Delayed response learning to auditory stimuli is impaired in cage-reared cats.
Four normal and eight cage-reared cats were used. Four of the cage-reared cats were visually deprived in the first 6 months of life. The cats were trained on a three-choice delayed response task to auditory stimuli. All normal cats mastered a 1-min delay and two cats even a 6-min delay. In contrast, two cage-reared cats failed to cope even with a 5-s delay, four cats with a 15-s delay and the remaining two cats with a 1-min delay. No significant difference was found between the non-deprived and the deprived cage-reared cats. The deficits was analogous to that shown by cage-reared cats during delayed response, visual learning. Thus, cage-rearing strongly impairs delayed responding to at least two different sensory modalities.
Stasiak
M
M
Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland.
Zernicki
B
B
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D005502:Food; D006799:Housing, Animal; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D012201:Reward; D012683:Sensory Deprivation / Q000502:physiology; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology