Mv. Pletnicov et al., DEVELOPMENTAL ANALYSIS OF HABITUATION OF THE ACOUSTIC STARTLE RESPONSE IN THE PREWEANLING AND ADULT-RATS, Behavioural processes, 34(3), 1995, pp. 269-277
Our experiments assessed the build-up of short-term and long-term habi
tuation of the acoustic startle response in preweanling and adult rats
. Results showed that the adult rats demonstrated both short-term and
long-term habituation of the acoustic startle response (ASR). In contr
ast, the decreased responsiveness to the auditory stimulations was rev
ealed in the preweanling rats only 2 hours after the training session,
whilst 24 hours and 48 hours after learning no significant change of
the startle amplitude in the rat pups was detected. The data are discu
ssed with respect to maturational interpretations of age-related diffe
rences in learning and retrieval processes.