Effects of partial intraspecies deprivation of rats on short-term image memory.

An individual's zoosocial experience plays a significant role in the formation of adaptive behavior in animals. Published data show that significant restriction of intraspecies interactions induces impairments of higher nervous activity, including such functions as learning, memory, and the control of emotions. These changes are particularly marked when deprivation of zoosocial interactions occurs in the early stage of the animal's postnatal development. We have previously demonstrated that psychogenic stress in rats reared from an early age (from 14 days after birth) in conditions of visual and tactile deprivation leads to impairment of long-term (conditioned reflex) memory functions, this being accompanied by significant suppression of self-regulatory brain activity. The aim of the present work was to investigate the effects of partial intraspecies deprivation in early ontogenesis on overall behavior and short-term memory in adult rats.