Retention of concurrent taste aversion learning after electrolytic lesioning of the interpositus-dentate region of the cerebellum

Lesions in the interpositus-dentate region of the cerebellum impair short-t erm, or concurrent, TAL. In this type of learning, animals must discriminat e between two flavor stimuli presented at the same time, one of which is as sociated with an aversive product. The task is learned by the control anima ls, and within this group the animals that acquire it adequately enough (15 /22, 70% criterion) retain the learned taste discrimination when they are s ubjected to it again after being lesioned in the interpositus-dentate regio n. These results suggest that the deep nuclei are essential in the concurre nt TAL acquisition process, but not in its retention. (C) 2000 Elsevier Sci ence B.V. All rights reserved.