in the hippocampus (HPC) but might be processed by different systems with different time windows. (a) The locus coeruleus- (LC-) HPC system mediates environmental novelty which modulates the retention of memory with a broad time window (~1 hr). (b) The ventral tegmental area- (VTA-) HPC system might mediate reward-associated novelty which modulates the memory with a narrow time window.

(a) LC-HPC system

(b) VTA-HPC system