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Choice Behavior in Rats with Hippocampal Lesions

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Abstract

Since the early 1960s, an increasingly large number of experiments have been conducted in an attempt to clarify the effects of hippocampal lesions on behavior. Other experimental manipulations, such as chemical and electrical stimulation, spreading depression, and the injection of a variety of drugs into the hippocampus and related brain structures, have added to the existing literature. Some of this literature has been reviewed elsewhere (Isaacson, 1974; Douglas, 1967; Kimble, 1969; Jarrard, 1973; Altman et al., 1973) and it is not my intent to duplicate these efforts. Rather, the purpose of this chapter is to deal principally with a restricted set of these experiments, those dealing with “choice” behavior in rats with bilateral hippocampal lesions. In all experimental situations, even in so-called free exploration, the experimenter places some constraints on the possible behaviors which can be displayed. While it is unrealistic to assume that one is observing true “free” choice behavior in any experimental situation, it is nevertheless possible to obtain rather reliable and consistent data regarding the choice behavior of animals in a variety of experimental situations. This chapter will outline some of the major results which have been obtained so far on the choice behavior of normal, operated control, and hippocampally lesioned laboratory rats.

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© 1975 Plenum Press, New York

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Kimble, D.P. (1975). Choice Behavior in Rats with Hippocampal Lesions. In: Isaacson, R.L., Pribram, K.H. (eds) The Hippocampus. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2979-4_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-2979-4_10

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-2981-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-2979-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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