Transfer between related and unrelated problems following hippocampal lesions in rats.

Abstract

Groups of naive male Wistar rats with hippocampal lesions, cortical lesions, and operated controls were preoperatively trained on brightness discrimination and postoperatively tested on pattern discrimination. The operated-control and hippocampal groups displayed poorer postoperative learning as a function of preliminary training, but the amount of negative transfer was significantly greater in the hippocampal group. There was no negative transfer in the cortical group. In Exp. II, hippocampal and control groups were tested on a series of 3 independent and unrelated tasks (lever pressing, 1-way active avoidance, brightness discrimination) presented in different sequences. The combined effect of surgical treatment and prior training never interfered with performance on any of the tasks. It is suggested that hippocampal lesions interfere with the detection of important but relatively subtle changes in environmental events. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)