Role of the caudate nucleus in spatial orientation of rats

Hypothesized that the caudate nucleus functions as part of an egocentric localization system. Exp. I demonstrated that male Long-Evans hooded rats suffering damage to the caudate were unable to learn the position of a food reward in a radial maze when this reward was always to be found in a certain constant direction relative to the S's orientation at its starting point. In Exp. II it was found that caudate lesions impaired retention of an egocentric orientation task, but not that of another spatial task of equal difficulty. Reconstructions of the lesions suggested that there may be a critical locus within the caudate for this deficit. (15 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).