Auditory discrimination reversal learning and assessment of behavioral teratogenesis in rats

Qualitative auditory discrimination procedures were used to evaluate discrimination acquisition and reversal learning in rats. Twelve adult rats prenatally exposed to ethanol (ETOH) and 12 unexposed isocaloric controls (CON) were given training with a positively reinforced successive discrimination procedure. Most ETOH subjects were impaired relative to CON subjects on accuracy during early training sessions and the number of sessions required to meet an 80% accuracy criterion. Some ETOH subjects were also impaired on the rate of learning over a series of repeated discrimination reversals. Individual differences in reversal learning rates varied more widely with ETOH subjects than with CON subjects. Our results indicate that the auditory discrimination procedures may find application in assessments of behavioral teratogenesis.