RT Journal Article
T1 Contextual fear conditioning differs for infant, adolescent, and adult rats
A1 Esmorís Arranz, Francisco José
A1 Méndez Paz, Cástor
A1 Spear, Norman E.
K1 Contextual fear conditioning
K1 Fear extinction
K1 Learning
K1 Olfactory context
K1 Hippocampus
K1 Ontogeny
K1 Sex differences
AB Contextual fear conditioning was tested in infant, adolescent, and adult rats in terms of Pavlovian-conditioned suppression. When a discrete auditory-conditioned stimulus (CS) was paired with footshock (unconditioned stimulus, US) within the largely olfactory context, infants and adolescents conditioned to the context with substantial effectiveness, but adult rats did not. When unpaired presentations of the CS and US occurred within the context, contextual fear conditioning was strong for adults, weak for infants, but about as strong for adolescents as when pairings of CS and US occurred in the context. Nonreinforced presentations of either the CS or context markedly reduced contextual fear conditioning in infants, but, in adolescents, CS extinction had no effect on contextual fear conditioning, although context extinction significantly reduced it. Neither CS extinction nor context extinction affected responding to the CS–context compound in infants, suggesting striking discrimination between the compound and its components. Female adolescents showed the same lack of effect of component extinction on response to the compound as infants, but CS extinction reduced responding to the compound in adolescent males, a sex difference seen also in adults. Theoretical implications are discussed for the development of perceptual-cognitive processing and hippocampus role.
PB Elsevier
SN 0376-6357
YR 2008
FD 2008-07
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10347/34518
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10347/34518
LA eng
NO Esmorís-Arranz, F. J., Méndez, C., & Spear, N. E. (2008). Contextual fear conditioning differs for infant, adolescent, and adult rats.  Behavioural Processes, 78 (3), 340-250
NO National Institute of Mental Health Grant (5R37 MH35219) (USA)
DS Minerva
RD 23 abr 2026