title: Spatial delayed nonmatching-to-sample performances in long-living Ames dwarf mice.
abstract: Ames dwarf mice have an extended lifespan by comparison with normal mice. Behavioral testing has revealed that sometimes Ames dwarf mice also evince superior performances relative to normal mice, but in other cases they do not. In this experiment, Ames dwarf and normal mice were compared on a T-maze test and on a delayed nonmatching-to-sample variant of a T-maze test. On the simple T-maze, Ames dwarf and normal mice committed comparable numbers of errors. On the nonmatching-to-sample task, normal mice mastered the discrimination by the end of the experiment while Ames dwarf mice did not. The apparatus, distances traveled and session duration were equivalent between the two tasks. The poorer performances of Ames dwarf mice on the nonmatching-to-sample task suggests that Ames dwarf mice may not be as capable of learning relatively cognitively complex tasks as normal mice.
authors.affiliation: University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, USA. Electronic address: adam.derenne@email.und.edu.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Derenne
authors.forename: Holly M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Brown-Borg
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Martner
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wolff
authors.forename: Morgan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Frerking
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D004392:Dwarfism / Q000235:genetics / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000502:physiology; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000209:etiology*; D018782:Maze Learning; D051379:Mice; D008817:Mice, Mutant Strains; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Aging; Ames dwarf mouse; Learning; Longevity; Reinforcement