Impairment of Spatial Performance by Environmental Noise

Gheraat, Mohammad Ali; Naghdi, Nasser; Jalaei, Bahram; Mokhtari, Pouneh; Moghadam, Farid Rezaei; Soleimannejad, Elaheh; Abarghani, Leila Eidi

doi:https://doi.org/10.3814/2009/840620

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Research Article | Open Access

Volume 2009 | Article ID 840620 | https://doi.org/10.3814/2009/840620

Impairment of Spatial Performance by Environmental Noise

Mohammad Ali Gheraat,¹Nasser Naghdi,²Bahram Jalaei,³Pouneh Mokhtari,⁴Farid Rezaei Moghadam,¹Elaheh Soleimannejad,²and Leila Eidi Abarghani⁵

Received18 Jun 2008

Revised23 Dec 2008

Accepted11 Jan 2009

Published16 Feb 2009

Abstract

We examined the effects of noise on acquisition and retention of the spatial memory task in equal and unequal context in adult male rats. The natural noise in Azadi football stadium was recorded and measured by sound level meter instrument and set in high (HI), moderate (MI), and low (LI) intensities, 86, 64, and 47 decibels A (dbA), respectively. Rats were trained in Morris water maze (MWM) for 3-consecutive-day program and at day 4 visible and probe tests were done under one of the above noise intensities. The retention was evaluated at day 7 on the basis of equal and unequal noise exposure situation. Escape latency, traveled distance, and swimming speed were recorded and used for subsequent analysis. Our results showed significant increases in the escape latency and traveled distance by increasing the noise intensity during acquisition period, and also retention test in equal noise situation. Furthermore, retention test in the group that was under HI noise during both training period and retention test escape latency and traveled distance compared to the groups which was under HI noise during training period and LI or MI noise during retention test (HI-LI or HI-MI).

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Copyright © 2009 Mohammad Ali Gheraat et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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