title: Relational discrimination learning between amplitude-modulated sounds in the rat.
abstract: We studied the cue used by rats to discriminate between amplitude-modulated (AM) sounds. Water-deprived rats were exposed to two sounds, and licking a spout during the presentation of one of the two (S+) was rewarded with water, while licking during the other (S-) was not. The AM depth was 100, 60 or 20%. Rats were trained to discriminate between 100 and 60% AM sounds over 2 consecutive days. On the next day, the performance in discriminating between 60 and 20% AM sounds was evaluated. Of the four possible combinations of stimuli, a good performance was observed only when the relationship between S+ and S- regarding the AM depth was kept constant throughout the experiments, indicating that the relationship regarding the AM depth was the cue used by the rats for the discrimination.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurophysiology, Brain Research Institute, Niigata University, 1 Asahi-machi, Niigata 951-8585, Japan.
authors.forename: Kentaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.forename: Masaharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kudoh
authors.forename: Katsuei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shibuki
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000818:Animals; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D010897:Pitch Discrimination / Q000502:physiology*; D011594:Psychometrics; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012201:Reward; D013016:Sound; D013997:Time Factors; D014868:Water Deprivation / Q000502:physiology