Sexual approach conditioning: Tests of unconditioned stimulus devaluation using hormone manipulations.

Contents of learning that result from CS–unconditioned stimulus/stimuli (UCS) pairings in sexual approach conditioning were explored with male Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Sexual motivation of Ss conditioned to approach an arbitrary stimulus in a Pavlovian sexual conditioning paradigm was reduced by exposing them to a short photoperiod. Decreased sexual motivation resulted in a decline in sexually conditioned approach behavior (Exps 1 and 2). Responding was restored when Ss were returned to a long photoperiod (Exp 1) and when exogenous testosterone was administered (Exp 2). Decreased sexual motivation did not affect food-conditioned approach behavior (Exp 3). These results suggest that sexually conditioned approach behavior is mediated by a representation of the UCS, which is activated by the CS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"The Discriminative Stimulus Effects of Cocaine in a Pavlovian Sexual Approach Paradigm in Male Japanese Quail": Correction to Troisi and Akins (2004).

Reports an error in the original article by J. R. Troisi, II and Chana Akins (Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 2004, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 237-242). The first sentence of the abstract, "Two groups of male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) to discriminate cocaine from saline in a conditioned approach procedure maintained by sexual reinforcement," was incomplete. The correct wording is "Two groups of male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) were trained to discriminate cocaine from saline in a conditioned approach procedure maintained by sexual reinforcement." (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 2004-20800-003.) Two groups of male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) to discriminate cocaine from saline in a conditioned approach procedure maintained by sexual reinforcement. For 1 group, cocaine (10 mg/kg ip) was administered prior to a conditioned stimulus (CS) that predicted copulation; saline followed by a CS predicted no copulation. A second group underwent the opposite training regimen. Results revealed apparent between-group differences in the rates of acquisition of the discrimination; however, during extinction trials, both groups responded more under the drug condition that predicted the female than to the condition that predicted no female. The results suggested that a drug discrimination may be maintained by sexual reinforcement. The findings are discussed with regard to interactions of cocaine and sexual reward, as well as to Pavlovian conditional stimulus control (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Discriminative Stimulus Effects of Cocaine in a Pavlovian Sexual Approach Paradigm in Male Japanese Quail.

Two groups of male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) to discriminate cocaine from saline in a conditioned approach procedure maintained by sexual reinforcement. For 1 group, cocaine (10 mg/kg ip) was administered prior to a conditioned stimulus (CS) that predicted copulation; saline followed by a CS predicted no copulation. A second group underwent the opposite training regimen. Results revealed apparent between-group differences in the rates of acquisition of the discrimination; however, during extinction trials, both groups responded more under the drug condition that predicted the female than to the condition that predicted no female. The results suggested that a drug discrimination may be maintained by sexual reinforcement. The findings are discussed with regard to interactions of cocaine and sexual reward, as well as to Pavlovian conditional stimulus control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pavlovian conditioning of sexual arousal: Parametric and background manipulations.

Recent studies have shown that a Pavlovian conditioned stimulus (CS) for unconsummated sexual arousal can increase the rate of copulation in the rat. The present report includes 5 experiments examining the effects of parametric manipulations on the conditioned arousal response in 216 male and more than 136 ovariectomized female Long-Evans hooded rats. Results show that 6–9 trials are necessary for reliable conditioning, but extinction is somewhat slower than acquisition. The function for the CS/unconditioned stimulus (UCS) interval is quadratic, with a minimum of several minutes required for effective conditioning. In the 1st 3 experiments, it appeared that background cues were conditioned as well as the designated CSs, and this was tested explicitly in the last 2 studies. In one, the effect of background cues was shown by training and testing in different situations; in the 2nd, background cues were shown to be subject to latent inhibition. Results demonstrate the influence of Pavlovian learning in sexual behavior and help to provide the basis for an animal model of the acquisition of deviant sexual arousal in humans. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Time course of cardiac conditioned responses in restrained rats as a function of the trace CS–US interval.

Two experiments aimed at understanding the temporal characteristics of trace-conditioned heart-rate responses to a 0.5-s tone (conditioned stimulus [CS]) in restrained rats. A CS paired with a tail-shock (unconditioned stimulus [UCS]) elicited lasting bradycardiac responses. The magnitude and extinction rate of conditioned responses (CR) were independent of the CS–US interval (interstimulus interval [ISI], 3 s to 20 s). Unreinforced test trials were analyzed for CR topography. Responding was delayed in groups with longer ISIs, but CR latencies, peak and decay times were not proportional to the ISI Response peaks tended to cluster either about 6 s after CS onset, or about 10 s with a slow decay, depending on the ISI. The authors postulated 2 components of auditory stimulus traces involved in cardiac conditioning, maximally active 6 s and 10 s respectively after CS onset. The topography of the CR could be constrained to combinations of associative strength and instantaneous activity of these 2 components. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acquisition, maintenance and reinstatement of intravenous cocaine self-administration under a second-order schedule of reinforcement in rats: effects of conditioned cues and continuous access to cocaine

Second order schedules of IV cocaine reinforcement in rats provide a reliable method for evaluating the effects of conditioned stimuli on cocaine-seeking behaviour, and for measuring the motivational aspects of cocaine reinforcement. In the procedure established here, each infusion of cocaine (0.25 mg/infusion) was initially made contingent on a lever press and was paired with a 20-s light conditioned stimulus (CS). When rats acquired stable rates of cocaine self-administration, the response requirement for cocaine was increased progressively to a second-order schedule of the type FI15 min(FR10:S), whereby the IV cocaine infusion was self-administered following the completion of the first FR10 responses (and CS presentation) after a 15-min fixed interval (FI) had elapsed. Evaluation of the animals' responding during the first, drug-free interval of each daily session provided a measure of cocaine-seeking behaviour, independent of other pharmacological effects of the self-administered drug. Thus, a dose-response study (dose range: 0.083, 0.25 and 0.50 mg/infusion) revealed that responding under this schedule during the initial, drug-free interval changed monotonically with dose, whereas an inverse relationship between cocaine dose and response level tended to appear during the rest of the session, after rats had self-administered the drug. Responding under this schedule was also shown to occur under the control of the CS, which had acquired conditioned reinforcing properties. Thus, a decrease in responding and an increase in the latency to initiate responding followed the omission of the CS for 3 consecutive days. In addition, extinction of cocaine-seeking behaviour was slower when contingent CS presentations occurred compared to extinction when the CS was not present. Furthermore, the reinstatement of responding for cocaine, which followed a brief period of non-contingent CS presentations, was retarded when this conditioned reinforcer had been extinguished together with cocaine. Finally, cocaine-seeking behaviour decreased markedly for the first 6 h that followed a 12-h period of continuous access to cocaine, when compared to responding 6 h after a 90-min session of limited access to the drug. Responding subsequently increased to baseline levels within 72 h. These results emphasise the utility of second-order schedules for studying drug-seeking behaviour and the importance of drug-associated cues in maintaining such responding for cocaine.     

Androgen Mediation of Conditioned Rhythmic Cloacal Sphincter Movements in Japanese Quail (Coturnix japonica).

Demonstrations of increased reproductive success due to sexual conditioning in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) have been reported, although the mechanisms that underlie these effects have remained elusive. One possible mechanism is conditioned rhythmic cloacal sphincter movements (RCSM). Two experiments were conducted with male quail to determine whether associations between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and a hen would result in the ability of the CS to elicit RCSM, and to explore the androgen mediation of conditioned RCSM. The results suggest that a focal CS paired with visual access to a female will elicit RCSM via a representation of the hen activated by the CS. Further, the available evidence indicates that conditioned RCSM is androgen mediated and that this learning may transfer across breeding seasons. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aversive Pavlovian conditioning in childhood anxiety disorders: Impaired response inhibition and resistance to extinction.

Learning-based models of anxiety disorders emphasize the role of aversive conditioning and retarded extinction in the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders. Yet few studies have examined these underlying processes in children, despite that some anxiety disorders typically onset during childhood. The authors examined the acquisition and extinction of conditioned responses in 17 anxious children and 18 nonanxious control children between 8 and 12 years old using a discriminative Pavlovian conditioning procedure. One geometric shape conditional stimulus was paired with an unpleasant loud tone unconditional stimulus (CS+) whereas another geometric shape was presented alone (CS?). In the context of similar levels of discriminative conditioning in both groups, anxious children showed larger skin conductance responses to the CS+ and the CS? during acquisition and evaluated the CS+ as more arousing than the CS? compared with control children. They also showed greater resistance to extinction in skin conductance responses but not in arousal ratings to the CS+ vs. the CS? relative to control children. Results suggest that deficits in response inhibition to safety cues and retarded extinction may underlie learning processes involved in the pathogenesis of childhood anxiety disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differences in the sexual conditioned behavior of male and female Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica).

The conditioned responses of male and female Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) were compared in a Pavlovian conditioning procedure in which presentation of a brief conditioned stimulus was immediately followed by the release of a copulation partner. Male quail vigorously approached the conditioned stimulus and were much more likely to enter the compartment housing their copulation partner than were female birds (Experiment 1). In females, sexual conditioning resulted in increased squatting (Experiment 2). This response was the reflection of sexual behavior rather than more general social behavior (Experiment 3). These findings provide the first definitive evidence of sexual learning in female quail and are consistent with the interpretation that sexual conditioning increases sexual arousal or receptivity in both sexes but the increase has different behavioral manifestations in male and female quail. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual fetishism in a quail (Coturnix japonica) model system: Test of reproductive success.

In the present study, the authors explored the reproductive consequences of fetishistic behavior in a previously developed animal model of sexual fetishism (F. K?ksal et al., 2004). Male domesticated quail (Coturnix japonica) received sexual conditioning trials in which a terrycloth object (the conditioned stimulus [CS]) was paired with the opportunity to copulate with a female quail (the unconditioned stimulus). Approximately half of the male quail came to copulate with the CS object and were considered to have developed fetishistic behavior. Each of the male quail was then tested with a female quail, whose eggs were incubated to determine rates of fertilization. The CS object was present for 30 s before and during the copulation test. Fetishistic male quail were slower to achieve cloacal contact with the female quail and showed less efficient copulatory behavior. However, they fertilized a greater proportion of eggs than nonfetishistic male quail. These results are unexpected from previous studies of the relationship between reproductive success and copulatory behavior and are discussed in terms of how fetishistic behavior directed toward an inanimate object may modify male-female interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The truly random control procedure: Conditioning to the static cues.

Conducted 2 experiments using a total of 48 male hooded rats in a conditioned emotional response paradigm, to examine the course of conditioning to the nominal CS and to the static cues during treatment with truly random control procedures of either high- or low-stimulus density. With the high-density schedule, response suppression to presentation of the nominal CS and to the static cues increased as a function of the duration of exposure to the schedule. Also, there was evidence that some interaction between nominal CS and static cues occurred in testing. Treatment with the low-density schedule also produced response suppression to the nominal CS and to the static cues, but suppression to the nominal CS failed to persist after extinction of responding to static cues, suggesting that the nominal CS had not acquired any conditioned properties. Implications of these results for R. A. Rescorla and A. R. Wagner's model of Pavlovian conditioning are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Topography of spatially directed conditioned responding: Effects of context and trial duration.

Domesticated quail (Coturnix japonica) received a discrete conditioned stimulus (CS) at one end of the experimental chamber paired with the opportunity to copulate with a female quail (the unconditioned stimulus) in a goal box located 112 cm away. Approach to the CS (sign tracking) and approach to the goal area (goal tracking) were measured. The duration of exposure to the experimental context (C) was varied in Experiment 1, and the duration of the conditioning trials (T) was varied in Experiment 2 for independent groups, creating C/T ratios of 1.0, 1.5, 4.5, 45, and 180. Contrary to previous reports of a direct relation between the C/T ratio and conditioned responding, in the present experiments, a shift in the topography and stimulus control of conditioned behavior occurred. Low C/T ratios (1.0–4.5) produced goal tracking controlled by contextual cues, whereas high C/T ratios (45 and 180) produced sign tracking controlled by the discrete CS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modified sensory features of social stimulation alter the perceptual responsiveness of bobwhite quail chicks (Colinus virginianus).

This study examined the sensory features of postnatal social experience that bobwhite quail chicks (Colinus virginianus) require to maintain species-typical responding to maternal auditory–visual cues. Chicks were reared in 1 of 3 conditions after hatching: altered tactile, auditory, or visual experience with siblings. Findings revealed that altered tactile, auditory, or visual experience during the first 36 or the first 72 hr following hatching modified chicks' preferential responding to species-specific maternal cues. During the second 36 hr, altered tactile or auditory experience disrupted chicks' perceptual development, whereas altered visual experience did not affect species-typical responsiveness. Results indicate that (a) timing of early postnatal visual experience can affect early filial responsiveness to maternal cues and (b) normal sensory experience derived from early social interaction affects species-typical perceptual development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cingulate cortical coding of context-dependent latent inhibition.

Neuronal activity of the auditory thalamus, amygdala, cingulate cortex, and substantia nigra was recorded during the administration of a behavioral test for latent inhibition (LI) or the retardation of behavioral conditioning because of preexposure of the conditional stimulus (CS). Following CS preexposure, both the preexposed CS and a control CS predicted avoidable footshock. LI occurred as significantly fewer avoidance conditioned avoidance responses after the preexposed CS than after the control CS. Attenuation of neuronal responses to the preexposed CS, or neural LI, occurred in all monitored areas. One group of subjects (Oryctolagus cuniculus) then received context extinction, and additional groups experienced novel context exposure or handling. Context extinction enhanced behavioral responding to the preexposed CS, eliminating LI. Context extinction also eliminated cingulate cortical neural LI by enhancing posterior cingulate cortical responses to the preexposed CS and attenuating anterior cingulate cortical responses to the control CS. Present and past results are interpreted to indicate that LI is (a) a failure of response retrieval and/or expression mediated by interfering CS-context associations and (b) a product of interactions of the posterior cingulate cortex and the hippocampus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Normal conditioning inhibition and extinction of freezing and fear-potentiated startle following electrolytic lesions of medial prefrontal cortex in rats.

The authors investigated the role of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in the inhibition of conditioned fear in rats using both Pavlovian extinction and conditioned inhibition paradigms. In Experiment 1, lesions of ventral mPFC did not interfere with conditioned inhibition of the fear-potentiated startle response. In Experiment 2, lesions made after acquisition of fear conditioning did not retard extinction of fear to a visual conditioned stimulus (CS) and did not impair "reinstatement" of fear after unsignaled presentations of the unconditioned stimulus. In Experiment 3, lesions made before fear conditioning did not retard extinction of fear-potentiated startle or freezing to an auditory CS. In both Experiments 2 and 3, extinction of fear to contextual cues was also unaffected by the lesions. These results indicate that ventral mPFC is not essential for the inhibition of fear under a variety of circumstances. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Classical conditioning of environmental cues to cigarette smoking.

Smoking-related cues tend to produce urges and cardiac responses in smokers. This reactivity has been assumed to reflect prior classical conditioning. However, little direct evidence exists supporting the notion that environmental cues can be classically conditioned to cigarette smoking. In this study, 8 smokers received 22 daily trials during which 2 cue complexes (comprising visual, olfactory, and auditory stimuli) were paired with smoking (CS+ trials) and not smoking (CS– trials). Reactivity to the environmental cues, as measured by self-report of urge and pulse rate, increased across CS+ trials, diverging from responses in the CS– trials. Reactivity was stronger among light smokers and those who verbalized awareness of smoking contingencies. Findings indicate that environmental cues can be classically conditioned to smoking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing response generation rules.

Robbins (1988) reported data that he viewed as inconsistent with Miller and Schachtman's (1985a) comparator hypothesis of conditioned response generation. Here we explain why we do not find his experiments a compelling test of the comparator hypothesis. We also briefly review other studies that tested the same predictions of the comparator hypothesis that Robbins examined. We conclude that there is considerable evidence that following excitatory or inhibitory conditioning with a target conditioned stimulus (CS) and unconditioned stimulus (US), extinction of other cues that were present during CS training ordinarily increases excitatory responding and decreases inhibitory responding to the CS. However, consistent with Robbins's conclusion, there is scant evidence that after CS–US training, enhancing the associative value of other cues that were present during CS training influences excitatory or inhibitory responding to the CS. The implications of these conclusions for the comparator hypothesis as an explanation of differences in acquired behavior and as a heuristic tool are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contextual conditioning and the control of copulatory behavior by species-specific sign stimuli in male Japanese quail.

Three experiments were conducted to identify species-specific sign stimuli sufficient to elicit copulatory behavior in male Japanese quail and to determine how learning is involved in the control of behavior by these sign stimuli. In Exp 1, sexually experienced Ss were tested for copulatory behavior with a live female quail and with a model consisting of a female quail's head and neck mounted in front of a foam pad. Comparable levels of copulatory behavior were observed in the two tests, indicating that static visual cues provided by a female quail's head and neck are sufficient to elicit copulatory behavior in this species. Exp 2 showed that male birds that previously received numerous opportunities to copulate with a live female quail in the test situation were significantly more likely to copulate with the head?+?neck model than were sexually inexperienced Ss. Exp 3 showed that prior sexual experience with live quail facilitated responding to the head?+?neck model only if the sexual experience was provided in the same place where Ss were later tested with the model. This finding suggests that sexual experience facilitates control of copulatory behavior by species-specific sign stimuli through contextual conditioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fine structure of the pecten oculi of the barred owl (Strix varia)

Relapse prevention in abstinent cocaine addicts remains a major focus of drug addiction therapy. We used a rat model of cocaine addiction that focused on cocaine-seeking behavior elicited interoceptively and by conditioned stimuli. Each of 18 rats could self-administer a maximum of 20 intravenous cocaine injections (1.5 mg/kg) per session per day. To prevent initiation of responding by cocaine itself priming injections were never administered. Although cocaine was available beginning every session the rats displayed a self-imposed period of abstinence followed by a period of rapid consumption. The abstinence period was variable among rats but consistent for individual rats. In experiment 1 we studied the contribution of a CS+ (stimulus light and lever retraction) to the motivation to initiate and maintain a cocaine self-administration episode. We compared the number of responses the rats emitted to receive the first and subsequent injections of the day between a group responding on a fixed-ratio (FR) schedule (n = 6) and a group responding on a second-order (SO) schedule (n = 5) of reinforcement. For all rats the number of responses per injection was raised daily until a rat failed to consume more than four injections. The SO group was able to emit approximately four times as many responses as the FR group to obtain their first and subsequent injections. In experiment 2 (n = 7) responses during extinction were counted with and without the CS+. Responding was greater in the presence of the CS+ than in its absence. The present model demonstrates that the motivation to self-administer cocaine is variable and greatly enhanced by conditioned stimuli.     

Inhibition as a "slave" process: Deactivation of conditioned inhibition through extinction of conditioned excitation.

In 4 experiments with 176 male albino Sprague-Dawley rats, a conditioned-suppression paradigm was used to investigate why a conditioned inhibition (CS–) does not extinguish when presented alone. Exp I assessed the role of blocking by excitatory contextual cues and/or an evoked representation of the conditioned excitor (CS+), which had been nonreinforced in conjunction with the CS–. When the CS+ and context were extinguished prior to presentations of the CS– alone, the CS– showed a retardation effect, reflecting latent inhibition, because no inhibition was detected in controls for which presentation of the CS– alone had been omitted. Exp II showed that the loss of conditioned inhibition (CI) was due to excitatory extinction and not to time since conditioning. When excitation was reconditioned to the extinguished CS+ (Exp I) or to a novel CS in the same context (Exp II), CI was restored. Exps III and IV evaluated whether the maintenance of CI depended on excitation that was generic in form or associatively tied to the training context. Results indicate no loss of CI when groups received CS+ extinction in that context, with concomitant presentations in a different context of the UCS by itself, for a novel CS, or correlated either positively or negatively with the original CS+. Overall findings suggest that CI is dependent on excitation: When excitation is extinguished, CI is deactivated; when excitation is reconditioned to the original or a new CS+ in the same or a different context, CI is restored. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)