[The involvement of thalamic nuclei in the formation of conditional avoidance reflexes in rats. I. Lesions in the anterior part of the nucleus ventralis lateralis].

Hooded rats (Long-Evans-strain) were not able to elaborate conditioned avoidance responses in a simple runway respectively in a jumping test after bilateral lesions of the anterior part of the nucleus ventralis lateralis thalami. When the number of the CS-US-combinations was increased from 10 to 25 per session, then during the last ten combinations the punishing electrical foot shocks were correctly avoided, but the animals showed no retention in their long-term memory.