Object recognition is not impaired in old rats

Twenty two months old and eight months old rats were used. They were submitted to object recognition test with 1 min interval between two successive presentations of the same object or two different objects. Initial exploration of the object was lower in aged than in young rats. However, both groups showed comparable habituation of exploratory responses in the presence of the familiar object. The changed object did not produce the decrease of exploration. These findings provide further evidence that memory involved in object recognition is not affected by aging.