Premium
Conditioned changes in ultrasonic vocalizations to an aversive olfactory stimulus are lateralized in 6‐day‐old rats
Author(s) -
Weber Marianne,
Paxinos George,
Richardson Rick
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/1098-2302(200011)37:3<121::aid-dev1>3.0.co;2-f
Subject(s) - psychology , odor , stimulus (psychology) , audiology , olfaction , aversive stimulus , olfactory cues , neuroscience , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology , medicine
Using a soft rubber plug to block airflow in one naris, Kucharski, Johanson, and Hall (1986) found that some forms of olfactory memory (e.g., odor preferences) were lateralized in young rats while other forms (e.g., conditioned activation and mouthing) were not. The present experiments extended that research by showing that conditioned increases in ultrasonic vocalizations were also lateralized. That is, when exposed to an odor that was previously paired with footshock, 6‐day‐old rats significantly increased their rate of vocalizing. This response only occurred, however, when the naris open at training was also open at test. The use of the developing rat as a natural split‐brain preparation appears to be an effective procedure with which to broaden current approaches to the analysis of learning, memory, and emotion. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 37: 121–128, 2000