Apparent memory differences in inbred mice produced by differential reaction to stress.

Abstract

Tested 51 DBA/2J and 53 C3H/HeJ inbred male mice on a variety of aversively motivated tasks, including passive avoidance, shuttle box, 1-way active avoidance, and a T maze. Open-field activity was also investigated. Between-strain differences were found to exist in the majority of the tasks, and were shown to be the result of different strain-specific responses to stress and stimulus conditions. The observed behavioral differences could not be adequately accounted for by a hypothesis of different memory capabilities in each strain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)