Active avoidance in the laboratory rat following lesions of the dorsal or ventral caudate nucleus

Abstract

Active avoidance learning in rats with lesions of the ventral or dorsal caudate nucleus was investigated in both one-way and two-way avoidance situations. Performance was measured under various levels of shock and conditions of food deprivation. Winocur and Mills (1969) hypothesized that the learning of active avoidance problems was disrupted by lesions of the ventral aspect of the caudate nucleus but not by dorsal lesions. In the present study, rats with lesions of the ventral caudate were not more deficient than rats with lesions of the dorsal caudate in learning to avoid. Under some conditions, dorsal lesion rats were significantly more impaired than ventral lesion rats. These findings, taken with other recent reports, suggest that the Winocur and Mills hypothesis should be rejected. © 1974, Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.