Attentional Set‐Shifting Paradigm in the Rat

The attentional set-shifting task (ASST) is the rat version of the intra-dimensional/extra-dimensional (ID/ED) test and was developed fifteen years ago. Damage to the medial frontal cortex results in a failure to "unlearn" old contingencies, i.e., impairs ED set shifting. As such, the task measures cognitive flexibility that can be compromised both in schizophrenia and depression as well as in animal models of these diseases.