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Journal ArticleDOI

Probability of shock in the presence and absence of CS in fear conditioning.

01 Aug 1968-Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology (J Comp Physiol Psychol)-Vol. 66, Iss: 1, pp 1-5
TL;DR: 2 experiments indicate that CS-US contingency is an important determinant of fear conditioning and that presentation of US in the absence of CS interferes with fear conditioning.
Abstract: 2 experiments indicate that CS-US contingency is an important determinant of fear conditioning and that presentation of US in the absence of CS interferes with fear conditioning. In Experiment 1, equal probability of a shock US in the presence and absence of a tone CS produced no CER suppression to CS; the same probability of US given only during CS produced substantial conditioning. In Experiment 2, which explored 4 different probabilities of US in the presence and absence of CS, amount of conditioning was higher the greater the probability of US during CS and was lower the greater the probability of US in the absence of CS; when the 2 probabilities were equal, no conditioning resulted. Two conceptions of Pavlovian conditioning have been distinguished by Rescorla (1967). The first, and more traditional, notion emphasizes the role of the number of pairings of CS and US in the formation of a CR. The second notion suggests that it is the contingency between CS and US which is important. The notion of contingency differs from that of pairing in that it includes not only what events are paired but also what events are not paired. As used here, contingency refers to the relative probability of occurrence of US in the presence of CS as contrasted with its probability in the absence of CS. The contingency notion suggests that, in fact, conditioning only occurs when these probabilities differ; when the probability of US is higher during CS than at other times, excitatory conditioning occurs; when the probability is lower, inhibitory conditioning results. Notice that the probability of a US can be the same in the absence and presence of CS and yet there can be a fair number of CS-US pairings. It is this that makes it possible to assess the relative importance of pairing and contingency in the development of a CR. Several experiments have pointed to the usefulness of the contingency notion. Rescorla (1966) reported a Pavlovian 1This research was supported by Grants MH13415-01 from the National Institute of Mental Health and GB-6493 from the National Science Foundation, as well as by funds from Yale University.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI

2 citations

01 Aug 2013
TL;DR: This work evaluated how the mesolimbic dopamine system encodes changes in reward value as animals learn to shift behavior from lower value to higher value options and showed decreased responding on the larger delayed lever as the delays to reward increased.
Abstract: To promote survival, organisms must evaluate the costs and benefits of different courses of action. However an organism’s environment is not static. Instead, the availability of resources and the cues that signal these resources are always changing, such that organisms must update cue-outcome associations and adjust behaviors accordingly. Dopamine transmission within the nucleus accumbens (NAc) has been implicated in cueoutcome learning and value-based decision making. Further, this circuitry is necessary for adapting behaviors when the value of future outcomes change. Here, we evaluated how the mesolimbic dopamine system encodes changes in reward value as animals learn to shift behavior from lower value to higher value options. We monitored dopamine concentration in the NAc core on a rapid time scale using fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) during a delay discounting task. Rats (n=7 with 8 recording locations) were trained to associate distinct visual cues with responses that predicted smaller immediate or larger delayed rewards. Importantly, the delay to large reward increased during the session, thus devaluing the large reward. Animals were able to successfully discriminate between the cues and adjust their behavior accordingly; the rats showed decreased responding on the larger delayed lever as the delays to reward increased. Reward predictive cues evoked increases in phasic dopamine concentrations that scaled with the value of the reward, such that there was higher dopamine

2 citations


Cites background from "Probability of shock in the presenc..."

  • ...…predictive cues with appropriate outcomes including the identity and value of the US, the identity of the predictive CS, the contingency between the CS and US, and the temporal relationship between the CS and US, among other factors (Rescorla, 1968, 1969; Rescorla, 1988b; Rescorla, 1988a)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The maintenance of observing can be reconciled with the traditional theory that the acquisition of reinforcing properties proceeds according to the same rules as those for Pavlovian conditioning if it is recognized that the subject is selective in what it observes and procures a greater than proportionate exposure to the stimulus associated with the more desirable outcome.
Abstract: When experimenters require their subjects to perform some readily recorded response to gain access to discriminative stimuli but do not permit this behavior to alter the schedule of reinforcement, the response is classified, by analogy, as an \"observing\" response. Observing responses have been used not only to analyze discrimination learning but also to substantiate the concept of conditioned reinforcement and to measure the reinforcing effect of stimuli serving other behavioral functions. A controversy, however, centers around the puzzling question of how observing can be sustained when the resulting stimuli are not associated with any increase in the frequency of primary reinforcement. Two possible answers have been advanced: (a) that differential preparatory responses to these stimuli as conditional stimuli make both the receipt and the nonreceipt of unconditional stimuli more reinforcing; and (b) that information concerning biologically significant events is inherently reinforcing. It appears, however, that the stimulus associated with the less desirable outcome is not reinforcing. The maintenance of observing can be reconciled with the traditional theory that the acquisition of reinforcing properties proceeds according to the same rules as those for Pavlovian conditioning if it is recognized that the subject is selective in what it observes and procures a greater than proportionate exposure to the stimulus associated with the more desirable outcome. As a result of this selection, the overall frequency of primary reinforcement increases in the presence of the observed stimuli and declines in the presence of the nondifferential stimuli that prevail when the subject is not observing.

2 citations

Dissertation
17 Oct 2012
TL;DR: The role of the Hippocampe dans le rappel de l'information contextuelle nous est apparu maintenu au cours du temps.
Abstract: Chez le rongeur, lorsque l’expression d’une peur conditionnee au contexte s’appuie sur un souvenir ancien, des reponses de peur importantes sont souvent rapportees lors de l’exposition a un contexte different de celui dans lequel les chocs electriques ont ete administres. Cette generalisation des reponses de peur serait liee a une reorganisation concomitante des reseaux sous-tendant l’expression de la peur, en particulier a un « desengagement » de l’hippocampe dans le rappel des informations contextuelles. Cependant, d’autres etudes suggerent que des modifications dans les traitements amenant a l’expression de comportements defensifs, lies a la peur ou l’anxiete, puissent egalement se mettre en place avec le temps suite a un conditionnement. Ainsi, une incubation des reponses de peur, correspondant a une augmentation globale des niveaux de peur avec le temps, pourrait contribuer a la generalisation de ces reponses. Nos travaux, par une approche d’imagerie de genes precoces immediats ainsi que d’evaluation comportementale, ont vise a demeler les mecanismes impliques dans la generalisation de la peur conditionnee au contexte accompagnant sa consolidation a long terme. Nos resultats suggerent que la generalisation soit moins liee a une alteration du souvenir du contexte qu’a des modifications portant sur le traitement et / ou l’expression des emotions. La nature de ces dernieres modifications semble dependre du statut predictif initial du contexte (en avant- ou en arriere-plan). De maniere coherente avec l’observation d’une absence de degradation de la trace du contexte avec le temps, le role de l’hippocampe dans le rappel de l’information contextuelle nous est apparu maintenu au cours du temps. Les reorganisations observees dans les reseaux sous-tendant l’expression des reponses de peur concerneraient plutot des modifications liees au traitement associatif et / ou emotionnel des informations contextuelles. Dans leur ensemble, nos resultats soulevent la necessaire prise en compte du haut degre de complexite des traitements amenant a l’expression d’une peur conditionnee, pour qui souhaite evaluer la qualite de la representation contextuelle sur la base de reponses de peur discriminantes.

2 citations


Cites background from "Probability of shock in the presenc..."

  • ...…pour eux, l’aspect déterminant ne serait non pas le nombre absolu d’associations auxquelles est exposé l’animal, mais plutôt la probabilité qu’un SI soit précédé d’un SC : cette probabilité renvoie à la notion de contingence (Rescorla, 1968 ; Rescorla & Wagner, 1972 ; Wagner & Rescorla, 1972)....

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  • ...Plus particulièrement, dans une condition dite de contingence dégradée, où tous les SI ne sont pas associés au SC (voire aucun), on observe une augmentation de la réponse conditionnée au contexte au détriment de celle à un stimulus phasique (Rescorla, 1968)....

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  • ...En effet, pour eux, l’aspect déterminant ne serait non pas le nombre absolu d’associations auxquelles est exposé l’animal, mais plutôt la probabilité qu’un SI soit précédé d’un SC : cette probabilité renvoie à la notion de contingence (Rescorla, 1968 ; Rescorla & Wagner, 1972 ; Wagner & Rescorla, 1972)....

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Book ChapterDOI
07 Feb 2017
TL;DR: In this chapter, some key behavioral tests of relevance to OCD will be outlined and if the neural substrates underlying these behaviors are elucidated, this may represent significant progress in understanding the biological underpinnings of OCD.
Abstract: Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a pervasive, debilitating neuropsychiatric disorder. Despite over half a century of effort, OCD has remained remarkably resistant to treatment, partly owing to a lack of understanding of the underlying biology. Recently, there has been a growing consensus that in order to understand the basis of neuropsychiatric disorders such as OCD, we should focus on transdiagnostic, observable, measurable behavioral or neural elements, endophenotypes. Zebrafish have the well-characterized neural development and available cutting-edge genetic tools that make them the ideal species for studying psychiatric disorders. In addition, a number of endophenotypes linked to OCD have been observed, and can be objectively measured, in zebrafish. In this chapter, some key behavioral tests of relevance to OCD will be outlined. If the neural substrates underlying these behaviors are elucidated, this may represent significant progress in understanding the biological underpinnings of OCD. This will ultimately lead to increased specificity for drug discovery, as well as providing targets for personalized treatments for one of the most common neuropsychiatric disorders.

2 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This "truly random" control procedure leads to a new conception of Pavlovian conditioning postulating that the contingency between CS and US, rather than the pairing of CS andUS, is the important event in conditioning.
Abstract: The traditional control procedures for Pavlovian conditioning are examined and each is found wanting. Some procedures introduce nonassociative factors not present in the experimental procedure while others transform the excitatory, experimental CS-US contingency into an inhibitory contingency. An alternative control procedure is suggested in which there is no contingency whatsoever between CS and US. This \"truly random\" control procedure leads to a new conception of Pavlovian conditioning postulating that the contingency between CS and US, rather than the pairing of CS and US, is the important event in conditioning. The fruitfulness of this new conception of Pavlovian conditioning is illustrated by 2 experimental results.

1,328 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, three groups of dogs were trained with different kinds of Pavlovian fear conditioning for three different types of dogs: randomly and independently; for a second group, CSs predicted the occurrence of USs; and for a third group, S predicted the absence of the USs.
Abstract: Three groups of dogs were Sidman avoidance trained They then received different kinds of Pavlovian fear conditioning For one group CSs and USs occurred randomly and independently; for a second group, CSs predicted the occurrence of USs; for a third group, CSs predicted the absence of the USs The CSs were subsequently presented while S performed the avoidance response CSs which had predicted the occurrence or the absence of USs produced, respectively, increases and decreases in avoidance rate For the group with random CSs and USs in conditioning, the CS had no effect upon avoidance

160 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Rats in an experimental group were given 30 trials of differential CER and then the CS+ and CS− were combined during CER extinction, resulting in less suppression for the experimental group than shown by a control group, interpreted as a demonstration of the active inhibitory properties of CS−.
Abstract: Rats in an experimental group were given 30 trials of differential CER and then the CS+ and CS− were combined during CER extinction. The combination resulted in less suppression for the experimental group than shown by a control group which had a CS+ and a formerly random stimulus combined during extinction. This was interpreted as a demonstration of the active inhibitory properties of CS−.

44 citations


"Probability of shock in the presenc..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Although such an account is plausible for the present data, it fails to explain the active inhibition of fear found by Rescorla and LoLordo (1965), Rescorla (1966), and Hammond (1967)....

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