http://cogprints.org/761/
Learning in escape/avoidance tasks in female rats does not vary with reproductive condition
To determine whether the development of novel stimulus-response associations by the mother during the periparturient period is attributable to a general facilitation of learning produced by the hormonal milieu during that period, learning ability under various reproductive conditions was assessed in two tasks unrelated to the periparturitional situation. The two tasks, selected because they equalized the various groups for motivation and performance variables, were acquisition of a water-maze escape (including two reversals), and acquisition and retention of an unsignalled shuttlebox shock avoidance. The groups tested in the water maze were a midpregnant group, an immediately prepartum group, and an immediately postpartum group. In the shuttlebox, the same conditions (different rats) were compared, together with a nonpregnant estrus condition, and a nonpregnant diestrus condition. The results of both experiments indicate that although learning occurred, the characteristics of acquisition and retention were not influenced by reproductive condition.
Kristal, Mark B.
Axelrod, Seymour
Noonan, Michael
Applied Cognitive Psychology
Behavioral Analysis
Behavioral Neuroscience
Animal Behavior
Animal Cognition
Behavioral Biology
Ethology
Cognitive Psychology
Comparative Psychology
Neuroendocrinology
Perceptual Cognitive Psychology
Physiological Psychology
Psychobiology
Mark B.
Kristal
Seymour
Axelrod
Michael
Noonan