Effects of Psychoactive Drugs or Stress on Learning, Memory, and Performance as Assessed Using a Novel Water Maze Task
Abstract
A novel water maze was used to assess the potential performance disrupting effects of psychoactive drugs and stressors (4 mg/kg amphetamine sulfate, 1, 2 or 4 mg/kg diazepam, 30 mg/kg caffeine, 5 or 30 mg/kg atropine sulfate, 15 min of either intermittent footshock, forced running, or immobilization). The task utilized a traditional type of maze with walls and doorways set inside a pool. The apparatus could easily be reconfigured to present different mazes of approximately equal difficulty by opening or closing multiple doorways. one group of rats ran 3 daily trials through the same maze each day to assess memory. The second group was challenged to swim 3 consecutive trials in a new maze configuration each day as a measure of learning. The new maze task was more sensitive than the well-learned maze to the performance disrupting effects of amphetamine, caffeine, and diazepam, while atropine had no significant effect on performance on either maze. Footshock stress impaired performance on both mazes, while the other stressors had no significant effect.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA260193
Entities
People
- G. J. Kant
Organizations
- Walter Reed Army Institute of Research