Spontaneous alternation in the white rat: A learning/memory phenomenon
1981; Academic Press; Volume: 32; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/s0163-1047(81)90429-5
ISSN1557-8003
AutoresP. J. Livesey, David J. Livesey, Geoff Syme,
Tópico(s)Memory and Neural Mechanisms
ResumoSpontaneous alternation of naive and of experienced rats was examined under various conditions, namely (i) intertrial intervals (ITIs) between trial 1 (T1) and trial 2 (T2) of 50 sec. 50 min and 5 hr; (ii) confinement during the ITI either in the goal box of the arm chosen on T1 or in a separate familiar container; (iii) trail and place cues available from T1 to T2 either totally removed, partially removed, or left intact. The latency of response (time from start box to goal box) on T2 was also considered. Results supported a learning/memory hypothesis for spontaneous alternation with memory of location of the arm explored on T1 being the critical factor in determining the direction of turn on T2. It appears that, as long as the rat has access to cues that indicate that it entered a particular arm on T1, it will turn to the alternate arm on T2.
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