Efficacy of lithium chloride in the taste-aversion conditioning of young-adult and old-age rats.
An absolute amount of a LiCl US was administered to 24 young-adult and 24 old-age rats during taste-aversion conditioning to determine whether the superior performance of old-age rats, when a 1% body-weight injection of a LiCl US is administered 3 hr. after a saccharin CS, is due to age-related differences in US intensity or the efficacy of LiCl. The aversion conditioned in old-age rats with a 3-hr. CS-US interval and an absolute amount of LiCl was still significantly greater than that in young adults suggesting that age-related differences in US intensity or the efficacy of LiCl cannot explain the superior performance of old-age rats. Possibly, old-age rats forget the specifics of the CS more than young adults and, thus, older animals show greater stimulus generalization to the substantially different test stimuli.
Misanin
J R
JR
Department of Psychology, Susquehanna University, PA 17870.
Hinderliter
C F
CF
D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D005793:Generalization, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects; D018021:Lithium Chloride / Q000633:toxicity*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013649:Taste / Q000187:drug effects*
D018021:Lithium Chloride