| Records |
| Author |
Zentall, T.R. |
| Title |
Mental time travel in animals: a challenging question |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2006 |
Publication |
Behavioural processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav. Process. |
| Volume |
72 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
173-183 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Columbidae; Concept Formation; Conditioning, Operant; *Imagination; *Memory; Mental Recall; Planning Techniques; Rats; *Time Perception; Transfer (Psychology) |
| Abstract |
Humans have the ability to mentally recreate past events (using episodic memory) and imagine future events (by planning). The best evidence for such mental time travel is personal and thus subjective. For this reason, it is particularly difficult to study such behavior in animals. There is some indirect evidence, however, that animals have both episodic memory and the ability to plan for the future. When unexpectedly asked to do so, animals can report about their recent past experiences (episodic memory) and they also appear to be able to use the anticipation of a future event as the basis for a present action (planning). Thus, the ability to imagine past and future events may not be uniquely human. |
Address  |
Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40506-0044, USA. zentall@uky.edu |
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English |
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0376-6357 |
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PMID:16466863 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
218 |
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| Author |
Blokland, A. |
| Title |
Reaction time responding in rats |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
1998 |
Publication |
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews |
Abbreviated Journal |
Neurosci Biobehav Rev |
| Volume |
22 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
847-864 |
| Keywords |
Amphetamine/pharmacology; Animals; Behavior, Animal/drug effects/*physiology; Conditioning, Operant/drug effects/*physiology; Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors/pharmacology; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Male; Rats; Rats, Inbred Lew; Reaction Time/drug effects/*physiology |
| Abstract |
The use of reaction time has a great tradition in the field of human information processing research. In animal research the use of reaction time test paradigms is mainly limited to two research fields: the role of the striatum in movement initiation; and aging. It was discussed that reaction time responding can be regarded as “single behavior”, this term was used to indicate that only one behavioral category is measured, allowing a better analysis of brain-behavior relationships. Reaction time studies investigating the role of the striatum in motor functions revealed that the initiation of a behavioral response is dependent on the interaction of different neurotransmitters (viz. dopamine, glutamate, GABA). Studies in which lesions were made in different brain structures suggested that motor initiation is dependent on defined brain structures (e.g. medialldorsal striatum, prefrontal cortex). It was concluded that the use of reaction time measures can indeed be a powerful tool in studying brain-behavior relationships. However, there are some methodological constraints with respect to the assessment of reaction time in rats, as was tried to exemplify by the experiments described in the present paper. On the one hand one should try to control for behavioral characteristics of rats that may affect the validity of the parameter reaction time. On the other hand, the mean value of reaction time should be in the range of what has been reported in man. Although these criteria were not always met in several studies, it was concluded that reaction time can be validly assessed in rats. Finally, it was discussed that the use of reaction time may go beyond studies that investigate the role of the basal ganglia in motor output. Since response latency is a direct measure of information processing this parameter may provide insight into basic elements of cognition. Based on the significance of reaction times in human studies the use of this dependent variable in rats may provide a fruitful approach in studying brain-behavior relationships in cognitive functions. |
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Department of Psychology, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands |
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English |
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0149-7634 |
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PMID:9809315 |
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no |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2807 |
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| Author |
Gibson, B.M.; Shettleworth, S.J. |
| Title |
Place versus response learning revisited: tests of blocking on the radial maze |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Behavioral neuroscience |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav Neurosci |
| Volume |
119 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
567-586 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Association Learning; Male; *Maze Learning; Memory; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; Reproducibility of Results |
| Abstract |
Neurobiological and behavioral research indicates that place learning and response learning occur simultaneously, in parallel. Such findings seem to conflict with theories of associative learning in which different cues compete for learning. The authors conducted place+response training on a radial maze and then tested place learning and response learning separately by reconfiguring the maze in various ways. Consistent with the effects of manipulating place and response systems in the brain (M. G. Packard & J. L. McGaugh, 1996), well-trained rats showed strong place learning and strong response learning. Three experiments using associative blocking paradigms indicated that prior response learning interferes with place learning. Blocking and related tests can be used to better understand how memory systems interact during learning. |
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Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824-3567, USA. bgibson@cisunix.unh.edu |
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English |
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| ISSN |
0735-7044 |
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| Notes |
PMID:15839803 |
Approved |
no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
362 |
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| Author |
Healy, S.D.; Braham, S.R.; Braithwaite, V.A. |
| Title |
Spatial working memory in rats: no differences between the sexes |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
1999 |
Publication |
Proceedings. Biological Sciences / The Royal Society |
Abbreviated Journal |
Proc Biol Sci |
| Volume |
266 |
Issue |
1435 |
Pages |
2303-2308 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Estrus/metabolism; Female; Male; Memory/*physiology; Rats; Sex Factors; Swimming |
| Abstract |
In a number of mammalian species, males appear to have superior spatial abilities to females. The favoured explanations for this cognitive difference are hormonal, with higher testosterone levels in males than females leading to better spatial performance, and evolutionary, where sexual selection has favoured males with increased spatial abilities for either better navigational skills in hunting or to enable an increased territory size. However, an alternative explanation for this sex difference focuses on the role of varying levels of oestrogen in females in spatial cognition (the 'fertility and parental care' hypothesis). One possibility is that varying oestrogen levels result in variation in spatial learning and memory so that, when tested across the oestrous cycle, females perform as well as males on days of low oestrogen but more poorly on days of high oestrogen. If day in the oestrous cycle is not taken into account then, across an experiment, any sex differences found would always produce male superiority. We used a spatial working memory task in a Morris water maze to test the spatial learning and memory abilities of male and female rats. The rats were tested across a number of consecutive days during which the females went through four oestrous cycles. We found no overall sex differences in latencies to reach a submerged platform in a Morris water maze but, on the day of oestrus (low oestrogen), females took an extra swim to learn the platform's location (a 100% increase over the other days in the cycle). Female swim speed also varied across the oestrous cycle but females were no less active on the day of oestrus. These results oppose the predictions of the fertility and parental care hypothesis. |
| Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Newcastle, UK. s.healey@ed.ac.uk |
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English |
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| ISSN |
0962-8452 |
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| Notes |
PMID:10629980 |
Approved |
no |
| Call Number |
Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2818 |
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| Author |
Weatherly, J.N.; Arthur, E.I.L.; Tischart, L.M. |
| Title |
Altering “motivational” variables alters induction produced by upcoming food-pellet reinforcement |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
6 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
17-26 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Conditioning, Operant; Food Deprivation; Male; *Motivation; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley |
| Abstract |
Previous research has demonstrated that rats will increase their rates of lever pressing for sucrose rewards in the first half of an experimental session when food pellets, rather than the same sucrose, continually serve as the reward in the second half of the session. This effect has been coined induction, and the present study investigated whether it could be altered by altering “motivational” variables. Experiment 1 manipulated subjects' motivation by altering, across conditions, their level of food deprivation. Predictably, the size of induction varied directly with level of deprivation. Experiments 2 and 3 manipulated subjects' motivation by feeding them food pellets and sucrose, respectively, prior to their responding in the experimental session. These pre-session feedings decreased the size of the observed induction in both experiments. The results from the present study indicate that the size of induction is correlated with subjects' motivation to respond for the available reinforcers. They are also consistent with the idea that operant processes underlie the effect. The notion that induction might encompass the concept of “anticipation” is also discussed. |
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Department of Psychology, University of North Dakota, ND 58202-8380, Grand Forks, USA. jeffrey_weatherly@und.nodak.edu |
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English |
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1435-9448 |
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| Notes |
PMID:12658532 |
Approved |
no |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2584 |
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| Author |
Dudchenko, P.A.; Davidson, M. |
| Title |
Rats use a sense of direction to alternate on T-mazes located in adjacent rooms |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2002 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
5 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
115-118 |
| Keywords |
Animals; *Cognition; Male; *Maze Learning; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Space Perception |
| Abstract |
Lister hooded rats were trained on a forced-sample T-maze alternation task in an environment lacking spatial landmarks. An early study of spontaneous alternation on the T-maze had shown that rats use a “spatial sense” to select alternate maze arms across mazes. As this phenomenon may provide a useful tool for studying the neural substrates of a directional sense, we wished to confirm this finding on a different version of the T-maze task, with well-trained animals. We found that rats successfully selected the appropriate maze arm when the choice phase of the task was presented on a second maze, oriented in the same direction, and located in an adjacent room. However, choice performance fell to chance level when the second maze was oriented 90 degrees relative to the first. This result suggests that the rats do not simply alternate turns across the two environments, but rather that they rely on a sense of direction that is carried across environments. |
| Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK. p.a.dudchenko@stir.ac.uk |
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English |
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1435-9448 |
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| Notes |
PMID:12150036 |
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no |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2608 |
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| Author |
Gibson, B.M.; Shettleworth, S.J.; McDonald, R.J. |
| Title |
Finding a goal on dry land and in the water: differential effects of disorientation on spatial learning |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2001 |
Publication |
Behavioural brain research |
Abbreviated Journal |
Behav. Brain. Res. |
| Volume |
123 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
103-111 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Cues; Environment; Male; Maze Learning/*physiology; Orientation/*physiology; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; Spatial Behavior/*physiology; Water |
| Abstract |
Two previous studies, Martin et al. (J. Exp. Psychol. Anim. Behav. Process. 23 (1997) 183) and Dudchenko et al. (J. Exp. Psychol. Anim. Behav. Process. 23 (1997) 194), report that, compared to non-disoriented controls, rats disoriented before testing were disrupted in their ability to learn the location of a goal on a dry radial-arm maze task, but that both groups learned at the same rate in the Morris water maze. However, the radial-arm maze task was much more difficult than the water maze. In the current set of experiments, we examined the performance of control and disoriented rats on more comparable dry land and water maze tasks. Compared to non-disoriented rats, rats that were disoriented before testing were significantly impaired in locating a goal in a circular dry arena, but not a water tank. The results constrain theoretical explanations for the differential effects of disorientation on different spatial tasks. |
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Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, 100 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3G3. gibson@psych.utoronto.ca |
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English |
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0166-4328 |
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| Notes |
PMID:11377733 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
372 |
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| Author |
Skov-Rackette, S.I.; Shettleworth, S.J. |
| Title |
What do rats learn about the geometry of object arrays? Tests with exploratory behavior |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process |
| Volume |
31 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
142-154 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Behavior, Animal; *Discrimination Learning; *Exploratory Behavior; Female; *Form Perception; Habituation, Psychophysiologic; Male; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans |
| Abstract |
Six experiments using habituation of exploratory behavior tested whether disoriented rats foraging in a large arena encode the shapes of arrays of objects. Rats did not respond to changes in position of a single object, but they responded to a change in object color and to a change in position of 1 object in a square array, as in previous research (e.g., C. Thinus-Blanc et al., 1987). Rats also responded to an expansion of a square array, suggesting that they encoded sets of interobject distances rather than overall shape. In Experiments 4-6, rats did not respond to changes in sense of a triangular array that maintained interobject distances and angles. Shapes of object arrays are encoded differently from shapes of enclosures. |
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Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada. shannon.skov.rackette@utoronto.ca |
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English |
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0097-7403 |
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| Notes |
PMID:15839772 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
363 |
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Shettleworth, S.J.; Sutton, J.E. |
| Title |
Multiple systems for spatial learning: dead reckoning and beacon homing in rats |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2005 |
Publication |
Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process |
| Volume |
31 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
125-141 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Behavior, Animal; Cues; *Feeding Behavior; Habituation, Psychophysiologic; *Homing Behavior; *Learning; Male; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans; *Space Perception |
| Abstract |
Rats homed with food in a large lighted arena. Without visual cues, they used dead reckoning. When a beacon indicated the home, rats could also use the beacon. Homing did not differ in 2 groups of rats, 1 provided with the beacon and 1 without it; tests without the beacon gave no evidence that beacon learning overshadowed dead reckoning (Experiment 1). When the beacon was at the home for 1 group and in random locations for another, there was again no evidence of cue competition (Experiment 2). Dead reckoning experience did not block acquisition of beacon homing (Experiment 3). Beacon learning and dead reckoning do not compete for predictive value but acquire information in parallel and are used hierarchically. |
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Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G3, Canada. shettle@psych.utoronto.ca |
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0097-7403 |
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PMID:15839771 |
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no |
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refbase @ user @ |
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364 |
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Cohen, J.; Pardy, S.; Solway, H.; Graham, H. |
| Title |
Chunking versus foraging search patterns by rats in the hierarchically baited radial maze |
Type |
Journal Article |
| Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
| Volume |
6 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
93-104 |
| Keywords |
Animals; Exploratory Behavior; *Feeding Behavior; Male; *Maze Learning; Rats; Rats, Long-Evans |
| Abstract |
Rats were exposed to a radial maze containing six black smooth arms and six wire-grid-covered arms and a striped 'exit arm' in experiment 1. The probability of a black or grid arm being baited (5/6 vs 1/6) with sunflower seeds was associated with its proximal cue for some rats (the Relevant Arm Cue group) but not for others (the Irrelevant Arm Cue group). All rats could terminate a trial and receive a highly preferred morsel of apple by entering the exit arm only after having sampled all six seed-baited arms. Relevant Arm Cue rats usually chose some arms from the more densely baited set before choosing an arm from the less densely baited set and made fewer reentries than Irrelevant Arm Cue rats. Although such clustered, higher choice accuracy in the Relevant Arm Cue group corresponds to human clustered, better recall of verbal items from lists hierarchically organized by categories, these rats did not similarly exhaustively retrieve items (arm locations). That is, when required to terminate a trial by entering the 'exit' arm for an apple morsel after having sampled all seed-baited arms, both groups were equally unable to withhold making nonrewarded premature exits. This nonexhaustive foraging search pattern was maintained in the next two experiments in which the radial maze was reduced to three black and three grid arms along with the striped 'exit' arm and in which black and grid arm cues were paired with number of seeds (eight or one) in an arm for Relevant Arm Cue rats. Although Relevant Arm Cue rats displayed perfect clustering by entering all eight-seeded arms before a one-seeded arm, they made more premature exits and reentries into eight-seeded arms in experiment 2 or when forced to enter all eight-seeded arms in experiment 3 than did Irrelevant Arm Cue rats. These foraging tendencies prevent accurate estimations of the amount of information (i.e., arm locations) rats can 'chunk'. |
| Address |
Department of Psychology, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4, Canada. jcohen@uwindsor.ca |
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1435-9448 |
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| Notes |
PMID:12720109 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2574 |
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