The retention of habits by the rat after destruction of the frontal portion of the cerebrum.

Abstract

In this study, several questions were posed, although the facts to answer only a few parts of these questions are now available. Some of the questions are: Do rats retain habits of recent formation after the destruction of certain cerebral regions? Do they retain habits of long standing, or those in which there has been an overtraining or over-learning? Can rats learn after the removal of the whole cortex? If learning and retention are possible after destruction of parts of the cortex, how much and what parts of the brain are necessary for, and what parts are normally used in the formation and the retention of habits? Eleven experiments revealed that in the white rat the removal of large parts of the frontal portions of the brain does not greatly interfere with a learned reaction. Although the results give plain evidence of non-interference with learned reactions when the frontal portions of the brain have been destroyed they also suggest that the habit reaction is not necessarily cortical in these animals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)