Autoshaping in micrencephalic rats.
An autoshaping procedure in which the illumination of a lever was predictive of food reinforcement was used to compare learning in rats with micrencephaly induced by irradiation on the 16th day of gestation and in sham-irradiated controls. Both groups showed equivalent levels of lever-directed activity, and the micrencephalic animals differentiated as well as the control animals between the predictive lever and a nonpredictive lever. The micrencephalic animals were able to redistribute their lever-directed activity when the significance of the levers was reversed and did so more readily than the control animals. Results support the claim that association learning survives either traumatic or developmental neocortical damage and have implications for remedial procedures following both head injury and developmental cerebral pathology in humans.
Goldstein
L H
LH
Department of Psychology, University College London, England.
Oakley
D A
DA
D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000528:radiation effects; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000528:radiation effects*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008831:Microcephaly / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009929:Organ Size / Q000528:radiation effects; D011247:Pregnancy; D011833:Radiation Injuries, Experimental / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051381:Rats; D012193:Reversal Learning / Q000502:physiology