Cross-Modal Savings in the Contralateral Eyelid During Eyeblink Conditioning in Rats

This experiment monitored bilateral eyelid responses during eyeblink conditioning in rats using unilateral US presentations. The experiment tested the hypothesis that cross-modal savings occurs when the location of the US is switched. Groups were given paired training but the US location (1), CS modality (2) or both US location and CS modality (3) were changed. Changing the location of the US resulted in an immediate transfer of conditioning in both eyelids (1). Facilitated learning to the new modality CS was observed in both 2 and 3 indicating that savings occurs whether or not the location of the US is changed.