The effect of training trials on passive avoidance deficits in the hippocampectomized rat

Abstract The ability to withhold a response on the basis of a punishing electrical shock after 0, 20, 40 training trials was investigated in rats following radical bilateral hippocampal destruction, damage to the posterolateral neocortex, or sham operations. Hippocampectomized animals continued to make the response despite the previous shock under all training conditions (impaired passive avoidance behavior) but their response latencies were shorter when 20 or 40 training trials had been given.