title: Memory for timing visual and auditory signals in albino and pigmented rats.
abstract: The authors hypothesized that during a gap in a timed signal, the time accumulated during the pregap interval decays at a rate proportional to the perceived salience of the gap, influenced by sensory acuity and signal intensity. When timing visual signals, albino (Sprague-Dawley) rats, which have poor visual acuity, stopped timing irrespective of gap duration, whereas pigmented (Long-Evans) rats, which have good visual acuity, stopped timing for short gaps but reset timing for long gaps. Pigmented rats stopped timing during a gap in a low-intensity visual signal and reset after a gap in a high-intensity visual signal, suggesting that memory for time in the gap procedure varies with the perceived salience of the gap, possibly through an attentional mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA. catalin.buhusi@duke.edu
authors.forename: Catalin V
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Buhusi
authors.forename: Dinushi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Perera
authors.forename: Warren H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Meck
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention; D001307:Auditory Perception; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D011939:Mental Recall; D009042:Motivation; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans / Q000523:psychology*; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley / Q000523:psychology*; D011930:Reaction Time; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D013045:Species Specificity; D013998:Time Perception; D014792:Visual Acuity; D014796:Visual Perception