title: An automatic recording system for the study of escape from fear in rats.
abstract: Escape from fear (EFF) is an active response to a conditioned stimulus (CS) previously paired with an unconditioned fearful stimulus (US), which typically leads to the termination of the CS. In this paradigm, animals acquire two distinct associations: S-S [CS-US] and R-O [response-outcome] through Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning, respectively. The present study describes a computer controlled automatic recording system that captures the development of EFF and allows the determination of the respective roles of S-S and R-O associations in this process. We validated this system by showing that only rats subjected to a simultaneous CS-US conditioning (i.e., CS and US occur together at the beginning of each trial) acquired EFF, not those subjected to an unpaired CS-US conditioning. Paired rats had a progressively increased number of EFF and significantly shorter escape latencies than unpaired rats across the 5-trial blocks on the test day. However, during the conditioning phase, the unpaired rats emitted more 22kHz ultrasonic vocalizations, a validated measure of conditioned reactive fear responses. Our results demonstrate that the acquisition of EFF is contingent upon pairing of the CS with the US, not simply the consequence of a high level of generalized fear. Because this commercially available system is capable of examining both conditioned active and reactive fear responses in a single setup, it could be used to determine the relative roles of S-S and R-O associations in EFF, the neurobiology of conditioned active fear response and neuropharmacology of psychotherapeutic drugs.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Southwest University), Ministry of Education, Institute of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, PR China; Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA. Electronic address: mli@unl.edu.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D004924:Escape Reaction / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
keywords: 22kHz USV; Automatic recording; Escape from fear; Instrumental; Shuttle boxes
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