Behavioral effects of large and small lesions of the rat medial frontal cortex

• Published in: Experimental brain research Vol. 65; no. 1; pp. 176 - 181
• Main Authors: SILVA, M. G, BOYLE, M. A, FINGER, S, NUMAN, B, BOUZRARA, A. A, ALMLI, C. R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin Springer 01-01-1986
• Subjects: Animals; Behavior, Animal - physiology; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Frontal Lobe - physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Learning - physiology; Male; Motor Activity - physiology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Rats; Spatial Behavior - physiology; Space; Cerebral cortex; Rat; Size; Rodentia; Central nervous system; Response alternance; Activity; Frontal cortex; Open field behavior; Learning; Locomotion; Vertebrata; Mammalia; Acquisition process; Animal; Lesion; Performance
• ISSN: 0014-4819; 1432-1106
• DOI: 10.1007/BF00243840

Rats with either sham operations, small medial frontal cortex lesions (SMF), or large medial frontal cortex lesions (LMF) were tested in the open field, for spatial alternation and for 8-arm maze learning. The behaviors of sham-operated and SMF rats were similar on the spatial learning tasks, while the LMF group performed poorly in relation to these two groups. In contrast, the two lesion groups differed from the sham group, but not from each other, on locomotor activity in the open field. The differences in performance between the SMF and LMF groups on the spatial learning measures suggest that medial frontal cortex lesion size and locus may be important factors underlying the variable results of previous studies evaluating spatially-oriented behaviors of rats with varying degrees of medial frontal cortex damage.