Spontaneous alternation and habituation in lurcher mutant mice.

There is a spontaneous degeneration of Purkinje cells, granule cells and inferior olivary neurons in lurcher mutant mice. It was found that, in comparison to littermate controls, the lurcher mutants alternated less often in a discrete two-trial procedure of spontaneous alternation and did not habituate to maze stimuli in a T-maze. Results are discussed in terms of a possible role for the cerebellum in spatial learning.