Few psychologists today are aware of the seminal role played by learning theorist Edward C. Tolman in the early development of the field of behavior genetics. Tolman was the first to publish a study of selective breeding for maze-learning ability in rats. He continued to foster research in this field by supporting the work of his students, particularly Robert C. Tryon. Tryon carried out the fir...

Long-term potentiation (LTP) is the principal model of synaptic plasticity often used to explain the changes that occur in the brain as a result of learning and memory. In this experiment the relationship between rat posterior parietal cortex (PPC) transcallosal evoked field potentials (TCEPs) and spatial training in the water maze was examined to determine if LTP-like changes (i.e. learning-in...

Background: Sildenafil (Viagra) has been introduced to treat erectile dysfunction by acting as phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitor and hence accumulation of guanosine cyclic monophosphate (cGMP). On the other hands, the nitric oxide/cGMP signaling pathway has crucial role in synaptic plasticity processes like long-term potentiation (LTP) in the central nervous system considered as a model of learning...

The existence of sex differences in the standard rat and mouse models of learning and memory is a controversial and contested topic in the literature. The present meta-analysis of radial maze and water maze experiments was conducted to assess the reliablility and magnitude of sex effects in the standard rodent models of learning and memory. Data were culled from published and unpublished source...

Cognitive functioning is vital for enabling animals of all taxa to optimise their chances of survival and reproductive success. Learning and memory in particular are drivers of many evolutionary processes. In this study, we examine how developmental plasticity can affect cognitive ability by exploring the role the early social environment has on problem solving ability and learning of female bl...

We present a computational model of approach learning in a T-maze environment. We show that our model learns the correct sequence of six decisions that lead to the location of positive reinforcement and in a manner consistent with experimental observations. Our model exhibits many properties that are characteristic of animal learning in maze environments including delay conditioning, secondary ...

Previous research indicates that extinction of rodent maze behavior may occur without explicit performance of the previously acquired response. In latent extinction, confining an animal to a previously rewarded goal location without reinforcement is typically sufficient to produce extinction of maze learning. However, previous studies have not determined whether latent extinction may be success...

Impairment of hippocampal function precedes frontal and parietal cortex impairment in human Alzheimer's disease (AD). Neurotrophins are critical for behavioral performance and neuronal survival in AD. We used complex and radial mazes to assess spatial orientation and learning in wild-type and B6-Tg(ThylAPP)23Sdz (APP23) animals, a transgenic mouse model of AD. We also assessed brain content of ...

Background and Objective: It is well known that stress and glucocorticoid, modulate memory processing, though the result is completely dependent on the time of stress induction. This study investigated the effect of acute corticosterone administration on memory retrieval of recent and remote memory in a 4 trials/day (low- intensity learning) or 8 trials/ day (high- intensity learning) Morris wa...

abstract   introduction: diabetes mellitus accompanies with disturbances in learning, memory, and cognitive skills in the human society and experimental animals. considering the beneficial antidiabetic potential of nigella sativum (ns ), this research study was conducted to evaluate the effect of chronic consumption of ns on learning and memory in diabetic rats using passive avoidance and y-maz...