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Acquisition of peak responding: what is learned?
Fuat Balci1, Charles R Gallistel, Brian D Allen
1PsychoGenics Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USA. fbalci@princeton.edu
Behavioural Processes
|October 28, 2008
Summary
Mice learn fixed interval (FI) durations, not gradual timing. Response stops appear abruptly during training, not gradually, indicating learning occurs later in the response cycle.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral neuroscience
- Animal behavior
Background:
- Timing is crucial for many behaviors.
- The peak procedure is a standard method for studying interval timing in animals.
- Understanding how timing performance develops with training is essential.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the development of timing performance during training on the peak procedure in C3H mice.
- To differentiate between averaging artifacts and genuine improvements in temporal precision.
- To determine when temporal control over response initiation and termination is acquired.
Main Methods:
- Mice underwent fixed interval (FI) pre-training followed by 16 days of peak procedure training.
- Peak time and response spread were calculated from average response rates.
- Single-trial analysis was used to determine start times, stop times, and their variability.
- Trial-by-trial analysis examined the emergence and stability of stop times.
Main Results:
- Apparent improvements in temporal precision (response spread) were an artifact of averaging.
- Timed stops emerged abruptly after 3-5 sessions and did not change with further training.
- Response start times and their precision remained stable throughout training.
- Robust temporal control over response initiation was established early, while control over response termination developed later.
Conclusions:
- Mice do not gradually learn to time response initiation or termination.
- Learning in the peak procedure primarily involves acquiring control over the fixed interval (FI) duration.
- Temporal control over response termination is acquired abruptly rather than gradually during training.
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