Aversively motivated performance in rats with septal lesions
Date
1969
Authors
Liedtke, Ulrich Karl Erich
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Abstract
The primary concern of this study was the effect of septal forebrain lesions on one-way escape avoidance performance in rats. The subjects were 88 male hooded rats of the Long-Evans strain, about 90 days old. Forty rats sustained lesions of the septal area, while 48 rats served as control subjects. Using apparatus designed to eliminate the need to handle the rats, the subjects were run on a one-way escape-avoidance task. Procedural variations were introduced to assess the effects of (1) practice, (2) an irrelevant food drive, and (3) conflict, on performance. Septal lesions in rats impaired their performance on the one-way escape-avoidance task. An interaction between the lesion and drive state was detectable, but no interaction between the lesion and practice was found. In a conflict situation (food versus electric shock) the eating behavior of septally lesioned rats was facilitated. An interaction between the lesion and the level of punishment was also detectable. The results support the view that septal lesions reduce the effectiveness of punishment, and contradict the view that septal lesions reduce response inhibition.