A standard set of experimental conditions for studying the effects of lesions to the three brain areas using the 8-arm radial maze was used: a win-shift version, a win-stay version, and a conditioned-cue preference (CCP) version. Damage to the hippocampal system impaired acquisition of the win-shift task but not the win-stay or CCP. Damage to the dorsal striatum impaired acquisition of the win-stay task but not the win-shift or CCP. Damage to the lateral amygdala impaired acquisition of the CCP but not the win-shift or win-stay task. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the mammalian brain may be capable of acquiring different kinds of information with different, more-or-less independent neural systems. A neural system that includes the hippocampus may acquire information about the relationships among stimuli and events. A neural system that includes the dorsal striatum may mediate the formation of reinforced stimulus-response associations. A neural system that includes the amygdala may mediate the rapid acquisition of behaviors based on biologically significant events with affective properties. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.61041 |
| Date | January 1992 |
| Creators | McDonald, Robert James |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Psychology.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001288116, proquestno: AAIMM74603, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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