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  • Title: Spatial memory impairment in rats with fornix transection is not accompanied by a simple encoding deficit for directions of objects in visual space.
    Author: Gaffan EA, Eacott MJ.
    Journal: Behav Neurosci; 1997 Oct; 111(5):937-54. PubMed ID: 9383515.
    Abstract:
    In Experiment 1, rats learned 6 discriminations among pairs of complex wide-angle visual displays, presented concurrently, using a computer-controlled Y maze. Fornix-transected rats were unimpaired relative to controls regardless of whether the displays comprised a single large "objectlike" figure or "scenelike" arrays of spatially distributed figures. Experiment 2 compared 2 versions of a visual discrimination in which either object identity (independent of location within the visual field) or location within the visual field (independent of object identity) had to be used. The fornix-transected rats performed normally with either cue. In Experiment 3, however, the same group was clearly impaired on a standard spatial memory test, spatial delayed nonmatching to sample. Although the fornix-transected rats were more likely to choose rapidly and inaccurately, their deficit was not a by-product of impulsive responding. The spatial impairment was not merely a difficulty in encoding direction of a single item within visual space, but more complex configural deficits could not be ruled out.
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