Age-related differences for duration discrimination in rats

Leblanc, Pascale; Weyers, Marc-Henri; Soffié, Monique

doi:10.1016/s0031-9384(96)80031-x

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…While young rats were able to track these durations very closely (peak times were around the reinforced time), aged rats adjusted much more slowly to these transitions and produced peak times much later than the young rats (Lejeune et al, 1998). In addition, aged rats (18-24 months) are much slower to acquire the temporal discrimination task, as indexed by a higher number of trials needed to reach performance criterion in comparison to younger rats (6-12 months; Leblanc et al, 1996). It is suggested that aged rats may be misrepresenting the intervals necessary for accurate responding, which highlight the same finding in humans that age-related changes in timing are rarely observed in isolation, but involve a number of interactions with learning and memory systems.…”

Section: Nonhuman Timingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Age-Related Changes in Human and Nonhuman Timing

Church

2017

Timing &Amp; Time Perception

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The capacity for timed behavior is ubiquitous across the animal kingdom, making time perception an ideal topic of comparative research across human and nonhuman subjects. One of the many consequences of normal aging is a systematic decline in timing ability, often accompanied by a host of behavioral and biochemical changes in the brain. In this review, we describe some of these behavioral and biochemical changes in human and nonhuman subjects. Given the involvement of timing in higher-order cognitive processing, age-related changes in timing ability can act as a marker for cognitive decline in older adults. Finally, we offer a comparison between human and nonhuman timing through the perspective of Alzheimer’s disease. Taken together, we suggest that understanding timing functions and dysfunctions can improve theoretical accounts of cognitive aging and time perception, and the use of nonhuman subjects constitutes an integral part of this process.

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Section: Nonhuman Timingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the article by Leblanc, Weyers, and Soffié (1996), Wistar rats were 6, 12, 18, and 24 months old. In training, a duration of 2 s or 10 s was associated with light and sound signals.…”

Section: Nonhuman Timingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age-Related Changes in Human and Nonhuman Timing

Church

2017

Timing &Amp; Time Perception

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“…Enriching a rat's environment, for example, increases dendritic branching in cortex (Rosenzweig, 1966; van Praag, Kempermann, & Gage, 2000; Volkmar & Greenough, 1972) as well as the strength of physiological responses (Engineer et al, 2004). With age, the topographical organization of cortical maps deteriorates in rats, in parallel with decreases in perceptual acuity and behavioral flexibility (Coq & Xerri, 2000, 2001; Leblanc, Weyers, & Soffie, 1996; Ohta, Matsumoto, & Watanabe, 1993; Turner, Hughes, & Caspary, 2005). Enriched environments can attenuate this effect (Coq & Xerri, 2001).…”

Section: Explanations Of Variability In Intellectual Capacity: Past A...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural and cognitive plasticity: From maps to minds.

Mercado¹

2008

Psychological Bulletin

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Some species and individuals are able to learn cognitive skills more flexibly than others. Learning experiences and cortical function are known to contribute to such differences, but the specific factors that determine an organism's intellectual capacities remain unclear. Here, an integrative framework is presented suggesting that variability in cognitive plasticity reflects neural constraints on the precision and extent of an organism's stimulus representations. Specifically, it is hypothesized that cognitive plasticity depends on the number and diversity of cortical modules that an organism has available as well as the brain's capacity to flexibly reconfigure and customize networks of these modules. The author relates this framework to past proposals on the neural mechanisms of intelligence, including (a) the relationship between brain size and intellectual capacity; (b) the role of prefrontal cortex in cognitive control and the maintenance of stimulus representations; and (c) the impact of neural plasticity and efficiency on the acquisition and performance of cognitive skills. The proposed framework provides a unified account of variability in cognitive plasticity as a function of species, age, and individual, and it makes specific predictions about how manipulations of cortical structure and function will impact intellectual capacity.

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“…The physiological basis for this plasticity in circadian behavior has not been investigated. While other forms of behavioral plasticity tend to decline with age (Leblanc et al, 1996;Schoenbaum et al, 2002;Brainard and Doupe, 2002;Rosenzweig et al, 2003), the effects of aging on aftereffects are unknown. In this study, we address whether aging affects the expression of these behavioral aftereffects.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Plasticity of Circadian Behavior and the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Following Exposure to Non-24-Hour Light Cycles

et al. 2004

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Period aftereffects are a form of behavioral plasticity in which the free-running period of circadian behavior undergoes experience-dependent changes. It is unclear whether this plasticity is age dependent and whether the changes in behavioral period relate to changes in the SCN or the retina, 2 known circadian pacemakers in mammals. To determine whether these changes vary with age, Per1-luc transgenic mice (in which the luciferase gene is driven by the Period1 promoter) of different ages were exposed to short (10 h light: 10 h dark, T20) or long (14 h light: 14 h dark, T28) light cycles (T cycles). Recordings of running-wheel activity in constant darkness (DD) revealed that the intrinsic periods of T20 mice were significantly shorter than of T28 mice at all ages. Aftereffects following the shorter light cycle were significantly smaller in mice older than 3 months, corresponding with a decreased ability to entrain to T20. Age did not diminish entrainment or aftereffects in the 28-h light schedule. The behavioral period of pups born in DD depended on the T cycle experienced in utero, showing maternal transference of aftereffects. Recordings of Per1-luc activity from the isolated SCN in vitro revealed that the SCN of young mice expressed aftereffects, but the periods of behavior and SCN were negatively correlated. Enucleation in DD had no effect on behavioral aftereffects, indicating the eyes are not required for aftereffects expression. These data show that circadian aftereffects are an age-dependent form of plasticity mediated by stable changes in the SCN and, importantly, extra-SCN tissues.

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Age-related differences for duration discrimination in rats

Cited by 10 publications

References 14 publications

Age-Related Changes in Human and Nonhuman Timing

Age-Related Changes in Human and Nonhuman Timing

Neural and cognitive plasticity: From maps to minds.

Plasticity of Circadian Behavior and the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus Following Exposure to Non-24-Hour Light Cycles

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