Retrograde amnesia: production of skseletal but not cardiac response gradient by electroconvulsive shock.
Rats given a single electroconvulsive shock immediately after but not 60 seconds after an aversive conditioning trial exhibited behavioral retention deficits 24 hours later in a one-trial passive avoidance task. In contrast to these differential performance deficits, similar heart-rate changes, indicative of fear retention, were seen in punished animals irrespective of the time of delivery of the shock. These data suggest retention of a generalized fear to the training experience that was not revealed by the behavioral measure. The potential usefulness of concomitant behavioral and physiological response assessment in consolidation research is discussed.
D000647:Amnesia / Q000209:etiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D001919:Bradycardia / Q000209:etiology; D004597:Electroshock; D005239:Fear; D006185:Habituation, Psychophysiologic; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D011678:Punishment; D051381:Rats; D013610:Tachycardia / Q000209:etiology