Effects of hippocampal stimulation on retention and extinction of one way active avoidance response in cats.
We found previously that hippocampal stimulation (HiSt) at 20 cps, 100 mikroA, applied jointly with a tone (500 Hz) CS in the course of retention test, improved the performance and retarded the extinction of one way active avoidance response (AAR) in cats. During this test failures to perform the AAR were not punished in all but two trials it the beginning of each session. The first experiment of the present studies demonstrated that - (i) the AAR facilitating the effect of HiSt might be prevented by m all electrolytic lesions made around the tips of the stimulating electrodes, (ii) large lesions of the hippocampus exerted little effect on the AAR acquisition, but the response was extinguished faster during the retention test. In the second experiment two response prevention trials (non-reinforced presentations of the CS with no possibility to make the AAR) were run at the beginning of each session after the end of training. In these conditions the HiSt resulted in a faster extinction of the AAR as compared with implanted unstimulated animals. Large lesions of the hippocampus had no effect on the extinction rate. We conclude that the facilitation of retrieval from memory may be responsible for the effects of HiSt on conditioned behavior.
D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D002415:Cats; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D005108:Extinction, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*