Abstract
The behavioral function of the coeruleocortical system and the hypotheses implicating its role in mediating selective attention and behavioral inhibition to anxiogenic cues are evaluated. The diverse pattern of results produced by lesions induced by 6-hydroxydopamine on a variety of tasks (appetitive conditional discrimination, nonreversal shift, blocking, latent inhibition, distraction, taste aversion, neophobia, and conditioned emotional response) are integrated to achieve a tentative hypothesis of coeruleocortical noradrenergic function.
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This article is based on a roundtable discussion held at the European Brain and Behavior Society Workshop on Brain Plasticity, Learning and Memory held August 30–September 1, 1984, in Strasbourg, France.
Most of the experiments reported here were supported by the Medical Research Council (United Kingdom). B. J. C. holds an MRC studentship. We thank G. H. Jones and C. de la Riva for technical assistance, T. Kelly for typing the manuscript, and Raith Overhill for the illustrations.
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Robbins, T.W., Everett, B.J., Cole, B.J. et al. Functional hypotheses of the coeruleocortical noradrenergic projection: A review of recent experimentation and theory. Psychobiology 13, 127–150 (1985). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03326514
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03326514