Discriminated and nondiscriminated avoidance conditioning of the rearing response in rats

Experiment 1 employed a shock box in which light beams ran at 10, 15, 20, or 25 cm above the floor level of the box. Four groups of nine rats each were trained to avoid shock by cutting the light beams or letting them pass by, which the animal accomplished by upward or downward change of its posture. Training employed a discriminated avoidance paradigm, 60 trials per day for 5 days, with a 5-sec CS-US interval. Acquisition of the rearing avoidance response was observed only in the 15-cm condition. Using the same apparatus as in Experiment 1 and with a beam height of 15 cm, the rearing avoidance response was successfully conditioned in five rats using a nondiscriminated avoidance conditioning paradigm. There was good evidence of temporal discrimination in these animals.     

Recovery of conditioned fear by a single postextinction shock: Effect of similarity of shock contexts and of time following extinction

Subjects in six experimental groups (n = 16 each) received one-trial passive avoidance (PA) training in which shock was delivered upon movement from a white wooden floor compartment to a black grid compartment. Then fear was extinguished (30 min) in the black compartment. After either 24 or 168 h, all the groups were treated in a room distinctively different from the training room. At each interval, one group received a shock in an apparatus similar to the conditioning box, another received a shock in a dissimilar apparatus, and another was placed in a neutral box. A PA test trial in the training apparatus indicated reinstatement of extinguished fear in all the groups given a postextinction shock except the 24-h dissimilar group. Control groups revealed that the extinction treatment was effective and that spontaneous recovery was not evident. The results were explained in terms of classical conditioning, stimulus generalization, and the broadening (flattening) of stimulus generalization gradients with time.     

MK-801 interferes with the acquisition of amphetamine- and lithium-induced place conditioning

The place conditioning paradigm was used to assess the ability of the noncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist, MK-801, to interfere with drug-place associations. MK-801 (0.1 mg/kg, i.p.) attenuated a place preference produced by high, but not low to moderate, doses of amphetamine. Interference with amphetamine place preference learning was not the result of state-dependent retrieval produced by MK-801. Furthermore, MK-801 did not interfere with the expression of a previously established amphetamine place preference. Pretreatment with MK-801 also interfered with lithium-induced conditioned place aversion learning. These results suggest that the attenuation of place preference conditioning produced by MK-801 is the result of its interference with learning rather than with the rewarding properties of drugs.     

Acquisition and extinction of runway performance under escape,avoidance, and partial-avoidance procedures

The acquisition and extinction of locomotor responses of rats in a straight alley were examined for groups trained under escape, partial-avoidance, and avoidance procedures. During acquisition, one group (escape) received a 0-sec delay between being dropped into the alley and the onset of shock; two groups (partial avoidance) had 0.5- and 1-sec delays; and two groups (avoidance) had delays of 2 and 4 sec. On the final day of acquisition, the partial-avoidance rats displayed higher running speeds than either the escape- or avoidance-trained animals. The 4-sec avoidance group was consistently slower than all other groups. Speeds for all groups decreased during extinction, with rate of decline showing some relation to terminal acquisition level. Relative group performance levels proved to be consistent with a simple arithmetic model based on the assumption that changes in running speeds affect the aversiveness of the situation by altering US duration, CS duration, and effective US length.     

The role of US novelty in retention interval effects in single-element taste-aversion learning

Retention interval effects are seen in taste-aversion learning when single-element aversions are significantly weaker 24 h after conditioning compared with tests at later intervals. This report contains three experiments which suggest that the source of the increased drinking at the 1-day interval is nonassociative interference produced by the novel conditioning episode. In Experiment 1, a parametric analysis demonstrated that aversion strength increased monotonically over a 30-h period following conditioning, and that by 48 h after conditioning it was stabilized. In Experiment 2, a single US preexposure was used to reduce the novelty of the US prior to conditioning. As a result, animals preexposed to the US had stronger taste aversions than did non-preexposed controls at a 1-day retention interval; however, no differences were seen at a 5-day interval. Experiment 3 investigated whether the counterintuitive outcome of Experiment 2 was due to the summation of environment-illness and taste-illness associations at the 1-day test. The results ruled out the summation argument; the US preexposure did not need to be presented in the conditioning context to strengthen the aversion at the 1-day interval. Collectively, these results suggest that the presentation of a surprising US can interfere with the retrieval of the taste-illness association for a short period after conditioning, and that this contributes to the retention interval effect.     

A history of morphine-induced taste aversion learning fails to affect morphine-induced place preference conditioning in rats

Drugs of abuse have both rewarding and aversive effects, as indexed by the fact that they support place preferences and taste aversions, respectively. In the present study, we explored whether having a history with the aversive effects of morphine (via taste aversion conditioning) impacted the subsequent rewarding effects of morphine, as measured in the place preference design. In Experiment 1, rats were exposed to a taste aversion procedure in which saccharin was followed by morphine. Place preference conditioning was then initiated in which animals were injected with morphine and placed on one side of a two-chambered apparatus. Animals with a taste aversion history acquired place preferences to the same degree as controls without such a history, suggesting that morphine’s affective properties condition multiple effects, dependent on the specific stimuli present during conditioning. To determine whether these results were a reflection of processes operating in traditional associative conditioning, in a modified blocking procedure, place preference conditioning was attempted in the presence of a taste previously associated with morphine (Exp. 2). Under these conditions, animals still acquired morphine-induced place preferences comparable to those of animals without a morphine or conditioning history. These results are consistent with the position that drugs of abuse have multiple stimulus effects (positive and negative) that are differentially associated with specific stimuli (environmental and taste) that drive different behavioral responses (approach and avoidance).     

Reacquisition following extinction in appetitive conditioning

In four experiments utilizing an appetitive conditioning preparation, reacquisition of conditioned responding was found to occur both rapidly and slowly following extinction. In Experiment 1, acquisition of responding to a tone that had been conditioned and extinguished occurred more rapidly than acquisition in either a group that received equivalent exposure to the food unconditioned stimulus or a “rest” control group that received only exposure to the apparatus in the first two phases. However, reacquisition was impaired relative to acquisition in a “learning-experienced” group that had previously received conditioning and extinction with a different stimulus. Experiments 2 and 3 produced similar results, but also found that high responding during reacquisition was confined to trials that followed reinforced, rather than nonreinforced, trials. Experiment 4, in which very few initial conditioning trials were used, produced reacquisition that was slow compared with both learning-experienced and rest controls. The results are consistent with a role for sequential learning: Reacquisition is rapid when animals have learned that reinforced trials signal other reinforced trials.     

Reinstatement of fear to an extinguished conditioned context

Rats were shocked in the black but not the white compartment of a shuttlebox and then exposed to the black compartment in the absence of the shock unconditioned stimulus (US) to extinguish fear responses (passive avoidance). In five experiments, rats were then shocked in a reinstatement context (distinctively different from the shuttlebox) to determine the conditions that reinstate extinguished fear responding to the black compartment. Rats shocked immediately upon exposure to the reinstatement chamber failed to show either reinstatement of avoidance of the black compartment or fear responses (freezing) when tested in the reinstatement chamber. In contrast, rats shocked 30 sec after exposure to the reinstatement chamber exhibited both reinstatement of avoidance of the black compartment and freezing responses in the reinstatement chamber (Experiment 1). Rats shocked after 30 sec of exposure to the reinstatement chamber but then exposed to that chamber in the absence of shock failed to exhibit reinstatement of the avoidance response and did not freeze when tested in the reinstatement chamber (Experiment 2). Rats exposed to a signaled shock in the reinstatement chamber and then exposed to that chamber in the absence of shock also failed to exhibit reinstatement of the avoidance response (Experiment 5). These rats showed fear responses to the signal but not to the reinstatement chamber. Finally, rats exposed for some time (20 min) to the reinstatement chamber before shock exhibited reinstatement of the avoidance response but failed to freeze when tested in the reinstatement chamber (Experiments 3 and 4). These results are discussed in terms of the contextual conditioning (Bouton, 1994) and the US representation (Rescorla, 1979) accounts of postextinction reinstatement.     

US preexposures retard excitatory and facilitate inhibitory conditioning of the rabbit’s nictitating membrane response

Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of US preexposure on differential conditioning of the rabbit’s nictitating membrane response. Both experiments consisted of three phases: a 10-day US preexposure phase, a 7-day differential conditioning phase, and a 3-day retardation of learning test for inhibition. In Experiment 1, US preexposures retarded the development of excitation to CS+ but facilitated the development of inhibition to CS?. In Experiment 2, half of the preexposed subjects received the preexposures in one experimental environment and differential conditioning in a second environment. The remaining preexposed subjects received both phases in a single environment. Retarded excitatory and facilitated inhibitory conditioning were observed only in the preexposed subjects that received both phases in the same environment. Rabbits that received a context shift performed at control levels. The results are discussed in terms of current theories of US preexposure effects, and the best account was provided by a modified associative theory.     

Pentobarbital-induced place aversion learning

Pentobarbital is self-administered by rats but has also been reported to produce a conditioned place aversion. Since the self-administration and place preference paradigms both are considered to assess drug reward, we further examined the hedonic properties of pentobarbital, using place conditioning. In Experiment 1, a dose of 15 mg/kg (intraperitoneal) of pentobarbital produced a conditioned place aversion after 4 conditioning trials of various durations (5, 15, 30, or 60 min). Since rats are typically drug experienced in the self-administration paradigm, in Experiments 2 and 3, we examined the effect of drug history on pentobarbital-induced place conditioning. Although preexposure to pentobarbital attenuated the place aversion, it never resulted in a place preference. As has been reported with alcohol, pentobarbital is hedonically aversive in rats, when novel.     

Relationship between the rewarding and aversive effects of morphine and amphetamine in individual subjects

Drugs of abuse have been reported to produce both rewarding and aversive effects, as evidenced by their ability to induce both conditioned place preferences (CPPs) and conditioned taste aversions (CTAs), respectively. Although several attempts have been made to assess the relationship between the rewarding and aversive effects of drugs in independent groups, it is unknown to what extent (if any) preferences and aversions are related in individual animals. The present study assessed this relationship by examining the ability of morphine (5 and 10 mg/kg) and amphetamine (3 and 5 mg/kg) to induce both place preferences and taste aversions in the same animal, using a concurrent CTA/CPP design. There was no consistent relationship between the ability of morphine or amphetamine at either dose to increase time spent on the drug-paired side and the ability to suppress consumption of the drug-paired taste. These results support the position that drugs of abuse have multiple stimulus effects, both rewarding and aversive, that condition place preferences and taste aversions independently.     

Interstimulus interval determines whether ethanol produces conditioned place preference or aversion in mice

DBA/2J mice were exposed to a distinctive floor stimulus (CS+) and ethanol (2 g/kg) in a place conditioning paradigm. A different floor stimulus (CS?) was presented with saline. Mice injected just before or 30 min before CS exposure (Groups 0, ?30) showed conditioned place preference, whereas mice injected right after exposure to the CS (Group 5) displayed place aversion (Experiment 1). None of the other groups (?120, ?60, 15, 60) showed place conditioning. Handling and saline injection given just before or after CS exposure were unable to produce place conditioning (Experiment 2). However, there was a positive relationship between ethanol concentration (10% vs. 20%) and test performance, suggesting that peritoneal irritation influences place conditioning (Experiment 3). Overall, these findings support the suggestion that intraperitoneal injection of ethanol produces an initial short-duration aversive effect that is followed by a longer lasting positive motivational effect.     

Contextual control of first- and second-learned excitation and inhibition in equally ambiguous stimuli

In two three-phase experiments, rats received a final third excitatory (Experiment 1) or inhibitory (Experiment 2) phase of conditioning with a tone. The third phase came immediately prior to a test with the tone, either in the context where the tone was trained or in a different context. Groups differed in each experiment with respect to the first two phases. Rats in Groups EIE (Experiment 1) and EII (Experiment 2) received excitatory conditioning with the tone in Phase 1, followed by inhibitory conditioning with the tone. Rats in Groups IEE (Experiment 1) and IEI (Experiment 2) received inhibitory conditioning in Phase 1, followed by excitatory conditioning in Phase 2. Thus, the association being expressed in Phase 3 was consistent either with what was learned first about the stimuli or with what was learned second. Contrary to expectations, the association being expressed at the end of Phase 3, either excitatory or inhibitory, was affected by a context change, regardless of its consistency with what was learned first about the CS.     

Effect of number of trials,interstimulus interval,and dishabituation during CS habituation on subsequent conditioning in a CER paradigm

Three experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of variables during habituation of a CS on a subsequent conditioning to that CS in a conditioned emotional response paradigm. Experiment I varied the number of habituation trials received before conditioning, and it was found that additional habituation trials resulted in a further attenuation of conditioning. Experiment II varied the interstimulus interval of the habituating stimulus, and it was found that the longer intervals produced the greater attenuation in conditioning. Experiment III examined the effect of interpolating another stimulus between habituation and conditioning (dishabituation), and it was found that the dishabituating stimulus augmented subsequent conditioning. It was concluded that manipulations during habituation training that produce the greatest decrement in response to a stimulus, when assessed under equivalent conditions for all animals, have the greatest attenuating effect on subsequent conditioning to that stimulus.     

Active- and passive-avoidance learning in inbred mice: Transfer of training effects

The performance of four groups of mice of two genotypes (DBA/2J and C57BL/6J) was observed in two avoidance situations. Two groups, one of each strain, were given a maximum of 30 conditioning trials in an active avoidance situation followed by a maximum of 30 trials in a passive avoidance situation. The other two groups, one of each strain, were given passive avoidance conditioning first, followed by active avoidance conditioning. Positive transfer of training was observed in both genotypes for mice that received active avoidance conditioning prior to passive avoidance conditioning. Little or no transfer was observed from passive to active avoidance in either strain.     

Preexposure to situational cues produces a direct relationship between two-way avoidance learning and shock intensity

In Experiment 1, four groups of subjects (n = 16 each) were exposed to the situational stimuli of a shuttlebox apparatus for 4 h. Subsequently, 200 two-way avoidance trials were administered (100/day) with either .3- or 1.6-mA shock and with either small or large reward (presence or absence of visual stimuli following the response). Avoidance performance was directly related to shock intensity on both days and to magnitude of reward on the 2nd day. In Experiment 2, four groups of subjects (n = 24 each) were given 4 h of exposure either to the situational stimuli of the shuttlebox or to a neutral box. Then, 10 two-way avoidance trials were given with 1.6-mA shock. Subsequently, subjects were allowed to escape from one of the shuttlebox compartments to an adjacent safe box. Following preexposure to situational stimuli, avoidance performance was superior whereas escape-from-fear performance was inferior. This latter finding demonstrated that less fear of situational cues was present during avoidance training in the preexposed condition. All of these results support the effective reinforcement theory, an extension of two-factor theory, which emphasizes the importance for avoidance learning of the amount of fear of situational cues present following a response.     

Effects of component training and subsequent sequencing of stimuli on shuttlebox avoidance responding of rats

The serial presentation of two different CSs, with each stimulus having an 8-sec duration (S1₈/S2₈), consistently has resulted in most of the shuttlebox avoidance responses being recorded to the S2 component. Experiment 1 attempted to attenuate this serial CS, delayed-response effect by conditioning the separate components of a serial CS prior to ordering them sequentially. Ten component-training trials were administered, with subjects receiving CS-US pairing to S1 only, S2 only, or to both S1 and S2 presented on separate trials. Two CS durations (8 or 16 sec) during this phase also were compared. Subjects were then given 100 avoidance test trials using the standard serial procedure. The 10 best avoidance responders in each group were selected for analysis. Shorter avoidance latencies were obtained only for subjects receiving component conditioning to S1. CS duration was not a factor in establishing the shorter latencies. Component conditioning to S2 resulted in increasing the total avoidances. Experiment 2 increased the number of component-training trials and the generality of the findings by using a different strain of rats and by extending the testing phase of the study so that all subjects could be included in the analysis. Comparable results were obtained. The theoretical implications of these data were discussed.     

Foraging on the radial-arm maze: Effects of altering the reward at a target location

Thirsty rats were trained to collect small water rewards from the end of each arm of an eight-arm radial maze. During these training trials and subsequent testing trials, the subjects were allowed to choose a maximum of eight arms. “Preference” for a target maze location was studied by noting when, in the sequence of eight choices, the target was selected. During testing, when one maze location was consistently devoid of water, rats decreased their preference for this arm over trials (Experiment 1). Similarly, rats that learned a saccharin-lithium association demonstrated lower preferences for a maze location that consistently held the conditioned saccharin solution. This was true for animals that received saccharin-lithium conditioning on the maze (Experiment 3A) and for animals conditioned to saccharin in a separate context (Experiment 3B). An increase in preference for a target maze location consistently containing a sweet chocolate milk solution was observed in animals that were water- and food-deprived (Experiment 2). These studies demonstrate that animals will modify their responses toward (preferences for) maze locations that predictably contain an altered reward.     

Involvement of basolateral amygdala GABAA receptors in the effect of dexamethasone on memory in rats

In this study we investigated whether GABA_A receptors of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) interact with the effect of dexamethasone on the retrieval stage of memory. Adult male Wistar rats were bilaterally cannulated in the BLA by stereotaxic surgery. The animals were trained in step-through apparatus by induction of electric shock (1.5 mA, 3 s) and were tested for memory retrieval after 1 d. The time of latency for entering the dark compartment of the instrument and the time spent by rats in this chamber were recorded for evaluation of the animals’ retrieval in passive avoidance memory. Administration of dexamethasone (0.3 and 0.9 mg/kg, subcutaneously (s.c.)), immediately after training, enhanced memory retrieval. This effect was reduced by intra-BLA microinjection of muscimol (0.125, 0.250 and 0.500 μg/rat), when administered before 0.9 mg/kg of dexamethasone. Microinjection of bicuculline (0.75 μg/rat, intra-BLA) with an ineffective dose of dexamethasone (0.1 mg/kg, s.c.) increased memory retrieval. However, the same doses of muscimol and bicuculline without dexamethasone did not affect memory processes. Our data support reports that dexamethasone enhances memory retrieval. It seems that GABA_A receptors of the BLA mediate the effect of dexamethasone on memory retrieval in rats.     

Effects of cuing in an “irrelevant” context

Normally, retention of an avoidance response by a rat is impaired when the test context is novel or does not correspond to the training context. Experiment 1 demonstrates that such an impairment of test performance can be alleviated if a rat receives a cuing treatment or reminder of training in the novel test context prior to testing. Experiment 2 indicates that when rats receive avoidance training in one context and then receive a reminder of training in a novel context, they perform more poorly when tested in the training context than do animals that receive no reminder. This finding is discussed in relation to current theories of contextual influence over retention performance.