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List item memory in rats: effects of delay and delay task
D N Harper1, A P McLean, J C Dalrymple-Alford
1Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Journal of Experimental Psychology. Animal Behavior Processes
|October 1, 1993
Summary
Rats exhibit the Serial Position Effect (SPE), similar to humans. Memory recall for early items (primacy) and late items (recency) is differentially affected by delays and food access, with recency being more vulnerable.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Animal behavior
- Neuroscience
Background:
- The Serial Position Effect (SPE) describes how recall varies based on an item's position in a sequence.
- In humans, the recency effect (better recall of later items) is more susceptible to disruption than the primacy effect (better recall of earlier items).
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the Serial Position Effect (SPE) in rats.
- To determine if manipulations affecting human recency effects similarly impact rats.
- To compare the sensitivity of primacy and recency effects to interference in rats.
Main Methods:
- Rats were trained on a 12-arm radial maze.
- Two manipulations were employed: imposed delays (5-60 seconds) between learning and testing, and free access to food during a short delay.
- Performance was assessed based on recall accuracy across different serial positions.
Main Results:
- Both delay and post-learning food access differentially affected recall.
- The recency effect in rats was found to be more sensitive to disruption than the primacy effect.
- These findings align with observations in human studies.
Conclusions:
- The Serial Position Effect (SPE) in rats shares similarities with the human SPE, particularly regarding the differential vulnerability of recency.
- The study provides further evidence for conserved memory mechanisms across species.
- Procedures analogous to human studies can effectively probe memory processes in rats.