FACILITATION OF SIMULTANEOUS VISUAL DISCRIMINATION BY NICOTINE IN 4 INBRED STRAINS OF MICE

Five-choice visual discrimination learning was determined in four different strains of inbred mice. All strains were able to learn this task in a small number of sessions. By distributing or massing the practice further evidence was obtained suggesting that efficient consolidation mechanisms characterize the strain DBA/2J while short-term memory characterizes C3H/He mice. Nicotine exerted a facilitating effect in three out of four strains. The magnitude of the effect seemed to be related to the basal abilities of each strain or to the complexity of the task. © 1969 Springer-Verlag.