Survival of a conditioned inhibitory avoidance response after decerebration

Abstract

There is evidence that inhibitory avoidance learning is still possible after removal of the telencephalic forebrain. However, it is not known whether subtelencephalic storage of such a conditioned response takes place when the brain is intact. To investigate this possibility, rats received one training trial in the “up-hill avoidance” task, and 8 h later the entire forebrain except the hypothalamus was bilaterally ablated. When tested 24 h later, the decerebrate rats still exhibited the learned response, demonstrating a transfer of the conditioned response from the intact to the postlesion state. This result indicates that memory-storage for this avoidance task takes place, at least in part, subtelencephalically.