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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 5, 2025

A Procedure to Observe Context-induced Renewal of Pavlovian-conditioned Alcohol-seeking Behavior in Rats

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Published on: September 19, 2014

Critical periods when dopamine controls behavioral responding during Pavlovian learning.

Merridee J Lefner¹, Claire E Stelly¹, Kaitlyn M Fonzi¹

¹Department of Neuroscience Developmental and Regenerative Biology, Neurosciences Institute, Brain Health Consortium, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA.

Psychopharmacology

|July 7, 2022

Summary

Dopamine receptor antagonism affects behavior differently based on training phase and Pavlovian task type. Blocking dopamine during reward size learning caused lasting behavioral deficits in rats.

Keywords:

Behavior Cue Dopamine Learning Pavlovian conditioning Reward

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Last Updated: Sep 5, 2025

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Pavlovian Conditioned Approach Training in Rats

Pavlovian Conditioned Approach Training in Rats

Published on: February 4, 2016

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Behavioral Science
Pharmacology

Background:

Learning cue-reward associations is vital for motivated behaviors.
The mesolimbic dopamine system is crucial for forming these associations.
Dopamine responses to cues change with training, suggesting phase-dependent regulation.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if blocking dopamine receptors impacts behavior differently based on training phase or Pavlovian task.
To understand the role of dopamine in different stages of learning cue-reward associations.

Main Methods:

Rats were trained on Pavlovian tasks with cues signaling reward size or rate differences.
The dopamine antagonist flupenthixol was given during acquisition or expression phases.
Behavioral responses were monitored across training sessions.

Main Results:

Dopamine receptor antagonism acutely affected conditioned responding and latency.
Antagonism during the expression phase caused persistent behavioral deficits, but only in the reward size task.
Effects varied depending on the training phase and the type of Pavlovian task.

Conclusions:

Dopamine's influence on behavior in Pavlovian tasks is contingent on prior training.
The specific information conveyed by cues (reward size vs. rate) modulates dopamine's behavioral control.