Performance of rats on the Maier Three-Table Task following septal lesions occurring 24 hours after birth.

Two experiments with 85 Long-Evans hooded rats studied whether behavioral sparing would be demonstrated when septal lesions occurred prior to the age at which the tested behavior first appears in normal rats. Ss given septal lesions at 1 or 7 days after birth performed at approximately chance on the Maier 3-table task when tested at 90 days of age. Ss that had control electrode insertions at the same ages performed at a level similar to normal Ss. Ss given septal lesions at either age explored significantly more than did control Ss. Results are discussed in terms of the constancy over time of the septal contribution to performance on the 3-table task and the involvement of the septum and hippocampus in the processing of spatial information. (50 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)