title: Forebrain norepinephrine involvement in selective attention and neophobia.
abstract: It has been reported that depletion of forebrain norepinephrine via 6-hydroxydopamine infusion into the dorsal bundle decreases the rat's ability to selectively attend to relevant stimuli and thus increases the rat's responsiveness to novelty. In this study we measured 6-hydroxydopamine lesion effects on 1) selective attention via the nonreversal shift task and extinction of continuous reinforcement bar pressing and on 2) neophobia via consumption of a novel solution in a familiar environment; exploratory behaviors and consumption of a familiar food in a novel environment; and consumption of familiar and novel foods in a novel environment. Our data do not support a role for the dorsal bundle in selective attention. Our data do support a role for forebrain norepinephrine in neophobia and suggest that the lesion effects on neophobia result from an interaction between novelty of environment and novelty of food.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Medical School at Houston.
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Steketee
authors.forename: P B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Silverman
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Swann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology; D005108:Extinction, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology; D006815:Hunger / Q000502:physiology; D008125:Locus Coeruleus / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000502:physiology*; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012931:Social Environment
chemical_list: D009638:Norepinephrine