Sava Simona, Markus Etan J
Department of Psychology, Behavioral Neuroscience Division, University of Connecticut, 406 Babbidge Road Box U-20, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.
Horm Behav. 2005 Jun;48(1):23-33. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2005.01.011. Epub 2005 Apr 19.
Rats can use a wide spectrum of intra- and extramaze information while navigating through the environment. The current study examined the relative contribution of an intramaze cue with regard to its proximity to the goal. Three experiments were conducted and the impact of intramaze cue removal or rotation on water maze search was examined. In males, the effect of the intramaze cue declined monotonically in relation to the proximity of the cue to the goal. A more complex relationship between cue location and utilization was found in estrous and proestrus females. Estrous females showed a strong effect of the cue only when it was near the goal, ignoring it when it was situated further away. Conversely proestrus females were affected by the cue under all conditions. It is concluded that previous reports of behavioral differences may stem from the fact that proestrus females are affected by and attend to a wider range of stimuli, while estrous females are more affected by salient stimuli.
大鼠在穿越环境时能够利用迷宫内部和外部的广泛信息。当前的研究考察了迷宫内部线索与其到目标的接近程度的相对贡献。进行了三项实验，研究了移除或旋转迷宫内部线索对水迷宫搜索的影响。在雄性大鼠中，迷宫内部线索的影响随着线索与目标的接近程度而单调下降。在发情期和发情前期的雌性大鼠中，发现线索位置与利用之间存在更复杂的关系。发情期雌性大鼠仅在线索靠近目标时才表现出强烈反应，而当线索距离较远时则忽略它。相反，发情前期雌性大鼠在所有条件下都会受到线索的影响。得出的结论是，先前关于行为差异的报告可能源于这样一个事实，即发情前期雌性大鼠受到更广泛的刺激并对其加以关注，而发情期雌性大鼠则更容易受到显著刺激的影响。
