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Rats Anticipate Damaged Rungs On The Elevated Ladder: Applications For Rodent Models Of Parkinson's Disease, Daniel Lopatin, Nicole Caputo, Chelsey Damphousse, Siyaram Pandey, Jerome Cohen

Psychology Publications

The present study examined rats' ability to anticipate undetectable wider gaps between rungs produced when they stepped on and dislodged damaged rungs while they traversed a slightly inclined elevated ladder. Rats in the first of three experiments reduced running speeds when they encountered four evenly spaced damaged rungs either always placed on the first or second half of the ladder (the break-a-way (BW) phase) but quickly recovered to their baseline (BL) levels when damaged rungs where replaced with intact rungs (the recovery phase). Rats previously exposed to damaged rungs over the first half of the ladder increased their speeds above …