You are here:
EFFECT OF AGE AND EXPERIENCE ON INHIBITION OF THE ACOUSTIC STARTLE RESPONSE BY GAPS IN BACKGROUND NOISE
Citation:
Dean, K., L. Sheets, K. Crofton, AND L. Reiter. EFFECT OF AGE AND EXPERIENCE ON INHIBITION OF THE ACOUSTIC STARTLE RESPONSE BY GAPS IN BACKGROUND NOISE. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-90/132.
Description:
The acoustic startle response (ASR) is inhibited when the eliciting stimulus is preceded by a brief gap in background noise. he present study bed the ontogeny of ASR gap inhibition in the rat and the role of experience on its development. ndependent groups of Long-Evans rats were rested for three consecutive days, at one of eight ages ranging from PND 14-16 PND 98-100. aps (0, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, or 64 msec) in broad background noise (80 dB ON/35 dB OFF) were presented 190 msec prior to the eliciting stimulus (13-kHz, 120-dB, 40-msec tone with 2.5 msec rise/decay). esults show that longer gaps (16-64 msec) inhibited the ASR at all ages; however, the magnitude of inhibition increased with age and repeated testing. he efficacy of shorter gaps (4-8 msec) in the inhibition of the ASR improved until PND 35-37, when the adult pattern vas achieved. hese findings indicate that both the magnitude of ASR gap inhibition and the efficacy of gaps 16 msec are dependent on the age and experience of the animal.