Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1973

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Abstract

Rats with bilateral, electrolytic, dorsal-hippocampal lesions were compared with operated controls in a straight runway to assess the effects of the lesion on the animals' reactions to food-incentive shifts. Within each surgical group, half the animals received 40 preshift trials with low reward while the other half received the same number of trials with high reward, following this all Ss were shifted to the opposite reward magnitude and received 40 additional trials. At this point, the Ss were shifted back to original reward magnitudes for another 40 trials. Finally, all Ss underwent experimental extinction. The data failed to support the hypothesis that dorsal hippocampal rats "overreact" to incentive shifts. Lesion animals, as compared to controls, were less sensitive to the reward shifts and showed more resistance to extinction. The results suggest that the lesion produces a deficit in the Ss ability to vary behavior specially on tasks that require response decrements. However, the lesion-produced hyperactivity introduced confounding aspects to this interpretation.

Extent

83 p.

Comments

Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1973.|Charles E. Schmidt College of Science|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1973.

Identifier

FADT13539

Format

pdf

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