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Performance differences in a complex maze between young and aged rats

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Abstract

Young-adult rats and old rats perform equally well in simple mazes. In our study, young-adult female Wistar rats learned a complex 14-unit multiple “T” maze to an average of 1 error per trial (on the last trial) when given 1 trial per day for 20 consecutive days. Female rats, over 25 months of age, on the same learning schedule, scored an average of 6 errors on the last trial. However, on close inspection of the data, it was noted that approximately half of the senile rats learned the maze as well as did the young-adult rats. On the basis of this complex maze learning, senile rats differentiated themselves into a maze-bright old catagory (error and time scores like the young-adult group) and a maze-dull old catagory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, 29 South Greene Street, Baltimore, Maryland, 21201

    Mary E. Michel & Albert W. Klein

Authors
  1. Mary E. Michel
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  2. Albert W. Klein
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Michel, M.E., Klein, A.W. Performance differences in a complex maze between young and aged rats. AGE 1, 13–16 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02432021

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02432021

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