Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Acquisition of appetitively and aversively motivated tasks in rats following lesions of the mammillary bodies

1979; Springer Nature; Volume: 7; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3758/bf03326615

0090-5046

Robert F. Smith, Leonard W. Schmaltz,

Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies

Rats with bilateral electrolytic damage to the mammillary bodies were impaired in the acquisition of a DRL-20 schedule and on the 1st day of an operant, passive avoidance task. Performance of lesioned animals on high FR schedules and on an operant task of active avoidance was indistinguishable from that of unoperated and control subjects. The pattern of results was judged incompatible with interpretations of appetitive motivational changes, or the inhibition deficit often reported following damage to septum and hippocampus. The results suggest that the mammillary bodies make a behavioral contribution unique from other limbic structures.