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EYEBLINK CONDITIONING IN THE INFANT RAT: AN ANIMAL MODEL OF LEARNING IN DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROTOXICOLOGY
Citation:
Stanton, M. AND J. Freeman, Jr. EYEBLINK CONDITIONING IN THE INFANT RAT: AN ANIMAL MODEL OF LEARNING IN DEVELOPMENTAL NEUROTOXICOLOGY. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-95/121.
Description:
Classical conditioning of the eyeblink reflex is a relatively simple procedure for studying associative learning that was first developed for use with human subjects more than half a century ago. The use of this procedure in laboratory animals by psychologists and neuro-scientists over the past 30 years has produced a powerful animal model for studying the behavioral and biological mechanisms of learning. As a result, eyeblink conditioning is beginning to be pursued as a very promising paradigm for predicting and understanding human learning and memory disorders. Among the many advantages of this procedure are (a) the fact that it can be carried out in the same manner in both humans and laboratory animals; (b) the many ways in which it permits one to characterize changes in learning at the behavioral level; (c) the readiness with which hypotheses regarding the neurological basis of behavioral disorders can be formulated and tested; (d) the fact that it can be used in the same way across the life span; and (e) its ability to distinguish, from normative groups, populations suffering from neurological conditions associated with impaired learning and