Adult timing after preweaning shifts of Zeitgeber in rats: crossed sensitization to time?
Preweaning albino rats were exposed from days 1 to 18 of life to successive 6-h shifts in light and temperature Zeitgebers, (1-18 rats), whereas controls (C) were raised under constant 12:12 L:D and temperature cycles. Cyclic Peak Interval performance at adulthood (100 days) showed that 1-18 rats were more accurate and sensitive to time than C subjects. These effects, which were akin to a crossed senzitization to time, were interpreted within the framework of scalar timing theory and the temporal information-processing model. They seemed not to depend upon changes in the pacemaker rate (lambda) or the memory constant K*, but to a change at the level of the decision process: 1-18 rats used a smaller response threshold than controls.
Lejeune
H
H
Psychobiology of Temporal Processes Unit, (PTPU), Faculty of Psychology, University of Liege, Belgium. helga.lejeune@ulg.ac.be
El Ahmadi
A
A
Weyers
M H
MH
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013997:Time Factors; D014886:Weaning