Modern charities are facing increasing pressures requiring them to use more effectively a range of marketing activities, and segmentation may be one such tool. The giving literature suggests that the demographic factors of gender and age might serve as appropriate segmentation criteria and this paper examines whether motivations of existing donors vary by age or gender. The results suggest that there may be limited benefits in segmenting existing donors and that charities may be able to use similar promotional strategies for all existing donors. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications

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The effect of spatial interference on place learning was examined in young and old rats. Rats were trained on a radial eight-arm maze to discriminate between a reward arm and a non-reward arm that either were adjacent to one another (high spatial interference) or separated by a distance of two arm positions (low spatial interference). Each rat was tested until reaching a criterion of nine correct choices out of 10 trials across two consecutive days. The data revealed that old rats committed significantly more errors than young rats when the arms were adjacent and spatial interference was high. However, no group differences were detected when the arms were separated and spatial interference was low. Group differences also were not detected in the number of trials required to reach the learning criterion in either condition. The results indicate that age-related brain changes result in increased errors during place learning, particularly when spatial interference is high, suggesting that spatial pattern separation may be less efficient in aged animals.

The present study examined the anticipation of future reward in 7-month and 26-month-old Fischer 344/Brown Norway rats. Young and old rats were divided randomly and assigned into one of two conditions. In the Contrast Condition, subjects were given a water solution containing 2% sucrose for 3 minutes followed immediately by a water solution containing 32% sucrose for 3 minutes. In the No-Contrast Condition, subjects were given a water solution containing 2% sucrose for 3 minutes followed immediately by a water solution containing 2% sucrose for 3 minutes. Across 10 days of testing in the Contrast Condition, young rats showed significantly less intake of the less preferred 2% sucrose solution, whereas old rats showed increased intake of the 2% sucrose solution. Young rats showed a significant increase in intake of the preferred 32% sucrose solution compared to aged rats across the 10-day testing period with the exception of days 8–10 where intake did not differ between groups. In the No-Contrast Condition, there were no significant differences between young and old rats, with both groups consuming significantly more of the first 2% solution than the second 2% solution. Therefore, these data suggest that age-related changes may impair the ability to anticipate future rewards.