Long-Term Retention of Heat Training in Mongolian Gerbils

Abstract

Escape from heat was used to produce a black-white discrimination response in 60 gerbils. The animals were retested after 2, 4, or 6 calendar months from the date of original learning. The retest consisted of reversal learning for half the group and retraining for the other half. The relearning group showed significant savings and differed reliably from the reversal group which demonstrated no transfer at all. The originally learned response persisted, being unaffected by the passage of time. It was concluded that heat training results in the long-term retention of an acquired response.