Emetic and electric shock alcohol aversion therapy: Six- and twelve-month follow-up.

Reports follow-up data for 20 male alcoholics who received either a multifaceted inpatient alcoholism treatment program alone (controls) or emetic or shock aversion therapy in addition to that program. Results indicate that emetic treatment exerted a modest beneficial effect at the 6-mo mark, but control and emetic Ss did not differ at the 12-mo mark. Both emetic and control Ss compiled more days of abstinence than shock Ss at both follow-up intervals. Analysis of the relationship between inpatient measures of the strength of alcohol aversions and posttreatment drinking revealed an inverse relationship between heart rate response to alcohol and number of days of drinking. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Human classical aversion conditioning: nausea versus electric shock in the reduction of target beverage consumption

The effects of epinephrine on the electrophysiologic properties of human right atrail tissue, obtained at cardiac surgery, were evaluated utilizing standard microelectrode techniques. In studies of electrophysiology, epinephrine had little effect on the resting membrane potential and transmembrane action potentials of normal atrial fibers. Epinephrine enhanced phase-4 depolarization and increased automaticity in normal fibers but hyperpolarized partially depolarized atrial fibers and decreased automaticity. The hyperpolarizing action of epinephrine resulted in an increase in action potential amplitude and dV/dt and enhanced conduction. Active force increased 40-230% in depressed tissues when exposed to epinephrine. Epinephrine-induced hyperpolarization of depressed atrail fibers may have a beneficial effect on atrial arrhythmias and depressed contractility encountered clinically.     

Electrical aversion conditioning with chronic alcoholics.

Previous studies suggest the utility of electrical aversion conditioning, but fail to include adequate controls. Pseudoconditioning (random shock delivery), sham conditioning (no shock), and ward controls (routine hospital treatment) were compared with 2 conditioning groups. Conditioning-only (contingent shock) and booster Ss (additional conditioning sessions after release from hospital) were shocked for drinking and reinforced by shock termination for spitting out the alcohol. Sessions were run in a simulated bar setting. 51 of 73 chronic male alcoholics completed treatment and were available for follow-up. The technique significantly increased time to relapse when compared with control groups, among which no significant differences were found. Results suggest the possible usefulness of booster sessions and the potential long-term effectiveness of the technique for some Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conditioned antisickness: Heat as an internal stimulus in conditioning taste aversion and aversion failure in rats.

Heat was found to be effective as a conditional stimulus in the aversion failure procedure (S. Revusky et al; see record 1980-27581-001) and was also found to be effective as an unconditional stimulus using a taste aversion procedure in which rats exposed to high ambient temperature following saccharin consumption showed robust saccharin aversions relative to unpaired and unheated controls. The antisickness and taste aversion conditioning evidence force reexamination of the view that toxic heat effects are referred to the external environment. Together with other recent evidence from this laboratory, these data support the hypothetical antisickness mechanism of aversion failure, which requires that toxic heat serve as an internal stimulus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Electrical aversion conditioning with chronic alcoholics: Follow-up and suggestions for research.

Reports a follow-up of a study by R. Vogler, S. Lunde, G. Johnson, and P. Martin (see record 1970-14792-001) on drinking behavior in chronic alcoholics 1 yr. after release from a hospital. Ss had been subjected to response-contingent electrical shock, random shock, sham conditioning, and control treatments. Ss were studied on the basis of 3 criteria: (a) days to 1st rehospitalization, (b) proportion of year rehospitalized, and (c) number of rehospitalizations. Conditioned Ss did not differ significantly from the random shock group, although the latter group means on all 3 criteria were better than the former. Conditioned and random shock groups were significantly more improved than the other groups. Results indicate that conditioning produced lasting effects and suggest that non-response-contingent shock may be as effective as response-contingent shock in controlling drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Immediate shock deficit in fear conditioning: Effects of shock manipulations.

Pavlovian contextual fear conditioning occurs when an aversive unconditional stimulus (US), such as a footshock, is presented to a rat shortly after it is placed in an experimental context. Contextual fear conditioning does not occur when the shock is presented immediately upon placement of the rat in the novel chamber. In the present study, the authors report that increasing either the number of immediate shock sessions (Experiment 1) or the immediate shock duration (Experiment 2) did not reverse this deficit. However, immediate shock seems to sensitize subsequent context conditioning (Experiment 3). These findings suggest that the associative deficit produced by immediate shock is not related to the rat's ability to process the footshock US. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol-aversion therapy: Relation between strength of aversion and abstinence.

Assessed the degree of alcohol aversion in 60 alcoholics (aged 21–60 yrs) who received emetic alcohol-aversion therapy. Based on prior aversion-therapy research, it was predicted that aversion therapy would result in the following changes in response to alcoholic, but not to nonalcoholic, flavors: (1) decreased consumption in taste tests, (2) more negative flavor ratings, (3) overt behavioral indicants of aversion (e.g., grimacing), and (4) increased tachycardic response. A positive correlation between posttreatment tachycardic response to alcohol and number of days to the first drink was also predicted. Results support these predictions. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictable and unpredictable shock: Behavioral measures of aversion and physiological measures of stress.

Reviews the literature on predictable and unpredictable shock conditions relative to physiological measures of stressfulness and considers the possible role of stress-induced analgesia in both physiological and behavioral effects. Findings suggest that unpredictable conditions are physiologically more stressful than predictable conditions when Ss are exposed to them for one or a few sessions and when parameters of stress are relatively severe. However, predictable conditions may be more stressful than unpredictable conditions when sessions are long and extend over days and when parameters of stress are less severe. The effect of extended stress appears to depend on the physiological measure used. These findings are discussed in terms of the phasic vs chronic nature of predictable vs unpredictable stress and the organism's ability to adapt physiologically to these conditions. Data on stress-induced analgesia are also reviewed. It is concluded that stress-induced analgesia does not significantly contribute to either preference for predictable over unpredictable stress or to their differential physiological effects. (88 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unilateral conditioning of an odor aversion in 6-day-old rat pups.

In young rats, several forms of olfactory memory can be functionally localized to one side of the brain by restricting training stimuli to one naris and corresponding olfactory bulb. In this experiment, the analysis of lateralized olfactory learning in 6-day-old rat pups was extended by an evaluation of the consequences of aversive reinforcers in a unilateral olfactory conditioning paradigm. An olfactory aversion was conditioned by delivering a mild footshock to animals in the presence of a novel odor. Olfactory stimulation was confined to one naris and corresponding olfactory bulb by inserting a soft rubber plug into the opposite naris. This lateralization in processing resulted in unilateral memory for the odor aversion that was only expressed when the trained naris was open during an odor preference test. The hypothesis that the hedonic value (or valence) component of conditioning is represented in structures that are unilaterally accessed during training and testing is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of subliminal shock conditioning on recall.

Presented words at chance recognition levels and paired them with either the abrupt initiation or cessation of shock conditioning procedures. 18 male graduate students served as Ss in each of 3 experiments. Exp. I showed that words associated with abrupt initiation of shock conditioning appeared later in free recall than words associated with cessation of shock conditioning. Exp. II replicated the results of Exp. I when S's task during conditioning was irrelevant to recognizing words. Exp. III, using 50% of the stimulus intensity of Exp. I and II, demonstrated residual differentiation in recall between words actually presented and those whose presentation was simulated. Results are interpreted as evidence for subliminal perception. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pavlovian conditioning with ethanol and lithium: Effects on heart rate and taste aversion in rats.

20 female albino Simonsen rats received paired injections of either ethanol or saline as the CS and LiCl as the UCS in a Pavlovian differential conditioning paradigm. LiCl evoked a large deceleration in heart rate (80–200 beats/min) as a UCR. As a result of 10 conditioning trials, the substance paired with LiCl elicited a lower average heart rate than that elicited by the unpaired substance. Moreover, Ss that received ethanol–LiCl injections subsequently were more averse to the taste of ethanol than Ss receiving saline–LiCl pairings. However, there were no differences in ethanol's ability to serve as the UCS to induce an aversion to a novel flavor solution (i.e., the Avfail phenomenon was not observed). The overall pattern of results underscores the value of using multiple indexes of learning in drug–drug conditioning paradigms. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Emetic and Electric Shock Alcohol Aversion Therapy: Assessment of Conditioning": Correction to Cannon and Baker.

Reports an error in the original article by Dale S. Cannon and Timothy B. Baker (Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1981, Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 20-33). There were a number of instances in which an incorrect inequality sign was used in a statistic. The correct statistics are provided. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1981-11069-001.) 20 male alcoholic volunteers (mean age 42 yrs) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: emetic aversion conditioning, shock aversion conditioning, or a no-treatment control group. All Ss participated in psychophysiological assessment sessions and taste-test sessions before and after conditioning. Dependent measures all indicated that only emetic Ss acquired aversions to alcohol. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of conditioning method and testing method on strength of lithium-induced taste aversion learning.

Here the authors evaluated the effect of the method of conditioning (bottle or intraoral [IO] infusion) on the strength of a flavor-drug association when measured in a standard 1-bottle consumption test or when measured by IO infusion in a taste reactivity test. When tested with the bottle test in Experiment 1, rats conditioned by bottle displayed stronger taste avoidance than those conditioned by IO infusion. When tested for rejection reactions with the taste reactivity test in Experiment 2, rats conditioned by infusion displayed a stronger aversion than did rats conditioned by bottle. The results suggest that when the contextual cues of conditioning are similar at conditioning and testing, a stronger association is evident regardless of the individual specifics of each method. These results may shed light on recent reports that different neural mechanisms are involved in conditioning by active consumption and passive infusion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cold shock before associative conditioning blocks memory retrieval, but cold shock after conditioning blocks memory retention.

The effects of cooling on associative learning and memory processes in Caenorhabditis elegans were investigated by giving the worms cold shock at various times before or after conditioning. A pretraining cold shock in the 30 min immediately before conditioning and a postraining cold shock in the 30 min immediately after conditioning both disrupted learning and memory processes tested a short time after conditioning. However, if tested 3 hr after conditioning, worms given a pretraining cold shock demonstrated learned preferences, whereas worms given a posttraining cold shock still had memory deficits. These results suggest that the effects of cold shock on associative learning and memory can be dissociated into effects on memory retrieval and memory retention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parabrachial nucleus lesions block taste and attenuate flavor preference and aversion conditioning in rats.

Rats with ibotenic acid lesions of the parabrachial nucleus (PBN) failed to learn a taste aversion induced by lithium chloride (LiCl) toxicosis. The same rats also did not learn to prefer a taste that was paired with intragastric (IG) carbohydrate infusions during 22 hr/day trials. The PBN-lesioned rats did learn to prefer a flavor (odor?+?taste) paired with the IG carbohydrate infusions over a different flavor paired with IG water. The PBN-lesioned rats also learned to avoid a flavor paired with IG LiCl infusions during 22 hr/day trials. The flavor preference and aversion, however, were less pronounced than those displayed by control rats. These data indicate that the PBN is essential for forming orosensory-viscerosensory associations when taste is the primary cue but is less critical when more complex flavor cues are available. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Blood nicotine and carboxyhemoglobin levels after rapid-smoking aversion therapy.

Studied blood nicotine and carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) levels after rapid smoking in 5 male and 10 female smokers. Male Ss were under 40 yrs of age and females were under 50. Blood nicotine averaged 48.1 ng/mg after rapid smoking compared to 32.4 ng/ml after normal smoking, and COHb levels averaged 12.1% and 8.9%, respectively. Both differences were significant. Normal smoking levels of 92 smokers in other studies averaged around 30 ng/ml nicotine and 8.2–8.5% COHb. There was no evidence that the degree of nicotine and carbon monoxide intoxication produced during raid smoking had any relation to the reduction in the desire to smoke immediately after the session or the decrese in cigarette consumption on the following day. The potential risks of rapid smoking are discussed. It is suggested that these risks might be reduced by using a beta-adrenergic blocker and that the procedure could be made completely safe, possibly without loss of treatment effect, if Ss were instructed not to inhale. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Converging evidence for one-trial context fear conditioning with an immediate shock: Importance of shock potency.

In a sample of 208 Holtzman-descended albino rats, we found evidence with 4 measures of conditioning (freezing, defecation, side crossing, and nose crossing) that a single 2-s, 1.0-mA immediate shock could condition fear to a context (Experiments 1, 2, and 4). When we reduced the shock intensity to 0.5 mA, we obtained a complete immediate-shock conditioning deficit according to all measures in Experiment 3 and to all but the defecation measure in Experiment 4. Results suggest two conclusions: (a) Differences in shock potency between laboratories may help explain discrepant findings about whether immediate shock supports contextual conditioning; (b) theories of contextual conditioning need a mechanism that permits that conditioning to result from immediate shock. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selective associations in one-day-old rats: Taste–toxicosis and texture–shock aversion learning.

Three experiments investigated cue-consequence specificity and long-delay learning in 187 1-day-old Sprague-Dawley rats and determined whether selective associations are accompanied by long-delay learning early in life. Ss learned aversions to a novel taste paired with Li-induced distress and to a tactile stimulus paired with brief electric shocks. However, aversions did not develop when taste was paired with shock or when the tactile stimulus was paired with Li treatment. The aversions occurred only when Li treatment immediately followed taste exposure and when shock was concurrent with exposure to the tactile stimulus. Findings indicate that selective associations in aversion learning are mediated by innate mechanisms that govern conditioning in the absence of extensive ontogenetic experience and show that selective associations are not sufficient for the occurrence of long-delay learning. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Passive-avoidance conditioning in inbred mice: Effects of shock intensity, age, and genotype.

Observed the performance of 8 groups (n = 336) of DBA/2J, 8 groups (n = 320) of C57BL/6J, and 4 groups (n = 160) of B6D2F1 mice in passive-avoidance conditioning under conditions of distributed practice. Ss' age and the footshock intensity were varied systematically. DBA/2J Ss performed best when they were 5-mo-old and the footshock level was at least 1 ma. C57BL/6J Ss performed very poorly under these conditions. The best performance by C57BL/6J Ss was observed at .1-ma footshock. The performance of B6D2F1 Ss was almost identical to that of the C57BL/6J parental type. Footshock intensity was the major determinant of the performance of DBA/2J Ss, while footshock intensity and age were major determinants of the performance of C57BL/6J and B6D2F1 mice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disruption of conditioned taste aversion in the rat by stimulation of amygdala: A conditioning effect, not amnesia.

Conducted 2 experiments with a total of 143 male Wistar rats to determine whether the disruption of conditioned taste aversion by amygdaloid brain stimulation (BST) during conditioning could be attributed to the stimulus properties of the BST. In Exp I, Ss receiving BST (a) while drinking saccharin, (b) during the onset of LiCl toxicosis, or (c) in the interval between taste exposure and toxicosis drank significantly more saccharin solution during a 48-hr retest than implanted or unoperated controls receiving similar taste–toxicosis pairings. In contrast, Ss receiving BST during both conditioning and retention trials developed a strong conditioned aversion. Exp II confirmed that BST formed a compound with the taste of the saccharin solution. A small but significant aversion was displayed by groups exposed to BST plus taste during conditioning and to either taste alone or BST alone during the retest. Again, the group presented with BST and taste prior to and following LiCl toxicosis displayed a strong conditioned aversion. Results suggest that disruption of conditioned taste aversion with amygdaloid BST represents a conditioning effect, not amnesia. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)