Some Effects of Nuclear Radiation Exposure on Preliminary WGTA Training Performance of Rhesus Monkeys

Sixty-four naive rhesus monkeys, divided into three radiation subgroups, were studied with respect to progression through a series of training stages designed to prepare the subjects for object discrimination testing on the Wisconsin General Test Apparatus WGTA. The subgroups were also compared on simple object-quality discrimination learning. The exposure to a nuclear radiation predated the present study by approximately 11 months. The results were as follows 1 The higher the previous radiation dosage, the faster the response to food when initially placed in the WGTA. 2 The higher the previous radiation dosage, the slower the response to a wooden object block as a sign for food. 3 The higher the previous radiation dosage, the faster the discrimination of a food-rewarded object block after object blocks had acquired the stimulus value of food.