Abstract
Although there have been numerous anecdotal and experimental reports of diminished memory and learning capacity in aged humans and animals (cf. Birren and Schaie, 1977), the development of animal models to study cognitive changes during aging has not been easy. The detection of performance deficits associated with advanced age depends on the specific sensory, motor, or cognitive requirements of the behavioral task(s) studied (Campbellet al, 1980; Doty, 1966; Goodrick, 1972; Rigteret al., 1980). It also depends on the general conditions under which the subjects are housed and tested (Doty, 1968, 1972). Behavioral tasks that seem to be particularly sensitive to age-related cognitive changes in rats are tests of spatial memory (Barnes and McNaughton, 1980) and tasks that require the withholding of dominant response tendencies (Gold and McGaugh, 1975). Aged rats show a greater tendency than young adult rats to perseverate behavioral responses (Elias and Elias, 1976). This lack of “response flexibility” is particularly striking when the rats are required to avoid a location or to alter a response that previously was reinforced.
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© 1984 Plenum Press, New York
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Nonneman, A.J., Vicedomini, J.P., Corwin, J.V., Curtis, S.D., Isaac, W.L. (1984). Age, Brain Damage, and Behavioral Recovery. In: Scheff, S.W. (eds) Aging and Recovery of Function in the Central Nervous System. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2705-9_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2705-9_8
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