title: Adult timing after preweaning shifts of Zeitgeber in rats: crossed sensitization to time?
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Psychobiology of Temporal Processes Unit, (PTPU), Faculty of Psychology, University of Liege, Belgium. helga.lejeune@ulg.ac.be
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lejeune
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: El Ahmadi
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Weyers
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013997:Time Factors; D014886:Weaning