Early prolonged light-deprivation in hooded rats: deficits in two visual discrimination paradigms.
Two types of experimental paradigms were used to study the effects of prolonged postnatal light-deprivation in hooded rats. The first experiment tested the effect of dark rearing on the acquisition of a light-flux discrimination using positive reinforcement discrimination; while the second experiment tested the effect of dark rearing on the acquisition and extinction of a conditioned emotional response (CER) using light-flux onset as a conditioning stimulus. Both positive discrimination and CER paradigms proved successful in revealing a deficit resulting from prolonged light-deprivation in hooded rats. These paradigms could differentiate a specific effect of light-deprivation on light-flux discrimination from general discrimination performance.
D000818:Animals; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D003624:Darkness / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008029:Lighting; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D012160:Retina / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*