title: Context-dependent extinction of an appetitive operant conditioned response in infant rats.
abstract: The present study evaluated context-dependent learning under an operant conditioning procedure in infant rats. Preweanling rats were trained in context A during postnatal days (PDs) 16 and 17 to learn an appetitive operant conditioning task, employing milk chocolate as appetitive reinforcer. On PD18 the operant response was extinguished in context A, or in an alternative context B. The change from context A to B between acquisition and extinction did not affect the number of responses during extinction, but slightly modified the shape of the extinction curve. On PD19, a renewal test conducted in context A clearly showed ABA-renewal of the extinguished operant response. These results add to the body of evidence indicating that infants are able to acquire and retain contextual information, and support the notion that extinction during this ontogenetic period involves new learning.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigación Médica M. y M. Ferreyra, INIMEC-CONICET-UNC, Córdoba, Argentina.|Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Enfermera Gordillo esq. Enrique Barros, Ciudad Universitaria., Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: Estefanía
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Orellana Barrera
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigación Médica M. y M. Ferreyra, INIMEC-CONICET-UNC, Córdoba, Argentina.|Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Enfermera Gordillo esq. Enrique Barros, Ciudad Universitaria., Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Arias
authors.affiliation: Centro de Investigación Mente, Cerebro y Comportamiento, (CIMCYC) Universidad de Granada, Granada, España.
authors.forename: Felisa
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: González
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Investigación Médica M. y M. Ferreyra, INIMEC-CONICET-UNC, Córdoba, Argentina.|Facultad de Psicología, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Enfermera Gordillo esq. Enrique Barros, Ciudad Universitaria., Córdoba, Argentina.
authors.forename: Paula
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4351-9430
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Abate
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000502:physiology*; D005108:Extinction, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
keywords: context; extinction; infant rat; operant conditioning; renewal effect