Facilitation of cognitive performance in aged rats by past experience depends on the type of information processing involved: A combined cross- sectional and longitudinal study
Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. 1997-03-01; 67(2): 121-128
DOI: 10.1006/nlme.1996.3750
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Dellu F(1), Mayo W, Vallee M, Le Moal M, Simon H.
Author information:
(1)Laboratoire de Psychobiologie des Comportements Adaptatifs, INSERM U.259,
Université de Bordeaux II, France.
The impact of past history on behavior across the life span is largely unknown.
This is why the role of previous experience in subsequent memory performances
has been studied in a combined longitudinal (animals repeatedly tested) and
cross-sectional (animals tested once at various ages) study, in male
Sprague-Dawley rats. Different types of memory (reference and working memory)
and/or information processing (route or place learning) were assessed in three
different tasks (T-maze, Morris water maze, and eight-arm radial maze). Our
results indicate that experience prevents age-related impairments in the
learning phase of the T-maze and the Morris water maze, in both middle-aged and
old rats. Nonexperienced animals of the same age were found to present
age-related memory deficits. However, previous experience did not have any
effect on the learning of the radial maze or on the reversal performance. It is
suggested that controlled processes (intentional and attentional) are impaired
by aging and cannot be improved by training, whereas automated processes appear
to benefit from it. These data underline the heterogeneity of cognitive aging
and indicate that aging is not inevitably accompanied by a decline in
performance.
DOI: 10.1006/nlme.1996.3750
PMID: 9075240 [Indexed for MEDLINE]