Effects of caudate nuclei or frontal cortex ablations in cats. IV. Bar pressing, maze learning, and performance
| Autor: | Charles E. Olmstead, Jaime R. Villablanca, David Avery, Robert J. Marcus |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 1976 |
| Předmět: |
Male
Frontal cortex Perseveration Maze learning Functional Laterality Discrimination Psychological Developmental Neuroscience Basal ganglia Avoidance Learning Reaction Time medicine Animals Learning Cerebral Cortex Sensory motor CATS Frontal Lobe Neurology Motor Skills Bar pressing Cats Caudate Nucleus Passive avoidance medicine.symptom Psychology Neuroscience |
| Zdroj: | Experimental Neurology. 53:670-693 |
| ISSN: | 0014-4886 |
| Popis: | Bar pressing, maze learning, and passive avoidance acquisition were examined, before and/or after surgery, in cats with extensive unilateral or bilateral ablations of the caudate nuclei or frontal cortices and in sham-operated cats. The caudate ablations were by aspiration using a midline transcallosal approach. In a two-bar lever-pressing situation the acaudate animals showed specific defects consisting of difficulties in shaping the use of the paws, tendency to persist at the response producing the last reward, inability to execute two concurrent motor acts, and peculiar postural adjustments. These changes contributed to slow rates of responding, markedly impaired ability to alternate, and interfered with all phases of acquisition and performance. Frontal cats, conversely, exhibited markedly irregular behavior, inability to sustain performance, and slow rates of bar pressing without the other response peculiarities of acaudate cats. The unilaterally ablated animals exhibited only fragments of these defects. In a standard T-maze, on spatial alternation and black-white discrimination tasks, acaudate cats showed errors of perseveration while frontal cats produced mainly randomly distributed errors. Such defects were not seen in unilaterally lesioned animals. The above deficits did not manifest any marked recovery even in cats studied for up to 16 months. Passive avoidance was normal in all animals except the cat with the largest caudate removal. Sham-operated cats behave like intact animals. In conclusion: (i) Stable, chronic cats with caudate removal and absence of dorsofrontal cortical damage are capable of learning, retention, and performance far beyond previous suggestions; (ii) The discrete behavioral deficits resulting from extensive caudate or frontal lesions are different, suggesting that these structures play different functional roles. The deficits resulting from caudate destruction are discussed in terms of interference with high level sensory motor processess; their similarities with some clinical manifestations of human basal ganglia pathology are noted. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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