Evidence for spinal conditioning in intact rats.
Prior work suggests that spinal systems are sensitive to the stimulus relationships that underlie Pavlovian conditioning. We studied this phenomenon in Sprague-Dawley rats by pairing a vibrotactile conditioned stimulus (CS) with a tailshock unconditioned stimulus (US). Experiment 1 showed that spinal rats exhibit differential conditioning, having longer tail-flick latencies on the tail-flick test during a CS that was paired with the US (conditioned antinociception). Experiment 2 showed that rats trained with the cord intact still exhibit differential conditioning after the cord is cut. This suggests that spinal learning contributes to behavioral plasticity in intact subjects.
Joynes
R L
RL
Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station 77843, USA. RLJ050A@ACS.TAMU.EDU
Illich
P A
PA
Grau
J W
JW
D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D008297:Male; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013238:Stereotaxic Techniques; D014110:Touch; D014732:Vibration