RELATIVE STEREOTYPY OF WATER-INGESTIVE BEHAVIOR INDUCED BY FRONTAL CORTICAL-LESIONS IN THE RAT

The variability of water-reinforced barpressing rate and duration was observed in rats in the progression of thirst to satiety, under CRF and extinction conditions, after electrolytic lesions of the frontal cortex. Although there was an ultimate recovery of mean rate and duration, frontal animals continued to display a lower variance of response rate and duration than controls under CRF thirst conditions. Additional indications of a relative response stereotypy as a result of the lesions are presented, and the data are discussed in terms of brain mechanisms of the initiation and cessation of thirst-motivated behavior in the rat. © 1979.