Maternal separation is a kind of social deprivation in early life that has been shown to impede the learning and memory abilities of rodents (mainly rats or mice) in adulthood. Animal models of mother-infant separation are commonly used to study the manifestations and mechanisms of learning and memory impairment. In this paper, an animal model of maternal-infant separation and related mechanisms of maternal-infant separation that affect offspring’s learning and memory are reviewed to provide a basis for subsequent research on maternal-infant separation.