Abstract
The effect of sleep deprivation on working memory for spatial information was evaluated. Rats were trained on a win-shift strategy in an eight-arm maze until they exhibited accurate retention when an 8-h delay was imposed between the fourth and fifth choices. Then the effects on spatial memory of depriving the rats of sleep throughout the retention interval were compared with the influence of a stress control (swimming for 1 h during the retention interval) or no treatment, using a counterbalanced within-subjects design. Although sleep deprivation produced a marginally significant impairment in spatial memory at a 4-h delay, in two replications at an 8-h delay interval there was no suggestion of an effect of sleep deprivation. Thus, spatial memory in the radial maze remains intact after brief periods of sleep deprivation. The present findings are consistent with other recent studies, all of which demonstrate the remarkable resistance to disruption by retroactive treatments of the rat’s spatial memory system.
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Dodge, A.M., Beatty, W.W. Sleep deprivation does not affect spatial memory in rats. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 16, 408–409 (1980). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329582
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03329582