The effect of home cage stimuli on acquisition and retention of an active avoidance response in previsual rats

Abstract

The effect of home cage environmental stimuli on learning and the effects on retention of the presence or absence of these familiar contextual training stimuli during the retention test (Experiment 1) or during the retention interval (Experiment 2) were examined using 10-day-old rats, a multidirectional active avoidance task, and a 30-min retention interval. Home cage environmental stimuli were found to improve learning. A change in stimuli immediately after training, during the 30-min retention interval, was found to have a greater impact on retention performance than stimulus change introduced at the time of the retention test. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to ontogenetic differences in retention performance and theories of forgetting.

The role of homecage environmental stimuli in the facilitation of shock‐motivated spatial discrimination learning in rat pups

“…Smith and Spear (1981), for example, reported that the presence of shavings from a subject's homecage placed beneath the training apparatus facilitated learning of a spatial discrimination in 7-, 9-, and I I-day-old rats. A similar facilitation effect has also been observed in active (Misanin, Lariviere, Turns, Turns, & Hinderliter, 1986) and passive (Smith & Spear, 1978) avoidance training.…”

“…Furthermore, recent research from our laboratory has shown that even when nest shavings present during acquisition of an active avoidance response have no detectable effect on acquisition performance, they can significantly enhance a retention test in the absence of shavings suggesting that the effect during acquisition is on learning and not performance. We have taken this to indicate that, in the presence of homecage environmental stimuli, rat pups utilize cues which facilitate learning (Misanin et al, 1986).…”

“…Although both of these hypotheses can explain the facilitation effect, we believe the dominant effect of irrelevant nest stimuli on learning is related to cue utilization. Given that homecage shavings appear to facilitate learning of both passive avoidance tasks (Smith & Spear, 1978) and active avoidance (Misanin et al, 1986), it does not seem likely that the elicitation or prevention of ASDRs would have identical effects on tasks that require the withholding of behaviors and tasks that require emitting behaviors. Furthermore, recent research from our laboratory has shown that even when nest shavings present during acquisition of an active avoidance response have no detectable effect on acquisition performance, they can significantly enhance a retention test in the absence of shavings suggesting that the effect during acquisition is on learning and not performance.…”

“…Most often the shavings have been placed under the entire apparatus (e.g., Smith and Spear, 1981;Misanin et al, 1986) and a facilitation effect has been found. Such findings suggest that nest shavings facilitate learning over and above any approach behavior they may elicit.…”

Effect of maternal presence on the fear response to an unfamiliar environment as measured by heart rate in rats as a function of age

“…In a subsequent study Smith and Spear (1981) found that soiled shavings facilitated learning of a spatial avoidance task in 7-1 l-day-old rats. Other laboratories have also reported that the presence of soiled bedding material from the home nest facilitates learning in the preweanling rat (Misanin, Lariviere, Turnes, Turnes, & Hinderliter, 1986).…”