Effects of medial and dorsal prefrontal ablations on a go left-go right time discrimination task in dogs

Abstract

Normal dogs were trained on a go left-go right time discrimination task involving 10 and 30 s of bodily restraint. The performance deteriorated after medial prefrontal ablations, whereas dorsal damage produced no effect. The impairment in this task is unrelated to the delayed response deficit, which has been reported to follow dorsal but not medial lesions. It is suggested that kinesthetic processes are involved in time discrimination performance, and that the medial prefrontal cortex mediates spatial responding based on kinesthetic cues.