Abstract
The effects of three different dosages of “trained” brain and liver RNA were tested for specific interanimal task transfer. Nine rats were trained to criterion in an operant chamber to approach a food cup when a click was sounded. Thirty-six donor-isolated RNA extractions were taken from the brains and livers of these rats and subsequently divided into three dosages (.3 mg,.6 mg, and 1.2 mg) within each of four treatment groups: RNase-treated brains and livers— control brains (CB) and control livers (CL), and non-RNase-treated brains and livers—trained brains (TB) and trained livers (TL). These 36 trained donor extracts were separately injected intraperitioneally into 36 naive rats. Those rats receiving injections of “trained” RNA from either brain or liver showed a significant (p <.01) tendency to respond more frequently than did RNase-treated controls. The strength of the response transferred was positively related to the quantity of RNA injected, with higher dosages producing better performance.
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Holt, O. L., & Bcntz, O. Interanimal memory transfer of a discriminated barpress response. Manuscript submitted for publication, 1983.
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Holt, G.L., Miller, B.E. Interanimal task transfer as a function of dosage of brain and liver RNA injections. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 21, 47–50 (1983). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329951
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329951