Biomaterial Database

Perinatal decortication impairs performance on an 8-arm radial maze task. 1990

R A Deyo, and J Panksepp, and B Abbott

Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, OH 43403.

Two experiments evaluate the role of the neocortex in rodent spatial learning. In Experiment 1, perinatally decorticated rats and sham-operated controls began ten training sessions at day 200 on an 8-arm radial maze. Decorticated rats made more errors than controls, but showed improvement by the tenth session. In the second experiment, training was extended to determine whether decorticates could eventually match control performance levels if given sufficient training. Spontaneous activity levels were also recorded and compared to maze performance to investigate the relationship between poor performance on the radial maze and activity. More than half of the decorticates reached criterion performance. Decorticates had significantly elevated spontaneous activity levels when compared to controls, and the magnitude of this hyperactivity was related to performance deficits on the radial maze. These results suggest that with extended training decorticates can learn a spatial task. Performance deficits may reflect the hyperactive tendency of decorticates rather than a specific impairment of spatial learning abilities.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D009043	Motor Activity	Body movements of a human or an animal as a behavioral phenomenon.	Activities, Motor,Activity, Motor,Motor Activities
D009949	Orientation	Awareness of oneself in relation to time, place and person.	Cognitive Orientation,Mental Orientation,Psychological Orientation,Cognitive Orientations,Mental Orientations,Orientation, Cognitive,Orientation, Mental,Orientation, Psychological,Orientations,Orientations, Cognitive,Orientations, Mental,Orientations, Psychological,Psychological Orientations
D011939	Mental Recall	The process whereby a representation of past experience is elicited.	Recall, Mental
D001931	Brain Mapping	Imaging techniques used to colocalize sites of brain functions or physiological activity with brain structures.	Brain Electrical Activity Mapping,Functional Cerebral Localization,Topographic Brain Mapping,Brain Mapping, Topographic,Functional Cerebral Localizations,Mapping, Brain,Mapping, Topographic Brain
D002540	Cerebral Cortex	The thin layer of GRAY MATTER on the surface of the CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES that develops from the TELENCEPHALON and folds into gyri and sulci. It reaches its highest development in humans and is responsible for intellectual faculties and higher mental functions.	Allocortex,Archipallium,Cortex Cerebri,Cortical Plate,Paleocortex,Periallocortex,Allocortices,Archipalliums,Cerebral Cortices,Cortex Cerebrus,Cortex, Cerebral,Cortical Plates,Paleocortices,Periallocortices,Plate, Cortical
D002541	Cerebral Decortication	Partial or total removal, ablation, or destruction of the cerebral cortex; may be chemical. It is not used with animals that do not possess a cortex, i.e., it is used only with mammals.	Decortication, Cerebral Cortex,Cerebral Cortex Decortication,Cerebral Cortex Decortications,Cerebral Decortications,Cortex Decortication, Cerebral,Cortex Decortications, Cerebral,Decortication, Cerebral,Decortications, Cerebral,Decortications, Cerebral Cortex
D004193	Discrimination Learning	Learning that is manifested in the ability to respond differentially to various stimuli.	Discriminative Learning,Discrimination Learnings,Discriminative Learnings,Learning, Discrimination,Learning, Discriminative
D005260	Female		Females
D000818	Animals	Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA.	Animal,Metazoa,Animalia