The development of food search behavior by rats: The effects of hippocampal damage and haloperidol

Abstract

Food deprived rats were required to locate four pellets of food located in 4 of 16 holes in an enclosed arena. Three groups of animals were studied in 11 testing sessions: rats with bilateral hippocampal damage; rats with bilateral neocortical damage; and an unoperated group. Half of each group received haloperidol and half received saline injection 20 min before Sessions 4 through 10. No injections were given on the first three sessions or on the final, 11th session. Animals with hippocampal lesions visited more nonfood holes than control animals and did not develop consistent sequences of food-hole visits. The administration of haloperidol reduced the number of consistent sequences of food seeking behaviors by intact animals without significantly affecting the efficiency of performance as measured by the number of nonfood holes visited. Haloperidol reduced the number of visits to nonfood holes of animals with hippocampal lesions.