| Abstract: | While under deep barbiturate anesthesia, 58 male Sprague-Dawley rats received a series of 10 classical conditioning trials in which white noise was paired with intramuscular shock. The anesthetized Ss received subcutaneous injections of saline or epinephrine bitartrate (.1 mg/kg) prior to the training trials. Independent sets of Ss were tested for retention performance 2, 7, or 15 days after training. In these test trials, a conditioned suppression measure was used in which the white noise was turned on while the Ss were drinking. Results indicate that the Ss that had received saline while trained under anesthesia exhibited no evidence of later retention. Ss that had received epinephrine injections prior to training under anesthesia suppressed their drinking in the presence of the white noise when tested 2 or 7, but not 15, days later. Findings demonstrate that epinephrine can enable learning under anesthesia and that forgetting occurs within 15 days. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
