Strategies for assessing learning and memory, 1978-1987: a comparison of behavioral toxicology, psychopharmacology, and neurobiology.
Tests of learning and memory are currently not typically included in first-tier screening batteries even though there is ample evidence that chemical exposure can produce deficits in these cognitive processes. The approach taken in behavioral toxicology has been to restrict these cognitive tests to second tier or hazard characterization studies, yet there is little agreement on which tests are most appropriate. The present survey was designed to determine the current testing strategies in toxicology for detecting and characterizing the effects of chemical treatment on learning and memory, and to make comparisons to similar data from the fields of psychopharmacology and neurobiology. The survey data revealed a number of discipline-dependent effects on the selection of tests. A number of these effects were clearly related to the subject matter as well as the particular chemical/treatment being examined. Given the youth of the field, behavioral toxicology has the advantage of gaining valuable information from both of these disciplines. Behavioral testing in neurotoxicology should consider strategies which maximize unification of these closely related fields of neuroscience.
Peele
D B
DB
NSI-Environmental Sciences, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709.
Vincent
A
A
D000818:Animals; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D009498:Neurotoxins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012107:Research Design; D014116:Toxicology
D009498:Neurotoxins