Pre- and post-operative approach training and conflict resolution by septal and hippocampal lesioned rats

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Pre- and post-operative approach training was found to have differential effects on rats with septal or hippocampal lesions in an approach-avoidance conflict. Trained to run a straight alley for food reinforcement, the septal lesioned animals who received approach training after surgery showed less inhibition upon the introduction of shock than the septal group who received pre-operative approach training. The animals with hippocampal lesions however, showed a greater loss of inhibition when pre-operatively trained to approach. On the trials on which the lesioned animals did demonstrate behavioral inhibition the spatial location of approach-avoidance conflict was similar to the control animals. The results suggest that the effect of septal lesions in an approach-avoidance situation is determined, to a considerable degree, by post-operative approach training whereas the effects of hippocampal lesions appear to interact with pre-operatively determined set.