Acquisition and retention of an avoidance response by rats of different ages

Abstract
Rats, 21, 120, and 480 days of age, were given acquisition training in a 1‐way avoidance task and tested for retention of the response 1 and 30 days later. Whereas the 480‐day‐old rats showed poorer performance during acquisition, the 21‐day‐old rats showed the greatest impairment of long term retention. The results suggest that age differences in performance are due to intrinsic maturational processes.