4.4.3. Y-Maze

The maze consisted of three corridors that were joined at the center at equal angles. After placing a mouse in the maze, the movements were recorded for five minutes. An alternation was defined as a sequential visit to each arm without the repetition of either of the two previous arms. The percent alternation was calculated as the number of correct alternations per total arm visits minus 2.

## 4.4.4. Novel Object Test

In a plexiglas box (50 × 50 × 40 cm), two cylinder-shaped tin cans were introduced in two corners, 30 cm apart from each other. The mice were allowed to explore each object for 5 min. On the next day, the object of the right corner was replaced with a box-shaped novel object. The time that the mice spent exploring each object was recorded during the 5-min period. The animals were considered to be exploring an object when they were facing or sniffing the object. The recognition index was calculated by the ratio of time spent exploring the novel object over the total time spent exploring both objects.

#### 4.4.5. Fear Conditioning

The fear conditioning test consisted of acquisition, contextual consolidation, and cued consolidation phases. For the acquisition, the mice were placed in the Passive/Active avoidance system chamber from Scitech Korea (model No. PAAS) and left undisturbed for two minutes. The subsequent sessions comprised a conditioned stimulus (2000 Hz tone, 30 s) that co-terminated with an unconditioned stimulus (electric foot shock, 0.45 mA, 2 s), and intertrial intervals (30 s) were repeated four times. The mice were left in the chamber for an additional two minutes. Freezing was measured during the first two minutes and last two minutes of the 4 intertrial intervals. On the following day, the animals were placed in the chamber for five minutes. Freezing was measured as a contextual fear memory. On the third day, the mice were placed in a novel chamber for three minutes, followed by three minutes of exposure to a 2000 Hz tone. Freezing was measured before and during the tone exposure.
