How does it compare with that of humans (Homo sapiens) and zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata)?
The present study with rats replicated an experiment on the ability of zebra finches and humans to discriminate among brief auditory stimuli (see Weisman et al., 1999, Experiment 2). We trained rats with 27 3-kHz tones that varied in duration from 10ms to 1420ms. Reinforcement was contingent on responding (approaching the food well) to the nine medium-durations range tones (56-255ms) but not to the nine short-durations range (10-46ms) or long-durations range tones (309-1420ms). Rats also received post-discrimination transfer tests with 2kHz and 4kHz tones that varied over the same durations as the 3kHz tones. Rats acquired the temporal discrimination to a slightly lower level of accuracy than seen in finches or humans by Weisman et al. (1999). We tested for transfer of the temporal discrimination to find that rats, similar to humans (data from Weisman et al., 1999), transferred to untrained 2-kHz and 4-kHz tones at levels approaching accuracy to that achieved to the trained 3-kHz tone.
