Simultaneous temporal processing is sensitive to prenatal choline availability in mature and aged rats.
Rats were trained at 2-4 months and at 24-26 months of age on a peak-interval timing procedure in which auditory and visual stimuli signaled two different fixed-interval schedules of reinforcement (15 and 30 s) that were presented simultaneously in a hierarchical fashion. Compared with control rats, increases in the probability of attention to the 15 s signal were observed for both the choline-supplemented and the choline-deficient rats. In contrast, an increase in attention to the 30 s signal was only observed for the choline-supplemented rats, whereas choline-deficient rats exhibited a decrease in attention that increased with age. Proportional rightward shifts in the remembered times of reinforcement emerged for the 24-26-month-old rats in the choline-deficient and control groups, but not in the choline-supplemented group. These results indicate that prenatal choline supplementation facilitates cognitive function across the lifespan, whereas prenatal choline deficiency impairs divided attention and accelerates age-related declines in temporal processing.
Meck
W H
WH
Department of Psychology: Experimental, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
Williams
C L
CL
D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D011336:Probability; D051381:Rats; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D013997:Time Factors