Abstract
Skin potential responses to an auditory stimulus were increased in amplitude following bilateral prefrontal lesions in the rat. If skin potential responses were habituated across days before surgery, however, the effect of prefrontal lesions was considerably reduced. Results of two control experiments indicated that this finding was probably not due to extraneous factors. These results agree with earlier observations on heart rate by Glaser and Griffin (1962). It is concluded that although the prefrontal cortex normally maintains inhibitory control over autonomic responses, during habituation of an autonomic response this inhibitory control tends to shift from the prefrontal cortex to other parts of the brain. It was further found that after the amplitudes of SP responses are increased by prefrontal lesions, they will habituate. This suggests that the prefrontal cortex is not essential for habituation.
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call