From Futurity.org:
A new study finds that rats with impulsive tendencies tend to have poorer working memories. Scientists define working memory in people as the ability to hold details like a name or phone number in mind.
On the other hand, rats that avoided risky situations tend to have poor cognitive flexibility, which in this case means they were unable to learn a new way to get a food pellet after they had been trained to expect it from a different lever.
By studying the rats’ behavior, researchers are examining the ways impulsivity, working memory, and cognitive flexibility may or may not interact.
Published online in the journal Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, the study could provide animal models for people with certain mental disorders such as anorexia or addiction, says Kristy Shimp, a doctoral candidate at the University of Florida....MORE
