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Pavlovian aversive context conditioning using carbon dioxide as the unconditional stimulus
D L Mongeluzi1, R A Rosellini, B J Caldarone
1Department of Psychology, The University at Albany, State University of New York 12222, USA.
Abstract:
Four experiments were conducted to examine the utility of carbon dioxide (CO2) as an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US) in a Pavlovian context conditioning paradigm. Experiment 1 demonstrated that rats exposed to CO2 in a distinctive context showed elevated levels of freezing relative to controls. Experiment 2 replicated this basic effect with a modified conditioning procedure and additionally demonstrated conditioned analgesia. Experiment 3 demonstrated a positive monotonic relationship between US duration and resistance to extinction of freezing behavior as well as conditioned analgesia. Experiment 4 demonstrated extinction and an extinction-related phenomenon, renewal. These studies clearly demonstrate the utility of CO2 as a Pavlovian US.