Cerebellar stimulation as an unconditioned stimulus in classical conditioning.
Rabbits were implanted with chronic stimulating electrodes in white matter underlying lobule HVI of the cerebellar cortex. Stimulation elicited movements of the face or neck and, when paired with a tone conditioned stimulus (CS), produced learning comparable to that seen with peripheral unconditioned stimuli (USs). CS-alone trials produced extinction. Reinstatement of paired trials produced reacquisition with savings. Additional groups received either explicitly or randomly unpaired CS-US trials before paired conditioning. Low-frequency responding during these sessions indicated that the paired training results were associative and not due to pseudoconditioning or sensitization. Explicitly unpaired sessions retarded learning on subsequent paired trials compared with groups that received either randomly unpaired or no CS-US preexposure. These results are interpreted in terms of the role of the cerebellum and associated pathways in classical conditioning of motor responses.
Swain
R A
RA
Neurosciences Program, University of Southern California.
Shinkman
P G
PG
Nordholm
A F
AF
Thompson
R F
RF
D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002531:Cerebellum / Q000502:physiology*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways; D011689:Purkinje Cells; D011817:Rabbits