Behavioral differences in young and aged mice: Strain differences for activity measures, operant learning, sensory discrimination, and alcohol preference

Abstract

Young and aged mice of the A/J and C57BL/6J inbred strains were given a series of behavioral tests which measured activity of various kinds, emotionality, operant learning, sensory discrimination, and alcohol preference. In general, compared with young mice, aged mice were less active, similar in emotionality, learned the operant discrimination as well, but extinguished more slowly, had poorer discrimination for sweet and bitter taste stimuli, and preferred alcohol to a lesser degree. Strain differences were obtained for most of these tests, and age-strain interactions occurred frequently indicating that behavioral changes occur at different rates for groups which differ in genetic constitution.