Delayed Electroconvulsive Shock and Maze Retention Deficits in Rats PDF Download

Author: Kent Bradley Davis
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electric shock
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Book Description
Twenty-one male, adult, albino rats were habituated to a Nielson re-arrangeable, three-choice, five unit water-maze, then randomly assigned to one of three, equally populated groups. Group I Ss were observed for errors through eight daily blocks of five massed trials and a single, 0.7 sec., 140 volt sine shock was induced through earclips four hours following completion of each of the first seven daily measures; Ss, run daily under 20 hours of food deprivation, were reinforced with lab chow on each trial, allowed continuous access to water, and four hours access to food following each daily maze run. Group II Ss were handles the same except that ECS was omitted. During the fifth through eighth daily maze run, a second Nielsen maze problem was presented; an additional control group (Group III) anchored performance for the fifth day's trials only. It was found that Group I, (but not Group II) Ss suffered a reliable loss of savings after a single ECS treatment: Group I continued to make more errors than controls did throughout the retention-shock measures of the first problem. WIth presentation of the second maze problem on the fifth day, Groups I and II were both found to make reliably more errors than naive controls of Group III; learning of the new problem was rapid, however, for Group I and II Ss- both groups outperformed Group III by the fifth and last trial. The measures of the sixth through eighth days, as well as those of the second through fifth days, disclosed a considerable overnight performance decrement in Group I, but not Group II, Ss. Conclusions drawn are these: 1. In spite of many contrary reports, ECS delayed (Four hours) beyond original learning can impair savings, provided moderately sensitive measures are employed. 2. A single ECS treatment can effect the savings loss. 3. Consolidation theory postulating 60 minutes as the limit for establishment of the permanent (i.e., unperturbable) memory trace, requires reconsideration in the light of the present findings. 4. The competition-of-response, ECS thory is not necessarily supported by, but does comport well with, the present findings.