The effect of external stimulus change on ethanol-produced dissociation.
Rats which were subjected to aversive Pavlovian conditioning while in a state of ethanol-produced intoxication showed significantly less conditioned suppression of water drinking in the non-drugged state only if the external stimulus situation was also changed between conditioning and testing. This interaction between internal and external stimulus change supports a generalization-decrement explanation of drug-produced dissociation of memory. The number of conditioning trials was also manipulated, but this variable had no significant effect on the conditioned responses. In a second experiment, ethanol injections were given again shortly before testing. This treatment caused a normal degree of conditioned drinking suppression in rats conditioned in the ethanol state, indicating that state-dependent learning was responsible for the conditioned response deficit seen in the first experiment. The dissociation was asymmetrical since rats injected with ethanol before testing only showed a high degree of conditioned suppression.
D000818:Animals; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000187:drug effects; D004213:Dissociative Disorders; D004327:Drinking Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D004562:Electrocardiography; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005793:Generalization, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats
D000431:Ethanol