Cerebellar lesions abolish an avoidance response in rabbit.

Unilateral lesions of the cerebellar dentate-interpositus (DI) nuclei abolished or impaired the reacquisition of a nictitating membrane (NM) conditioned avoidance response (CAR) in rabbits. Animals that sustained damage to the DI nuclei and surrounding areas displayed little or no reacquisition of the NM-CAR ipsilateral to the lesion, but displayed excellent acquisition of the response when training was shifted to the contralateral eye. These results agree with previous investigations of the effects of cerebellar lesions on the classically conditioned NM and leg-flexion responses. The DI nuclei appear to be essential for the retention of conditioned responses in a variety of associative paradigms.