INVESTIGADORES
VALENTINUZZI veronica Sandra
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
SPATIO-TEMPORAL LEARNING IN COMMON MARMOSETS Callithrix jacchus: A PILOT STUDY
Autor/es:
MENDES ALB ; BARBALHO JC; ARAÚJO JF; VALENTINUZZI VS
Lugar:
Natal, RN, Brasil
Reunión:
Congreso; II Simpósio do Instituto Internacional de Neurociência de Natal-IINN; 2007
Institución organizadora:
Instituto Internacional de Neurociência de Natal-IINN
Resumen:
Biologically significant events, such as food availability, occur within the dimensions of space and time and consequently many organisms are able to detect spatiotemporal regularities and use this information to organize their daily activities. This time-space learning has been well studied in birds and rodents however not in primate species. The current work intends to analyze time-space learning in marmosets. Six 2-5 year old animals were maintained in individual cages in a 12:12 light:dark cycle (lights on: 6AM). Animals were trained in a conditioning task in two daily (9AM and 3PM) 10-min sessions during 50 days. The apparatus consisted in two external mechanical arms with a reward in the tip that could be controlled by the marmosets by pushing one of two handles inside the cage. During morning sessions only the left handle allowed the approximation of the left arm while the right handle-arm remained inactivated. During the afternoon sessions the contrary was true. On the test day both handles were inactivated. Number of pushes in each handle was registered.  During training, animals clearly learned to push the correct handle according to the time of day, however during the test day no morning-afternoon difference was detected. We conclude that the methodology used here was not adequate to detected spatiotemporal leraning in this species. Currently, new experiments are in course in which the antecipatory activity near each handle will be registered and a barrier will be placed between both handles in order to increase the cost to reach one or another.   Núcleo de Primatologia da UFRN - Registro no IBAMA no. 1/24/92/0039-0. Apoio Financeiro: CAPES, CNPq, FAPERN