Abstract
The acquisition and transfer performance of six cats with hippocampal-pyriform ablations was compared with that of seven normal animals. All animals were trained on a successive, go/no-go, auditory-brightness discrimination (Task 1). Ss were tested for transfer to the auditory and/or brightness cues of Task 1 by training them on similar discriminations using only the brightness cue (Task 2) or the auditory cue (Task 3). The hippocampectomized Ss were inferior to the normals on acquisition of Task 1 (p <.022), but they were not significantly different from the normals on the two transfer tasks (2: p < 0.394; 3: p < 0.662). These results support the hypothesis that previous experience with the relevant cues of a successive discrimination is a crucial factor in reducing acquisition deficits on that discrimination by hippocampal animals.
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This research was partially supported by funds under United States Public Health Service Grants NIH No. NB-05381 and No. 5T1-GM-223 and Office of Naval Research Contract No.NONR 401 (40). The preparation of this manuscript was supported in part by Grant No. MH-14471 from the National Institute of Mental Health to C.G. Gross, and in part by NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship No. 1-F2-MH-40,532-01 given to the author. I thank Professors F. Rosenblatt and E. L. Gasteiger for their advice and support. The manuscript was prepared while the author was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Psychology, Harvard University. I thank the facuty and staff of that department, and also A. M. Dawson, Mr. and Mrs. R. E. Grimm, J. T. Miller, V. Molony, H. Sedgwick, and E. Wilcox for advice and technical assistance.
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Buerger, A.A. The effects of hippocampal-pyriform ablations on the acquisition and transfer of cues in successive discrimination by cats. Psychon Sci 19, 179–181 (1970). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335539
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03335539