A comparison of discrimination and reversal learning for olfactory and visual stimuli in aged rats.

Full Abstract

The present study investigated age-related differences in discrimination and reversal learning for olfactory and visual stimuli in 6-month and 24-month-old rats. Rats were trained to discriminate between two pseudo-randomly selected odors or objects. Once each animal reached a criterion on discrimination trials, the reward contingencies were reversed. Young and aged rats acquired the olfactory and visual discrimination tasks at similar rates. However, on reversal trials, aged rats required significantly more trials to reach the learning criterion on both the olfactory and visual reversal tasks than young rats. The deficit in reversal learning was comparable for odors and objects. Furthermore, the results showed that rats acquired the olfactory task more readily than the visual task. The present study represents the first examination of age-related differences in reversal learning using the same paradigm for odors and objects to facilitate cross-modal comparisons. The results may have important implications for the selection of memory paradigms for future research studies on aging.Copyright (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved.

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Author information

Author/s: Brushfield, Andrea M (AM); Luu, Trinh T (TT); Callahan, Bryan D (BD); Gilbert, Paul E (PE);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, CA 92120-4913, USA.

Grants: 5T34GM08303 (Agency:United States NIGMS) ; AG026505 (Agency:United States NIA)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Behavioral neuroscience (Behav Neurosci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2008-Feb; vol 122 (issue 1) : pp 54-62

Dates: Created 2008/02/26; Completed 2008/06/23;

PMID: 18298249, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Age Factors
Aging - physiology
Analysis of Variance
Animals
Behavior, Animal
Discrimination Learning - physiology
Male

Odors
Photic Stimulation - methods
Rats
Rats, Inbred F344
Reversal Learning - physiology
Sensory Thresholds
Smell - physiology

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