Effects of hippocampal lesions on the rat's reaction to a cat.

Abstract

Confronted 20 male albino rats with a cat in a circular runway. Ss with hippocampal lesions displayed lower levels of freezing than did operated controls. When avoidance or escape was possible, Ss with lesions showed superior cat avoidance and less freezing in the intervals between cat approaches. The similarity of reactions to a cat and to conditioned threat stimuli in Ss with hippocampal damage suggests that the effects of hippocampal damage in aversive conditioning tasks may be largely mediated by an alteration of innate freezing reactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)