Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

The contribution that components of the hippocampal system in the rat make to the modulation of attention or stimulus processing was assessed using several simple behavioural assays: the orienting response (OR) to a novel stimulus, the subsequent habituation and dishabituation of this OR, and the latent inhibition effect that typically results from repeated exposure to a stimulus. Excitotoxic lesions of components of the hippocampal system produce dissociable effects on the OR, habituation and latent inhibition: lesions of the entorhinal cortex have no effect on the OR or changes in the OR during exposure to a stimulus, but disrupt latent inhibition; lesions of the subiculum disrupt the OR but not latent inhibition; and lesions of the hippocampus disrupt the OR and latent inhibition. These effects have important implications for our understanding of habituation and latent inhibition, and the neural mechanisms involved in attentional modulation.

Type

Journal article

Journal

Eur J Neurosci

Publication Date

06/2002

Volume

15

Pages

1983 - 1990

Keywords

Animals, Attention, Behavior, Animal, Conditioning (Psychology), Cues, Denervation, Entorhinal Cortex, Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists, Habituation, Psychophysiologic, Hippocampus, Male, N-Methylaspartate, Neural Inhibition, Orientation, Photic Stimulation, Rats, Rats, Inbred Strains, Reaction Time, Visual Perception