Extinction of conditioned sexual responses in male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica): role of species-typical cues.

The authors examined how a conditioned stimulus (CS) that included species-typical cues affected the acquisition and extinction of conditioned sexual responses in male quail (Coturnix japonica). Some subjects were conditioned with a CS that supported sexual responses and included a taxidermic head of a female quail. Others were conditioned with a similar CS that lacked species-typical cues. Pairing the CSs with access to live females increased CS-directed behavior, with the head CS eliciting significantly more responding than the no-head CS. Responding to the head CS persisted during the 42-day, 126-trial extinction phase; responses to the no-head CS extinguished. Responding declined when the cues were removed or the subjects were sexually satiated. Possible functions and mechanisms of these effects are discussed. (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)     

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)     

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)     

Topography of sexually conditioned behavior in male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) depends on the CS–US interval.

The interval between exposure to a CS to male quail and access to a female (the unconditioned stimulus [UCS]) was varied from 0.5 to 20 min using a Pavlovian delayed conditioning procedure. Increasing the CS–UCS interval altered the spatial distribution of sexual conditioned behavior. With a short CS–UCS interval (1 min), conditioning resulted in the Ss remaining close to the CS and increasing their locomotor behavior near the CS. With a long CS–UCS interval (20 min), the Ss approached the CS to some degree, but their locomotor behavior was increased in areas farther removed from the CS. Results are interpreted within the context of a behavior systems approach to the study of learning and indicate that the typical finding of an inverse relation between conditioned responding and the CS–UCS interval may be an artifact of the use of a limited range or behavioral measures. (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)     

Learning and male–male sexual competition in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica).

Male Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) were trained individually to discriminate between 2 sounds presented at opposite ends of an outdoor aviary. One of the sounds (the positive conditioned stimulus [CS+]) was associated with the release of a female, and the other (the negative CS [CS–]) was presented alone. Which of the 2 sounds served as the CS+ (and which served as the CS–) was counterbalanced across Ss. The Ss came to approach their CS+ but did not move away from their CS–. After having been conditioned individually, the subjects were tested in pairs, with a single female released after the presentation of a stimulus that was the CS+ for one of the males and the CS– for the other male. During most of these tests, the male for whom the prefemale stimulus was the CS+ copulated with the female before the male for whom the prefemale stimulus was the CS–. These results indicate that learning can have an important role in competition for access to a reproductive partner. (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)     

Control of fluid palatability by exteroceptive Pavlovian signals.

Two experiments, with 15 male albino rats, investigated whether discrete auditory conditioned stimulus/stimuli (CS) that signal the availability or onset of taste unconditioned stimulus/stimuli (UCS) (sucrose, quinine) can control orofacial responses in the absence of those UCSs. In Exp I, one auditory stimulus (CS+) was paired with the delivery of a sucrose solution to the magazine floor, and another auditory stimulus (CS–) was never followed by sucrose. Following conditioning, oral infusions of water that were preceded by the CS+ were found to elicit more ingestive (sucrose-typical) orofacial responses than did water alone or water preceded by the CS–. In Exp II, the conditioned ingestive reactions to a signal for sucrose observed in Exp I again occurred, and conditioned aversive (quinine-typical) orofacial responses occurred in response to water infusions preceded by a former signal for quinine. Data suggest that perceived palatability may be influenced by Pavlovian associations involving exteroceptive CSs and illustrate the importance of supporting stimuli in modulating the effects of Pavlovian associations on behavior. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The "where is it?" reflex: autoshaping the orienting response

The goal of this review is to compare two divergent lines of research on signal-centered behavior: the orienting reflex (OR) and autoshaping. A review of conditioning experiments in animals and humans suggests that the novelty hypothesis of the OR is no longer tenable. Only stimuli that represent biological "relevance" elicit ORs. A stimulus may be relevant a priori (i.e., unconditioned) or as a result of conditioning. Exposure to a conditioned stimulus (CS) that predicts a positive reinforcer causes the animal to orient to it throughout conditioning. Within the CS-US interval, the initial CS-directed orienting response is followed by US-directed tendencies. Experimental evidence is shown that the development and maintenance of the conditioned OR occur in a similar fashion both in response-independent (classical) and response-dependent (instrumental) paradigms. It is proposed that the conditioned OR and the signal-directed autoshaped response are identical. Signals predicting aversive events repel the subject from the source of the CS. It is suggested that the function of the CS is not only to signal the probability of US occurrence, but also to serve as a spatial cue to guide the animal in the environment.     

Spatial location is critical for conditioning place preference with visual but not tactile stimuli.

The roles of visual, tactile, and spatial location cues were studied in 6 conditioned place preference (CPP) experiments with ethanol (2 g/kg) in mice (of the DBA/2J strain). Visual cues were effective conditioned stimuli (CSs) when consistently presented in the same spatial location, but not when the same cue was presented in two different locations during training. In contrast, tactile CSs were effective regardless of spatial location during training. Moreover, spatial location controlled CPP expression when visual cues were used but not when tactile cues were used. However, spatial location per se was not an effective CS. These studies suggest that CPP conditioned to tactile cues is mediated by brain systems different from those mediating CPP conditioned to visual-spatial cues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Activity and excitability to electrical current of cortical auditory receptive neurons of awake cats as affected by stimulus association

1. Unit activity and excitability were studied at the midlateral and suprasylvian cortex of naive, blink-conditioned and "randomization" cats. The latter received the same CS and US as did the conditioned animals, but in random temporal order and with random intertrial intervals with mean comparable to that used for conditioning. The randomization group failed to develop a blink CR. 2. With conditioning, spontaneous and evoked unit discharges were increased above levels found in naive animals. Correspondingly, levels of extracellularly injected current required to elicit a spike discharge were lower in conditioned than in naive animals. In addition, in the conditioned animals, the degree of enhancement of evoked activity and excitability was found to be greatest in the units that responded to the CS, as opposed to units that responded to another auditory stimulus of equal intensity but of no special behavioral significance vis-a-vis the conditioned reflex. 3...     

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)     

Odor-guided fear conditioning in rats: 2. Lesions of the anterior perirhinal cortex disrupt fear conditioned to the explicit conditioned stimulus but not to the training context.

Previous studies examining the neural substrates of fear conditioning have indicated unequivocally that the acquisition and expression of conditioned fear depends critically on the integrity of the amygdala. The extent to which the rhinal cortical areas contribute to fear conditioned to either the explicit conditioned stimulus (CS) or to the training context is less clear, however. The effects of pretraining lesions of the anterior perirhinal (PRH) cortex on fear conditioned to an explicit odor CS and to the context in which CS–unconditioned stimulus pairing took place was examined in rats. Rats with PRH cortex lesions demonstrated a robust attenuation of fear conditioned to the explicit CS, but no attenuation of fear conditioned to the training context. These data suggest that the PRH cortex is an important component of the neural system supporting the association between olfactory cues and footshock and add to a growing body of evidence implicating the rhinal cortical regions in associative learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Additional exposures reverse the latent inhibitory effects of recent and remote exposures.

We studied the learning produced by simple exposures to a stimulus. Exposures depressed orienting and subsequent conditioned freezing in rats. A remotely preexposed conditioned stimulus (CS) conditioned better and overshadowed a novel CS more than a recently preexposed CS. Additional preexposures reversed these effects: a remotely preexposed CS elicited more orienting, conditioned worse and overshadowed less than a recently preexposed CS. Exposure to a compound composed of a novel CS and a remotely preexposed CS resulted in the novel CS subsequently conditioning better than a novel CS exposed in compound with a recently preexposed CS. The results were interpreted to mean that stimulus-alone exposures produce a loss in associability which recovers across time, that this restoration deepens the loss in associability, and that this deepening is regulated by a common error term. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A New Model for Sexual Conditioning: The Ring Dove (Streptopelia risoria).

Sexual conditioning investigations have primarily used rats and domestic quail as subjects. Although much has been learned from such experiments, the relative simplicity of rat and quail reproductive behavior prohibits investigation of certain experimental questions about sexual conditioning. In contrast, the reproductive behavior of male and female ring doves (Streptopelia risoria) is complex, involving courtship, bonding, and parental care. In the present experiment, male ring doves that were presented with a visual conditioned stimulus paired with access to their pair-bonded mate (the unconditioned stimulus) showed sexual conditioned responding in the presence of the conditioned stimulus. These results represent the first evidence of sexual conditioning in ring doves and illustrate the potential of ring doves as a useful model for future sexual conditioning investigations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Classical conditioning of the rabbit eyelid response with a mossy-fiber stimulation CS: I. Pontine nuclei and middle cerebellar peduncle stimulation.

The nictitating membrane/eyelid responses of 18 rabbits were classically conditioned using cerebellar mossy-fiber stimulation as a conditioned stimulus (CS) and air puff as an unconditioned stimulus (US). The dorsolateral, lateral, and medial pontine nuclei and the middle cerebellar penduncle were effective stimulation-CS sites for training. In one group of rabbits, robust conditioned eyelid responses were produced with paired trials and subsequently extinguished with CS-alone and explicitly unpaired presentation of the CS and US. In a second group of rabbits, no conditioned responses were evident for 4 days of unpaired CS and US presentations. Conditioned responses did develop, however, after paired training was begun. Lesions of the interpositus nucleus of the cerebellum completely abolished the conditioned responses of a third group of rabbits overtrained with the mossy-fiber CS and air-puff US. Results support studies that have demonstrated that the cerebellum is critically involved in acquisition and retention of simple learned responses and theories of cerebellar function which have proposed that mossy fibers supply critical "learning" input to the cerebellum for acquisition and retention of motor skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Within-compound associations modulate the relative effectiveness of differential and Pavlovian conditioned inhibition procedures.

Four conditioned suppression experiments with 98 male albino rats compared the inhibitory strength of a Pavlovian conditioned inhibitory stimulus (CS–) and a differential CS– and identified some postconditioning manipulations that modulate the measured effectiveness of the CS–. In Exp I, more inhibition was detected to a differential inhibitor than to a Pavlovian inhibitor in summation and retardation tests. Exps II–IV provided evidence that some inhibition conditioned to the Pavlovian CS–, but not to the differential CS–, was masked by a within-compound association. In Exp II, postconditioning extinction presentations of the Pavlovian conditioned excitatory stimulus (CS+) increased the inhibition observed to its CS–. In Exp III, postconditioning pairings of the Pavlovian CS+ with a more powerful UCS than that used for conditioning reduced the inhibition observed to its CS–. In Exp IV, nonreinforced postconditioning presentations of the Pavlovian CS– increased the inhibition observed to that CS–. The unmasking and masking of inhibition conditioned to the Pavlovian CS– by operations that modulate the strength of the within-compound association also changed the relative effectiveness of the Pavlovian and differential procedures. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evidence of plasticity in the pontocerebellar conditioned stimulus pathway during classical conditioning of the eyeblink response in the rabbit

Electrical stimulation thresholds required to elicit eyeblinks with either pontine or cerebellar interpositus stimulation were measured before and after classical eyeblink conditioning with paired pontine stimulation (conditioned stimulus, CS) and corneal airpuff (unconditioned stimulus, US). Pontine stimulation thresholds dropped dramatically after training and returned to baseline levels following extinction, whereas interpositus thresholds and input-output functions remained stable across training sessions. Learning rate, magnitude of threshold change, and electrode placements were correlated. Pontine projection patterns to the cerebellum were confirmed with retrograde labeling techniques. These results add to the body of literature suggesting that the pons relays CS information to the cerebellum and provide further evidence of synaptic plasticity in the cerebellar network.     

Inhibition of the mesoamygdala dopaminergic pathway impairs the retrieval of conditioned fear associations.

Previous findings have demonstrated that systemic dopaminergic manipulations impair the retrieval of Pavlovian conditioned fear. A second-order fear-conditioning paradigm was used to test whether the dopaminergic projection from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the lateral and basal amygdala (LBA) can affect conditioned fear. Phase 1 entailed conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus (CS1-US) pairings. In Phase 2, drugs were infused in either the LBA or VTA prior to pairings of CS2 (a second cue) with CS1. In Phase 3, freezing behavior elicited by CS2 was tested without drugs. Infusions of the D2 agonist quinpirole into the VTA or of the D1 antagonist SCH 23390 into the LBA caused a decrease in freezing to CS2. Both manipulations decrease D1 receptor activation in the LBA. Infusions of the D1 agonist SKF 38393 into the LBA had no effect. This pattern of results is consistent with the hypothesis that the VTA-LBA dopaminergic projection modulates the retrieval of an association between a CS and footshock US. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)