Cardiovascular changes prior to exercise in appetitive and avoidance conditioning in rats.
Blood pressure and heart rate changes were monitored in rats immediately before exercise--running up a set of stairs 54 cm long. The rats were divided into two groups: (1) avoidance, (2) food intake. For both groups the run was preceded by an 80 dB buzzer lasting 5-15 sec. When the criterion for the conditioned response to the buzzer was achieved all avoidance rats showed significant increases of heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure before exercise, during the buzzer. Of the food intake group all but one showed no significant cardiovascular changes before exercise, in response to the sound. It is concluded that exercise itself in these experiments could not have contributed significantly to the anticipatory cardiovascular changes, unless it is associated with an aversive event.
D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002320:Cardiovascular Physiological Phenomena; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D004285:Dogs; D005502:Food; D006339:Heart Rate; D008297:Male; D005082:Physical Exertion; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains