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Classical conditioning of the nictitating membrane response of the rabbit

I. Lesions of the cerebellar nuclei

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Summary

The classically conditioned nictitating membrane response (NMR) of the rabbit, a simple form of associative motor learning, is crucially dependent upon the cerebellum. Discrete unilateral lesions of the cerebellar nuclei were made in 20 rabbits. Lesions of the anterior interpositus nucleus (IA) abolished NMR conditioning to light and white noise stimuli on the side of the lesion without affecting unconditional responses. Lesions of the posterior interpositus nucleus, fastigial and dentate nuclei were without effect upon NMR conditioning.

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Yeo, C.H., Hardiman, M.J. & Glickstein, M. Classical conditioning of the nictitating membrane response of the rabbit. Exp Brain Res 60, 87–98 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00237022

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00237022

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