title: Pavlovian aversive context conditioning using carbon dioxide as the unconditional stimulus.
abstract: Four experiments were conducted to examine the utility of carbon dioxide (CO2) as an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US) in a Pavlovian context conditioning paradigm. Experiment 1 demonstrated that rats exposed to CO2 in a distinctive context showed elevated levels of freezing relative to controls. Experiment 2 replicated this basic effect with a modified conditioning procedure and additionally demonstrated conditioned analgesia. Experiment 3 demonstrated a positive monotonic relationship between US duration and resistance to extinction of freezing behavior as well as conditioned analgesia. Experiment 4 demonstrated extinction and an extinction-related phenomenon, renewal. These studies clearly demonstrate the utility of CO2 as a Pavlovian US.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The University at Albany, State University of New York 12222, USA.
authors.forename: D L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Mongeluzi
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Rosellini
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Caldarone
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Stock
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Abrahamsen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D002248:Carbon Monoxide; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D007103:Immobilization; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D017288:Pain Threshold; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012931:Social Environment
chemical_list: D002248:Carbon Monoxide