Zinc deficiency during pregnancy and during lactation has been shown to impair cognitive function and motor activity in offspring rats. In the present study, the effect of zinc deficiency and zinc supplement on spatial learning and memory in Morris Water Maze (MWM) and motor activity in open field were investigated. Pregnant rats after mating were divided to three groups. Control group fed a standard diet and a zinc deficient (ZnD) group fed a diet deficient in zinc (0.5-1.5 ppm) and a zinc supplement (ZnS) group fed a standard diet and enhanced zinc in the drinking water (10 ppm). All the diets were exposed during the last trisemester of pregnancy and during lactation. Rat's offspring in these groups were tested for spatial learning and memory in MWM at post natal day (PND) 56 and were tested for motor activity in open field at PND 66.The Escape Latency (EL) and Traveled Distance (TD) in the ZnD group were increased but Percentage of Time Spent in the target quadrant (PTS) was decreased compared to the control group. In addition, these were no significant differences in EL and TD, but PTS had significant increase in ZnS compared to the control group. In the open field, Total Distance Moved (TDM) and Time of Motor Activity (TMA) for the ZnD were decreased compared to the control group, but there were no significant differences in TDM and TMA between control and ZnS groups. These findings suggest that zinc deficiency during the last trimester of pregnancy and during lactation impaired spatial learning and memory in their offsprings and has also negative effect on motor activity. In addition, ZnS has a significant effect on spatial learning and memory but no effect on motor activity in their offsprings.

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Background ColorCold Color Warm Color Short Term Memory Cognitive PerformanceObjective: Having in mind the fact that sports performance is done in environments with different colors, environment color, as one of the environmental constraints, can affect attention, acquisition, learning and also memory. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of cold, warm, neutral and favorite colors on short-term memory. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 24 male and female students of the Faculty of Physical Education, University of Tehran, with an age range of 22 ± 1.64 participated. Tachistoscope of RT-887 model, produced by Sina Institute of Behavioral Sciences, was used to measure sensory and short-term memory. Results: The result of analysis of variance with repeated measures showed that cold background color resulted in better short-term memory recall than other colors (P≥0.05). Conclusion:Based on the findings of this study, color, probably, can be considered as one of an environmental factor leading to short term memory improvement. Therefore, it is suggested that cold colors are used in cognitive learning for emphasizing on short term memory.