Cognitive impairments are a common hallmark of many neurological and psychiatric diseases. With the increasing prevalence of such diseases, there is a pressing need to identify effective interventions that prolong independent functioning. As pharmacological interventions aimed at slowing cognitive decline have been found to have a number of limitations, research has now moved toward studying complementary non-pharmacological cognitive training interventions. One such technique is called the spacing effect. The spacing effect is the observation that information presented using spaced repetitions is better remembered than information presented via massed repetitions (Toppino & Gerbier, 2014). It has been recently demonstrated that spaced training can rescue memory and restore activation of key molecular processes in genetically modified mice with congenital memory deficits. These finding suggest that the understanding of the mechanisms that underpin the expression of the distributed-practice effect could be powerful tools to identify new pharmacological approaches for memory enhancement. We will expand this research to study the cellular basis of distributed learning and to find novel genes regulating the spacing effect.
This project represents one of the first efforts to identify the neural bases of the so-called spacing effect. The results will open previously unexplored avenues of readily implementable, neurobiologically based therapeutic strategy for intellectual disability.
This proposal is the first interdisciplinary attempt to determine the biological mechanisms of spaced learning at a neuroanatomical and cellular level, which, despite progresses made in the understanding of the molecular processes, to date, remain unclear. This project will provide a new understanding of how complex learning is modulated by different training protocols that are spaced in time. This is a fundamental knowledge to acquire for a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying learning and memory.
Moreover, our approach has the possibility to identify novel, unexpected genes that are involved in long term effect of distributed training. Genes confirmed in this screen will become candidate therapeutic targets in the clinic. In addition, there appear to be no data relating to the effects of drugs in the context of behavioral practices, to improve memory. Enhancing normal learning by judicious pharmacotherapy has recently received attention, and combining drugs with optimized spaced learning protocols might yield even better outcomes.