Source of cues for cue-dependent amnesia in rats.

In 2 experiments 54 Sprague-Dawley male albino rats were given extensive training in a complicated appetitive maze and then handled extensively for 7 days. On the 7th day of the retention interval some Ss were exposed to the "cognitive" learning cues of the maze and some were not. Immediately afterward Ss were given ECS or sham ECS. To the extent that cognitive learning cues are assumed to activate memory, the ECS impaired retrieval of memory only for those Ss which had the cues reinstated prior to ECS administration. It appears that memory must be active at the time of ECS in order to obtain retrieval deficits. In a 3rd experiment with 36 Ss the intensity of hunger drive, manipulated by the amount of prefeeding, was not a cue for memory activation and subsequent cue-dependent amnesia. Arousal is therefore not believed to be crucial for the effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)