Comparative effects of septo-hippocampal and caudate lesions on avoidance behavior in rats.

Abstract

Large bilateral hippocampal lesions produced the same stable pattern of effects as septal lesions in increasing spontaneous shuttling and in facilitating development of avoidance in the 2-way shuttle box; in both cases facilitation was associated with increased intertrial activity, reflecting reduction in freezing responses. Less extensive hippocampal damage reproduced the pattern, except for increased spontaneous activity. Facilitation in avoidance and associated reduction in freezing reflect dysfunctions of a common septo-hippocampal system. Enhanced reactivity to photic stimuli, more closely linked to septal dysfunction, could be dissociated from other phenomena. Caudate and neocortical lesions, by contrast, impaired avoidance behavior.

Effects of caudate lesions on the acquisition and retention of Sidman avoidance in the rat

“…Investigations of the effects of bilateral darnage to the caudate nucleus upon the acquisition and performance of avoidance behavior have yielded inconsistent findings, Tasks requiring rats with caudate lesions to shuttle in both directions have either revealed marked performance deficits (Green, Beatty, & Schwartzbaum, 1967;Neill & Grossman, 1970) or no deficit at all (Fox, Kimble, & Lickey, 1964;Albert & Bignami, 1968). Likewise, performance in a one-way shuttle avoidance task has been reported to be either impaired (Kirkby & Kimble, 1968) or apparently normal (Winocur & Mills, 1969).…”

The caudate nucleus and active avoidance

“…Localized lesions directed at the antero-dorsal portions of the caudate nucleus do not typically result in this type of impairment, and the studies cited by Kirkby bear tbis out (Fox, Kimble, & Lickey, 1964;Albert & Bignami, 1968;Winocur & Mills, 1969). On the other hand, Thompson and his collaborators (1958Thompson and his collaborators ( , 1959Thompson and his collaborators ( , 1963, Green, Beatty, &Schwartzbaum (1967), andRomanovskaya (1957), who are cited as having reported deficits in conditioned-avoidance behavior, consistently destroyed postero-ventral tissue, wbich, in the ~ases of Thompson and Romanovskaya, was also accompanied by extensive damage to other parts of the caudate nuc1eus. In the Kirkby studies (1968Kirkby studies ( , 1969, two lesions per hemisphere were directed at the anterior portions of the caudate nuc1eus, resulting in much larger lesions than those reported by investigators who found nO impairment in active avoidance in caudate-damaged rats.…”

Role of the hippocampus in blocking and conditioned inhibition of the rabbit's nictitating membrane response.

“…For example, McNew and Thompson (1966) showed that hippocampal animals reacted more vigorously to shock during acquisition of an avoidance response. Blanchard and Fial (1968) (Green et al, 1967;Kaplan, 1968) or tone (Gotsick, 1969) stimuli unless these, too, are well above threshold (Ireland & Isaacson, 1968 Razrin, 1965). The more recent interest in the phenomena, however, is largely attributable to the work of Kamin (1968Kamin ( , 1969 Gray and Appignanisi (1973), also using the CER procedure, have produced the blocking effect as have Bakal, Johnson, and Rescorla (1974 The results of the experiment confirmed this prediction (Kamin, 1969).…”