Figure 2.
(A) Neonatal rat pups given a whisker learning paradigm (whisker stimulation paired with 0.5 mA shock) for the first 8 days of life exhibited conditioned behavioral activity as measured by acquisition curves during training (N = 6–8 pups/training group). Acquisition curves represent the first 29 s of whisker stimulation, and nonwhisker stimulated conditions such as SHOCK only are not shown. No corresponding plastic changes were found in the anatomy of the barrel cortex for (B) area and (C) perimeter of the barrels (N = 3–4 pups/group). Additional analysis by cortical barrel row yielded consistent nonsignificant results. Asterisk represents a significant difference between the experimental PAIRED group and each of the control groups (p < 0.05).