THE EFFECTS OF PROACTIVE-INTERFERENCE DUR ING SPATIAL TASK-PERFORMANCE IN RATS

The influence of the preceding conditioned reaction on the current con ditioned performance was studied, Rats were trained to perform delayed and non-delayed spatial tasks in Y-maze. Two types of errors were ana lyzed: 1) the rats ran to the same maze arm as in the previous trial ( errors of repetition), 2) the animals ran to the other arm (errors of alternation). It was shown that the alternation errors were more frequ ent under conditions of short intertrial interval and non-delayed choi ce. The repetition errors occurred more frequently under conditions of long intertrial interval and delayed choice. The obtained evidence su pports the idea that not only cue presentation and delay periods are i mportant for successful performance but the whole structure of the tas k influences the complex organization of the behavioural acts.