Abstract

This study is concerned with the question whether the prelimbic area and anterior cingulate cortex of the rat is important subtrates in the attentional control or strategy shift and in the spatial localization learning with Morris water maze. In the 1st task, rats with either prelimbic area or anterior cingulate cortex lesions were subjected to the visually-cued task with the visible platform. And then they were subjected to spatial reference memory task, transfer test and then spatial working task. In the visually-cued task, animals with prelimbic lesions showed a transient impairment and animals with anterior cingulate cortex lesions showed impairment that lasted than the prelimbic lesion animals`. In the spatial localization task with the invisible platform, animals with prelimbic area lesions learned and remembered the platform equally well as their controls. However animals with anterior cingulater cortex showed impairment in the spatial reference task but no impairment in the spatial working task. The results were interpreted that prelimbic area may be involved in the attentional control and anterior cingulater cortex in the learning of rules and response reorganization in a new and challenging situation.