Understanding the contributions of visual stimuli to contextual fear conditioning: A proof-of-concept study using LCD screens

NEUROSCIENCE LETTERS

卷:637

Article

Murawski, Nathen J.^1,4  Asok, Arun^2,3 

[1] Harvard Univ, Ctr Brain Sci, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA

[2] Columbia Univ, Dept Neurosci, New York, NY 10032 USA

[3] Howard Hughes Med Inst, New York, NY 10032 USA

[4] Harvard Univ, Fas Ctr Brain Sci, Northwest Lab Bldg,52 Oxford St, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA

关键词: Contextual fear conditioning;    CPFE;    Fear conditioning;    Visual features;    Visual elements;    Learning and memory;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.neulet.2016.11.046

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The precise contribution of visual information to contextual fear learning and discrimination has remained elusive. To better understand this contribution, we coupled the context pre-exposure facilitation effect (CPFE) fear conditioning paradigm with presentations of distinct visual scenes displayed on 4 LCD screens surrounding a conditioning chamber. Adult male Long-Evans rats received non-reinforced context pre-exposure on Day 1, an immediate 1.5 mA foot shock on Day 2, and a non-reinforced context test on Day 3. Rats were pre-exposed to either digital Context (dCtx) A, dCtx B, a distinct Ctx C, or no context on Day 1. Digital context A and B were identical except for the visual image displayed on the LCD screens. Immediate shock and retention testing occurred in dCtx A. Rats pre-exposed dCtx A showed the CPFE with significantly higher levels of freezing compared to controls. Rats pre-exposed to Context B failed to show the CPFE, with freezing that did not highly differ from controls. These results suggest that visual information contributes to contextual fear learning and that visual components of the context can be manipulated via LCD screens. Our approach offers a simple modification to contextual fear conditioning paradigms whereby the visual features of a context can be manipulated to better understand the factors that contribute to contextual fear discrimination and generalization. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free