Abstract
Previous work in our laboratory has found that whereas medial septal lesions impaired an operant left-right delayed alternation task in rats, the lesion also facilitated the performance of rats on a cued go/no-go discrimination task with a delay between the cue and the required response. These findings suggested to us that the medial septal lesions impaired "response" working memory, which in turn led to a compensatory enhancement of attention to stimulus cues. If this hypothesis is true, then the lesions should impair a go/no-go task based on "response" working memory. The current experiment tested this hypothesis. Rats (12 with medial septal lesions and 12 with sham operations) were tested on a discrete trial operant go/no-go response alternation task. The rats were first tested for 20 days without a delay contingency, followed by 35 days of testing with a 15-s delay between "go" and "no-go" trials. Both groups became proficient at the task under nondelay conditions and their terminal performance (averaging about 85% correct) did not differ. However, under delay conditions the performance of the lesioned rats was significantly impaired compared to the controls. As the go/no-go task does not require a spatial discrimination, the best explanation for our findings is that the lesions impaired response working memory.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1263-1271 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Physiology and Behavior |
| Volume | 58 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1995 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Physiology (medical)
Cite this
Effects of medial septal lesions on an operant go/no-go delayed response alternation task in rats. / Numan, Robert; Feloney, Michael P.; Pham, Kelly H.; Tieber, Lisa M.
In: Physiology and Behavior, Vol. 58, No. 6, 1995, p. 1263-1271.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of medial septal lesions on an operant go/no-go delayed response alternation task in rats
AU - Numan, Robert
AU - Feloney, Michael P.
AU - Pham, Kelly H.
AU - Tieber, Lisa M.
PY - 1995
Y1 - 1995
N2 - Previous work in our laboratory has found that whereas medial septal lesions impaired an operant left-right delayed alternation task in rats, the lesion also facilitated the performance of rats on a cued go/no-go discrimination task with a delay between the cue and the required response. These findings suggested to us that the medial septal lesions impaired "response" working memory, which in turn led to a compensatory enhancement of attention to stimulus cues. If this hypothesis is true, then the lesions should impair a go/no-go task based on "response" working memory. The current experiment tested this hypothesis. Rats (12 with medial septal lesions and 12 with sham operations) were tested on a discrete trial operant go/no-go response alternation task. The rats were first tested for 20 days without a delay contingency, followed by 35 days of testing with a 15-s delay between "go" and "no-go" trials. Both groups became proficient at the task under nondelay conditions and their terminal performance (averaging about 85% correct) did not differ. However, under delay conditions the performance of the lesioned rats was significantly impaired compared to the controls. As the go/no-go task does not require a spatial discrimination, the best explanation for our findings is that the lesions impaired response working memory.
AB - Previous work in our laboratory has found that whereas medial septal lesions impaired an operant left-right delayed alternation task in rats, the lesion also facilitated the performance of rats on a cued go/no-go discrimination task with a delay between the cue and the required response. These findings suggested to us that the medial septal lesions impaired "response" working memory, which in turn led to a compensatory enhancement of attention to stimulus cues. If this hypothesis is true, then the lesions should impair a go/no-go task based on "response" working memory. The current experiment tested this hypothesis. Rats (12 with medial septal lesions and 12 with sham operations) were tested on a discrete trial operant go/no-go response alternation task. The rats were first tested for 20 days without a delay contingency, followed by 35 days of testing with a 15-s delay between "go" and "no-go" trials. Both groups became proficient at the task under nondelay conditions and their terminal performance (averaging about 85% correct) did not differ. However, under delay conditions the performance of the lesioned rats was significantly impaired compared to the controls. As the go/no-go task does not require a spatial discrimination, the best explanation for our findings is that the lesions impaired response working memory.
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0029587608&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/0031-9384(95)02044-6
DO - 10.1016/0031-9384(95)02044-6
M3 - Article
C2 - 8623030
AN - SCOPUS:0029587608
VL - 58
SP - 1263
EP - 1271
JO - Physiology and Behavior
JF - Physiology and Behavior
SN - 0031-9384
IS - 6
ER -