MEASUREMENT OF COGNITIVE FUNCTION - RELATING RODENT PERFORMANCE WITH HUMAN MINDS

Rodents are the most commonly employed animals to model human cognitiv e dysfunction, but many of the behavioural paradigms employed for eval uation of rodent cognitive abilities measure functions rather differen t from those generally assessed in humans. This may be one reason for the failure of these models to allow valid predictions about drug effe cts in demented patients. One solution to this may be the use of a mor e comparative approach. Careful experimental designs indicate that com parative attentional as well as mnemonic processes can be assessed in rat and human subjects. This could be an essential step towards the su ccessful development of drugs with therapeutic potential in cognitive disorders.