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A Procedure for Studying the Footshock-Induced Reinstatement of Cocaine Seeking in Laboratory Rats
Published on: January 6, 2011
Conditioned suppression is an inverted-U function of footshock intensity
James E Witnauer1, Ralph R Miller
1State University of New York, Brockport, NY, USA.
Learning & Behavior
|August 29, 2012
Summary
Conditioned responding to cues does not always increase with stimulus intensity. This study found an inverted-U relationship between unconditioned stimulus (US) intensity and conditioned suppression in rats, challenging existing learning theories.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral neuroscience
- Learning and memory
Background:
- Associative learning theories typically predict a monotonic increase in conditioned responding with unconditioned stimulus (US) intensity.
- This prediction has been widely accepted in the field of learning and memory.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between unconditioned stimulus (US) intensity and conditioned responding.
- To test the validity of existing associative learning models under varying US intensities.
- To explore factors that may attenuate the effects of high-intensity US training.
Main Methods:
- Rats were trained using a lick suppression paradigm with varying footshock intensities (0.4-1.8 mA).
- Experiment 1 assessed conditioned suppression as a function of US intensity.
- Experiment 2 examined the effects of context extinction and compound conditioning on response decrement.
Main Results:
- Conditioned suppression followed an inverted-U function of US intensity, not a monotonic increase.
- High-intensity US training led to a response decrement.
- Massive extinction of the training context and compound conditioning attenuated this decrement.
Conclusions:
- The findings challenge the traditional view of monotonic US intensity effects in associative learning.
- The results support the sometimes-competing-retrieval model over other associative learning models.
- Context and compound conditioning play significant roles in modulating learned responses.
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