Failure of induced asymmetries to improve left-right response differentiation in the rat.
Rats (and humans) appear to be able to distinguish between left and right by referring to an intrinsic asymmetry as a navigational aid; this suggests that experimentally induced asymmetries might also facilitate such a distinction. We assessed the effects of asymmetries produced by unilateral shaving, unilateral vibrissotomy, and asymmetrical cortical lesions on acquisition of a left-right response differentiation. None of the treatments improved performance relative to appropriate control treatments; the rats were evidently unable to use these induced asymmetries to form the lateral differentiation. The results are related to evidence provided in an earlier report (Noonan & Axelrod, 1989) that even some reliable intrinsic asymmetries cannot function as navigational aids.
Noonan
M
M
Department of Psychology, Canisius College, Buffalo.
Axelrod
S
S
D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008465:Mechanoreceptors / Q000502:physiology*; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D014738:Vibrissae / Q000502:physiology