To evaluate the possibility that p-xylene affects cognitive behavior, young adult male Long-Evans hooded rats inhaled p-xylene at concentrations of 0 or 1600 ppm, 4 hr per day for 1 to 5 days, and were evaluated after exposure on two learning tasks and a test of motor activity. Autoshaping was carried out across 5 successive days with p-xylene exposure in the morning followed by testing in the afternoon. The results were interpreted to indicate that p-xylene inhalation at 16 times the TLV induced hyperactivity and facilitated autoshaping by different means, and that the facilitation of autoshaping was not a directed effect on learning per se.