When pentobarbital is the conditioned stimulus and amphetamine is the unconditioned stimulus, conditioning depends on the type of conditioned response.
Injections of drugs into rats were used as conditioned stimuli (CSs) and as unconditioned stimuli (USs). With heart rate (HR) conditioning, the pentobarbital CS produces a higher HR than under control conditions. With avfail (aversion failure) conditioning, the pentobarbital CS loses much of its capacity to induce a conditioned taste aversion. HR conditioning was obtained with forward delays of up to 30 min and backward delays of up to 270 min, where the delays are defined by the interinjection interval. Avfail was obtained with forward delays of up to 270 min but not with backward delays. Neither HR conditioning nor avfail were context specific but could be demonstrated in a test apparatus after pairings that occurred in the home cage. This indicated that the external environment was not an important part of the effective stimulus complex. When HR conditioning was obtained, its latency and duration was not related to the delay between the CS and US injections or whether they were forward or backward.
Revusky
S
S
Memorial University, St. John's Newfoundland, Canada.
Reilly
S
S
D000818:Animals; D001143:Arousal / Q000187:drug effects*; D001245:Association Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects*; D003913:Dextroamphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D010424:Pentobarbital / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects; D012931:Social Environment; D013649:Taste / Q000187:drug effects*
D010424:Pentobarbital; D003913:Dextroamphetamine