title: Set shifting in a rodent model of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
abstract: Two experiments compared spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs; a rodent model of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and Wistar rats (a normoactive control strain), on the acquisition of a set-shifting strategy. In Experiment 1, SHRs and Wistar rats were equivalent in trials to criterion to learn a brightness or a texture discrimination but SHRs were faster than Wistar rats in shifting to the opposite discrimination when there was 1 or 2 days between the initial discrimination and the shift. In Experiment 2, SHRs and Wistar rats were equivalent in shifting when the shift between discriminations occurred immediately after a criterion had been met in the first discrimination. The results are discussed in terms of a failure of SHRs to store or retrieve an initial discrimination and/or latent inhibition over a delay, leading to faster acquisition of a set-shift. This failure in storage or retrieval may be the result of a hypoactive dopamine system in the prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens shell as well as abnormalities in entorhinal cortex in SHRs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Champlain College.
authors.forename: Amy C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Chess
authors.forename: Brittany E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Raymond
authors.forename: Ira G
authors.initials: IG
authors.lastname: Gardner-Morse
authors.forename: Mark R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Stefani
authors.forename: John T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Green
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000523:psychology*; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D056344:Executive Function; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012377:Rodentia / Q000523:psychology*; D012718:Set, Psychology