Interneurons in learning and memory

In this chapter, we will present a broad overview about how interneurons contribute to encoding a variety of memories, including fear, reward, and social memories. Because memories are distributed in networks throughout the brain, our discussions are not limited to a single brain region and will instead focus on current knowledge based on recent literature in several brain areas. We will also introduce common technical and behavioral methods of measuring memory encoding in inhibitory neuron populations. We will then discuss evidence for inhibitory neurons in processing fear, reward, and social memories. Since we cover a wide range of topics, we provide a broad overview for what is currently known in the field. In each section, we therefore provide references that point interested readers to more extensive reviews or seminal studies related to each subsection and instead focus on bigger picture concepts. Toward the end, we briefly touch upon interneuron contributions to working and spatial memory, as well as a general future outlook on studies of interneuron contributions to learning and memory. Due to the relatively recent explosion of rodent genetic tools to target and study inhibitory neurons, we will focus most of the discussion on advancements in rodent circuitry.