P300 in the rat evoked by unpredictable and task relevant stimuli

Evoked potentials were recorded from rats under four experimental conditions, so that the waveforms could be compared. The P300 was present in each condition except for the "habituation" schedule of stimulus presentation. Moreover, the morphology of the P300 was markedly different for each rat in the "task relevant" condition than in the baseline conditions. These results are discussed in relation to the development of the rat as an animal model for P300 abnormalities associated with Alzheimer's-like cognitive deficits.