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Updated: Jul 15, 2026
06:57
Pavlovian Conditioned Approach Training in Rats
Published on: February 4, 2016
Orbitofrontal cortex mediates outcome encoding in Pavlovian but not instrumental conditioning
Sean B Ostlund1, Bernard W Balleine
1Department of Psychology and the Brain Research Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095-1563, USA. sostlund@ucla.edu
Summary
The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is crucial for Pavlovian stimulus-outcome learning but not instrumental action-outcome learning. OFC lesions impair updating stimulus-outcome associations, impacting associative learning.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
Background:
- The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is implicated in outcome encoding.
- The precise role of the OFC in Pavlovian stimulus-outcome learning versus instrumental action-outcome learning is not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether the OFC is selectively involved in Pavlovian stimulus-outcome learning or also contributes to instrumental action-outcome learning.
- To examine the OFC's role in updating stimulus-outcome associations.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1: Assessed effects of bilateral OFC lesions on instrumental lever press performance sensitivity to outcome devaluation and Pavlovian-instrumental transfer.
- Experiment 2: Explored OFC involvement in updating stimulus-outcome associations after contingency degradation.
Main Results:
- Post-training OFC lesions did not affect instrumental outcome devaluation but abolished Pavlovian-instrumental transfer.
- Pre-training OFC lesions had no effect on either task.
- OFC-lesioned rats failed to update stimulus-outcome associations, ceasing responses to both predictive and non-predictive stimuli.
Conclusions:
- The OFC supports outcome encoding in Pavlovian conditioning.
- The OFC does not appear to support outcome encoding in instrumental conditioning.
- The OFC is critical for updating stimulus-outcome associations in response to changes in predictive relationships.
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