Abstract
In three experiments, the effects of prior experience with hypothermia as a manipulation to attenuate amnesia were examined. In Experiment 1, prior experience with one hypothermia treatment did not appear to influence the amnesic effects of hypothermia. In Experiment 2, hypothermia treatment was made contingent upon stepping into a darkened chamber of a passive avoidance apparatus daily for 8 days. By Day 8, latencies indicated that subjects could remember the previous hypothermia treatments. The values of hypothermia found to produce learning in Experiment 2 were then used to evaluate several retrieval hypotheses concerning the prevention of amnesia in Experiment 3. Rats which received eight daily hypothermia treatments, as well as rats restrained without immersion, showed little evidence of amnesia following a train-hypothermia treatment. Results were interpreted as supporting the view that amnesia may be produced because important contextual cues necessary for memory retrieval are usually absent during testing.
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Portions of this paper were presented at the meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association in Chicago, May 1976, and are based in part on a thesis submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the PhD degree. The author wishes to thank Drs. David C. Riccio and James S. Myer for their guidance in the completion of this work and Dr. Charles Brewer for helpful comments. This investigation was supported in part by NSF Grant GB-41488 to David C. Riccio.
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Hinderliter, C.F. Hypothermia: Amnesic agent, punisher, and conditions sufficient to attenuate amnesia. Psychobiology 6, 23–28 (1978). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03326686
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03326686