title: Learning in escape/avoidance tasks in female rats does not vary with reproductive condition creator: Kristal, Mark B. creator: Axelrod, Seymour creator: Noonan, Michael subject: Applied Cognitive Psychology subject: Behavioral Analysis subject: Behavioral Neuroscience subject: Animal Behavior subject: Animal Cognition subject: Behavioral Biology subject: Ethology subject: Cognitive Psychology subject: Comparative Psychology subject: Neuroendocrinology subject: Perceptual Cognitive Psychology subject: Physiological Psychology subject: Psychobiology description: To determine whether the development of novel stimulus-response associations by the mother during the periparturient period is attributable to a general facilitation of learning produced by the hormonal milieu during that period, learning ability under various reproductive conditions was assessed in two tasks unrelated to the periparturitional situation. The two tasks, selected because they equalized the various groups for motivation and performance variables, were acquisition of a water-maze escape (including two reversals), and acquisition and retention of an unsignalled shuttlebox shock avoidance. The groups tested in the water maze were a midpregnant group, an immediately prepartum group, and an immediately postpartum group. In the shuttlebox, the same conditions (different rats) were compared, together with a nonpregnant estrus condition, and a nonpregnant diestrus condition. The results of both experiments indicate that although learning occurred, the characteristics of acquisition and retention were not influenced by reproductive condition. date: 1978 type: Journal (Paginated) type: PeerReviewed format: text/html identifier: http://cogprints.org/761/1/learn.htm identifier: Kristal, Mark B. and Axelrod, Seymour and Noonan, Michael (1978) Learning in escape/avoidance tasks in female rats does not vary with reproductive condition. [Journal (Paginated)] relation: http://cogprints.org/761/