Mishima N, Higashitani F, Teraoka K, Yoshioka R
Physiol Behav. 1986;37(2):263-8. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(86)90230-1.
Learning abilities of male and female ddY mice were compared in two appetitive tasks (a lever-press task and an 8-arm radial maze task), and two avoidance tasks (a shuttle box task and a light-dark discrimination T-maze task). In the two types of appetitive learning, male mice were significantly superior to female mice. Sex differences were particularly apparent in the acquisition process. In contrast, there was no significant sex difference in learning of the two avoidance tasks. A sex difference in appetitive learning was not found in juvenile mice prior to sexual maturation, and the mice which had established a lever-press response as juveniles did not show any significant difference in the performance level when tested as adults. Thus, a sex difference appeared only in the acquisition stage of adult mice. These results suggest that there exists a sex difference in motivation level for hunting food but not for feeding, and that it causes a sex difference in appetitive learning.
在两项奖赏任务（杠杆按压任务和八臂放射状迷宫任务）以及两项回避任务（穿梭箱任务和明暗辨别T型迷宫任务）中比较了雄性和雌性ddY小鼠的学习能力。在这两种奖赏学习类型中，雄性小鼠显著优于雌性小鼠。性别差异在习得过程中尤为明显。相比之下，在两项回避任务的学习中没有显著的性别差异。在性成熟之前的幼年小鼠中未发现奖赏学习方面的性别差异，并且幼年时建立了杠杆按压反应的小鼠在成年后测试时，其表现水平没有任何显著差异。因此，性别差异仅出现在成年小鼠的习得阶段。这些结果表明，在获取食物的动机水平上存在性别差异，但在进食方面不存在，并且这导致了奖赏学习中的性别差异。
