Effects of partial prefrontal lesions in dogs on go – no go avoidance reflex differentiation and reversal learning

Abstract

The effects of prefrontal medial or lateral lesions on the retention of avoidance go – no go click-tone differentiation in dogs were studied. The acquisition of the differentiation was influenced by the quality of the stimuli since more errors were performed to the click CS(-) than to the tone CS(-). Neither medial nor lateral lesions exerted any effect on retention of the differentiation. Similarly, as during original differentiation training, the quality of the stimuli had an effect on reversal learning in normal dogs. Such an effect was markedly reduced in dogs with prefrontal lesions and more strongly in those Ss which received lateral lesions. The results were discussed relative to data obtained from cats trained under similar conditions. The dogs showed better responding on positive trials while performance in cats was better on negative trials. The stimulus quality effect was more pronounced in dogs during negative, and in cats during positive trials.