Electrolytic lesions restricted to either the medial or the dorsolateral septal area were made in rats previously implanted with chronic recording electrodes in the hippocampal formation. The former, but not the latter, lesion disrupted hippocampal theta activity. Rats with both kinds of lesion, as well as operated controls, were trained to barpress for food pellets on a schedule of differential reinforcement of low rates with an interresponse requirement of 20 sec. Both lesions impaired task efficiency to an equal degree, but neither prevented the development of a timing curve. This pattern of results is consistent with the behavioral inhibition hypothesis of septal function, but the failure to dissociate the effects of the two lesions is discordant with observations in other tasks apparently requiring response inhibition.
Rats were trained to run in an alley for food reward. In a 'partial punishment' condition the animals also received occasional footshock in the goalbox; controls received only food reward during training. In a test phase all animals were given both food and footshock in the goalbox on every trial. Previously partially punished animals demonstrated greater persistence in running to the goal during this test phase. This 'partial punishment effect' was unchanged by hippocampectomy whether the experiment was conducted with an inter-trial interval of a few minutes or one of 24 h. The presence of the partial punishment effect in hippocampectomised rats is in sharp contrast with the abolition of the partial reinforcement extinction effect (which is very similar to the partial punishment effect, but based upon nonreward rather than punishment) previously reported after hippocampectomy.
South Parks Road, Oxford 0x1 3UDRats were given intermittent electric foot-shock during food-rewarded alley training.These animals persisted in running down the alley in the test phase compared to those without prior shock experience. T h e effects of chlordiazepoxide (CDP) on this learned resistance to punishment were examined using a long and short interval between trials. I t was found that CDP abolished the effect at a long inter-trial interval, but left it unaltered if the interval was short. T h e results match those found previously with an analogous effect using non-reward. It is suggested that the effects of punishment and non-reward may be mediated by a common process, and that the benzodiazepines may act on this process. I n the test phase, food and shock were given on every trial.
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