Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

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

Nathen J. Murawski, Arun Asok
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/069781
Nathen J. Murawski
1Center for Neuroscience, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95618
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Arun Asok
2Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10032.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

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 Context C, or no context on Day 1. Context A and B were identical except for the visual image displayed on the LCD monitors. 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 learning controls. Rats pre-exposed to Context B failed to show the CPFE, with freezing that did not differ significantly from any group. The results suggest that 1) visual information contributes to contextual fear learning in rats and that 2) visual components of the context can be parametrically controlled via LCD screens. Our approach offers a simple modification to contextual fear conditioning whereby the visual features of a context can be precisely controlled to better understand how rodents discriminate and generalize fear across environments.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-ND 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted August 16, 2016.
Download PDF
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Understanding the contributions of visual stimuli to contextual fear conditioning: a proof-of-concept study using LCD screens
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Understanding the contributions of visual stimuli to contextual fear conditioning: a proof-of-concept study using LCD screens
Nathen J. Murawski, Arun Asok
bioRxiv 069781; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/069781
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Understanding the contributions of visual stimuli to contextual fear conditioning: a proof-of-concept study using LCD screens
Nathen J. Murawski, Arun Asok
bioRxiv 069781; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/069781

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Animal Behavior and Cognition
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4395)
  • Biochemistry (9619)
  • Bioengineering (7111)
  • Bioinformatics (24915)
  • Biophysics (12642)
  • Cancer Biology (9979)
  • Cell Biology (14388)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (7968)
  • Ecology (12135)
  • Epidemiology (2067)
  • Evolutionary Biology (16010)
  • Genetics (10938)
  • Genomics (14764)
  • Immunology (9889)
  • Microbiology (23719)
  • Molecular Biology (9493)
  • Neuroscience (50965)
  • Paleontology (370)
  • Pathology (1544)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2688)
  • Physiology (4031)
  • Plant Biology (8685)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1512)
  • Synthetic Biology (2403)
  • Systems Biology (6446)
  • Zoology (1346)