TY - JOUR
T1 - Genetically-based behavioral traits influence the effects of Shuttle Box avoidance overtraining and extinction upon intertrial responding: A study with the Roman rat strains
AU - Aguilar, Raúl
AU - Gil, Luis
AU - Fernández-Teruel, Alberto
AU - Tobeña, Adolf
PY - 2004/4/30
Y1 - 2004/4/30
N2 - In the present study, we evaluated the effects of extended exposure procedures to contextual fear cues as a way of reducing intertrial responses (ITRs), a characteristic stereotyped behavior displayed in 2-way Shuttle Box avoidance overtraining. We used rat strains psychogenetically selected for efficient (Roman high-avoidance; RHA) versus poor 2-way Shuttle Box performance (Roman low-avoidance; RLA), the former being fearless/impulsive relative to the latter. Additionally, Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were compared with RHAs to have a measure of the ITRs exhibited by another, non-selected group of animals. The main findings were that after extended exposure RHAs diminished their ITRs without affecting avoidance performance, although they emitted a pattern of ITRs somewhat excessive as compared with SDs. We concluded that three factors could influence the expression of ITRs in RHA rats: (1) the repetitive and stereotyped responding induced by 2-way Shuttle Box overtraining; (2) contextual fear conditioning; and (3) a genetic background associated with high impulsiveness. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
AB - In the present study, we evaluated the effects of extended exposure procedures to contextual fear cues as a way of reducing intertrial responses (ITRs), a characteristic stereotyped behavior displayed in 2-way Shuttle Box avoidance overtraining. We used rat strains psychogenetically selected for efficient (Roman high-avoidance; RHA) versus poor 2-way Shuttle Box performance (Roman low-avoidance; RLA), the former being fearless/impulsive relative to the latter. Additionally, Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were compared with RHAs to have a measure of the ITRs exhibited by another, non-selected group of animals. The main findings were that after extended exposure RHAs diminished their ITRs without affecting avoidance performance, although they emitted a pattern of ITRs somewhat excessive as compared with SDs. We concluded that three factors could influence the expression of ITRs in RHA rats: (1) the repetitive and stereotyped responding induced by 2-way Shuttle Box overtraining; (2) contextual fear conditioning; and (3) a genetic background associated with high impulsiveness. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
KW - 2-way Shuttle Box
KW - Contextual extinction
KW - Fearlessness
KW - Impulsiveness
KW - Intertrial responding
KW - Psychogenetics
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2004.01.002
DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2004.01.002
M3 - Article
VL - 66
SP - 63
EP - 72
JO - Behavioural Processes
JF - Behavioural Processes
SN - 0376-6357
ER -