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Behavioral estimates of absolute threshold in rat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Carmen Muñoz Tedó ,
Pilar Herreros De Tejada  and
Daniel G. Green
Carmen Muñoz Tedó
Affiliation:
Departamento de Psicobiologia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid 28023, Spain
Pilar Herreros De Tejada
Affiliation:
Departamento de Psicobiologia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid 28023, Spain
Daniel G. Green
Affiliation:
Department of Ophthalmology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
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Abstract

Dark-adapted thresholds of albino and pigmented rats were estimated using behavioral methods. Albino and pigmented rats who had been water deprived learned to bar press for water reinforcement when a light stimulus was presented. Absolute threshold was defined to be the light intensity at which bar pressing behavior was significantly modified by the presence of the light stimulus. Albino rats had an average threshold of −5.23 log cd/m2 and the pigmented rats had a threshold of −5.0 log cd/m2. These values are close to −5.3 log cd/m2, the psychophysical threshold of human observers in the same apparatus. Consistent with our earlier electrophysiology, these behavioral experiments provide no evidence for an albino/pigmented sensitivity difference. Comparisons are made between behavioral and electrophysiological determinations of absolute threshold in albino and pigmented rats. Thresholds determined behaviorally agree remarkably well with those derived from visual evoked potentials.

Keywords

Absolute thresholdBehaviorAlbinoPigmented, Rat

Information

Type
Research Articles
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 11 , Issue 6 , November 1994 , pp. 1077 - 1082
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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