Strain differences in visual abilities and exploratory tendencies can confound rats’ performance in cognitive tests of learning and memory. In the present study we compared the performance of albino Wistar and pigmented Lister Hooded rats in appetitive conditioning and recognition memory procedures, specifically within-subjects inhibitory learning (A+ /AX-) and novel object recognition (NOR) variants. The inhibition task included an excitatory training stage and summation and retardation tests. Difference scores were used to help control for individual variation in baseline nosepoke responding. NOR was tested after a 10 min delay, following 24hr delay and using a recency variant. Discrimination ratios were used to control for individual variation in exploratory activity. In the inhibitory learning procedure, Lister Hooded showed more magazine activity prior to stimulus presentations than Wistar rats but this was a transient effect restricted to day 1 of excitatory training. There was no strain difference in associative learning at the excitatory training stage. The Wistars went on to show some performance advantage at the inhibitory discrimination stage and marginally stronger retardation test performance. In the NOR tasks, there was no significant effect of strain on cognitive performance, but the Wistars showed some advantage in the 10 min delay variant, whereas in the 24hr delay and relative recency NOR variants, the Lister Hooded rats showed some advantage. Overall the results of the present study confirm the suitability of Wistar rats for use in associative learning and basic NOR procedures.

视觉能力和探索倾向的应变差异会混淆大鼠在学习和记忆认知测试中的表现。在本研究中，我们比较了白化 Wistar 和色素 Lister Hooded 大鼠在食欲条件反射和识别记忆过程中的表现，特别是受试者内部抑制学习 ( A+ /AX-) 和新的物体识别 (NOR) 变体。抑制任务包括兴奋性训练阶段以及求和和迟滞测试。差异分数用于帮助控制基线鼻子响应的个体差异。NOR 在延迟 10 分钟、延迟 24 小时并使用新近变体后进行了测试。区分比率用于控制探索活动中的个体差异。在抑制性学习过程中，Lister Hooded 在刺激演示前表现出比 Wistar 大鼠更多的杂志活动，但这是仅限于兴奋性训练第 1 天的短暂效应。在兴奋性训练阶段，联想学习没有应变差异。Wistars 继续在抑制鉴别阶段显示出一些性能优势，并在延迟测试中表现出稍强的性能。在 NOR 任务中，压力对认知表现没有显着影响，但 Wistars 在 10 分钟延迟变体中表现出一些优势，而在 24 小时延迟和相对新近 NOR 变体中，Lister Hooded 大鼠表现出一些优势。总的来说，本研究的结果证实了 Wistar 大鼠在联想学习和基本 NOR 程序中的适用性。