Inhibitory Avoidance Training
This
behavioral task is conducted by first placing the subject in the brightly-illuminated
white compartment facing the sliding guillotine door. After the
subject turns in the opposite direction, the door is lowered into the
floor allowing free access to the darker compartment of the apparatus.
When the subject rotates again and faces the open door, a timer is started
and the latency to completely enter the dark compartment is recorded.
Upon entering the dark compartment, the sliding door is raised and a footshockis
administered (from 0.35 to 0.45 mA, for 0.5 or 1 second). Immediately
after the footshock training, the subject is removed from the apparatus
and administered a pharmacological treatment either systemically or directly
into a specific brain structure.
Memory for the footshock training is assessed by a retention test administered
from 24 to 96 hours later. In this test, the subjects are placed in the
illuminated compartment as before, the door is lowered and the latency
to enter the dark compartment where footshock was received earlier (maximum
600 s) is recorded and used as the index of retention.
Cedric
Williams
The University of Virginia
Psychology Department