ROLES OF THE BASOLATERAL AMYGDALA AND HIPPOCAMPUS IN SOCIAL RECOGNITION IN RATS

Lesions of the amygdala or hippocampus have a large impact on social b ehavior of rats. In this study we investigated whether a social recogn ition test was also affected by those lesions. An NMDA-induced lesion of the basolateral amygdala did not impair the ability to distinguish a familiar from an unfamiliar juvenile rat. It was argued that the cor tico-medial amygdala may be more important for social recognition than the basolateral amygdala. Fimbria-transected rats could no longer dis tinguish a familiar from an unfamiliar juvenile. Moreover, during all encounters they spent less time investigating the juvenile. The precis e nature of this deficit, especially the reason for the overall reduce d social investigation time, could not be specified with the classical procedure of the social recognition test.