Excitotoxic lesions of the hippocampus leave sensory preconditioning intact: implications for models of hippocampal function.
Learning about contextual cues is markedly disrupted in rats with hippocampal lesions. One analysis of this disruption is that it reflects a general failure to form associations between the elements of complex events. A straightforward prediction of this analysis is that sensory preconditioning will be disrupted by hippocampal lesions. This prediction was assessed by presenting rats with flavored solutions composed of 2 elements (A and X) before X was paired with an injection of the emetic, lithium chloride. A subsequent test revealed that rats were less willing to consume Solution A than they were to consume a control solution, B. This was true of rats with sham lesions and those with excitotoxic lesions of hippocampus. These findings fail to support the proposition that the hippocampus-dependent deficit in contextual conditioning is due to a general disruption to the process of associating the elements of complex events.
Ward-Robinson
J
J
School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Wales. ward-robinsonj@cf.ac.uk
Coutureau
E
E
Good
M
M
Honey
R C
RC
Killcross
A S
AS
Oswald
C J
CJ
D000818:Animals; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning; D051381:Rats; D013649:Taste