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The relationship of visual extinction to luminance-contrast imbalances between left and right hemifield stimuli.

Visual extinction was investigated in six right brain-damaged patients with left visual neglect, using a psychophysical paradigm. Orientation discrimination thresholds were determined for both left and right hemifield gratings presented either in isolation or simultaneously with a contralateral distractor grating. To minimize the influence of possible sensory-perceptual deficits, the luminances of both target and distractor gratings were chosen to be 20 times the luminances necessary to discriminate between horizontal and vertical grating orientations. When the visibility of target and distractor gratings was subjectively equalized in this way, neglect patients still showed a significant extinction effect, i.e. a significant interference of the right hemifield distractor with left hemifield orientation sensitivity. By manipulating the luminances of left and right hemifield gratings during bilateral simultaneous stimulus presentation, we demonstrated the role of luminance-contrast imbalances in eliciting visual extinction. Both decreasing the right distractor luminance and increasing the left target stimulus luminance resulted in an elimination of the observed extinction effects. These results show that not the absolute salience of one of two simultaneously presented stimuli, but the relative salience of both stimuli, is the crucial factor for inducing extinction.

Attention↗

Extinction-induced immobility in the water maze and its neurochemical concomitants in aged and adult rats: a possible model for depression?

Extinction of escape behavior in the water maze due to the removal of the platform, was hypothesized to induce a negative state, including the development of immobility, which is held to reflect a state of "despair" when measured in the forced swimming test. 27 aged and 8 adult animals (26 and 3 months old Wistar rats, respectively) were tested in the water maze during nine days with a platform hidden, followed by 7 days of extinction trials with the platform absent. As expected, both age groups developed immobility over the extinction trials, with the aged showing more than the adults. To examine whether the age difference in immobility was related to performance differences during acquisition, the aged were subdivided into superior, intermediate and inferior learners (n = 9 per group) on the basis of overall times to platform during acquisition, and compared with each other and the adults. Results showed that the aged inferior learners displayed the highest levels of immobility among the aged. Immobility scores were then correlated with post-mortem neurotransmitter contents in the hippocampus and ventral striatum. In the ventral striatum, levels of immobility were correlated with levels of acetylcholine, dopamine and the metabolite dihydroxyphenylacetic acid in the aged, and with norepinephrine in the adults. The data support the hypothesis that multiple extinction trials in the water maze result in immobility that may indicate "behavioral despair," and that striatal neurotransmitter systems correlate with the degree of its expression. The concept of extinction-induced despair is held to provide the promise of a conceptual and empirical model of human depression that is the consequence of loss of reinforcers.

Aging↗

Relationship between short- and long-term memory and short- and long-term extinction.

Both the acquisition and the extinction of memories leave short- and long-term mnemonic traces. Here, we show that in male Wistar rats, the short-term memory for a step-down inhibitory avoidance task (IA) is resistant to extinction, and that its expression does not influence retrieval or extinction of long-term memory. It has been known for some time that short- and long-term inhibitory avoidance memory involve separate and parallel processes. Here we show that, instead, short-term extinction of IA long-term memory is the first step towards its long-term extinction, and that this link requires functional NMDA receptors and protein synthesis in the CA1 region of the dorsal hippocampus at the time of the first CS-no US presentation.

Animals↗

The entorhinal cortex plays a role in extinction.

In this study, we analyzed the participation of the entorhinal cortex in extinction of a learned aversive response. Rats with infusion cannulae aimed to the entorhinal cortex were trained in a one-trial step-down inhibitory avoidance task (IA) and submitted to four consecutive daily test sessions without the footshock, a procedure that induced extinction of the conditioned response in control animals. When infused into the entorhinal cortex immediately after the first extinction session at doses able to block consolidation of IA memory, the NMDA receptor antagonist, AP5 (25 nmol/side), the inhibitor of protein synthesis anisomycin (300 nmol/side) and the inhibitor of CaMKII, KN-93 (10 nmol/side), but not the MEK1/2 inhibitor PD-98059 (5 nmol/side) hindered extinction of the IA response. The same results were obtained when the interval between the first and second test session was 48 instead of 24h. The data indicate that normal functionality of the NMDA receptors, together with CaMKII activity and protein synthesis are necessary in the entorhinal cortex at the time of the first test session to generate extinction. Our results also suggest that the ERK1/2 pathway does not play a role in this process.

Amygdala↗

Amygdala upregulation of NCAM polysialylation induced by auditory fear conditioning is not required for memory formation, but plays a role in fear extinction.

There is much interest to understand the mechanisms leading to the establishment, maintenance, and extinction of fear memories. The amygdala has been critically involved in the processing of fear memories and a number of molecular changes have been implicated in this brain region in relation to fear learning. Although neural cell adhesion molecules (NCAMs) have been hypothesized to play a role, information available about their contribution to fear memories is scarce. We investigate here whether polysialylated NCAM (PSA-NCAM) contributes to auditory fear conditioning in the amygdala. First, PSA-NCAM expression was evaluated in different amygdala nuclei after auditory fear conditioning at two different shock intensities. Results showed that PSA-NCAM expression was increased 24 h post-training only in animals subjected to the highest shock intensity (1mA). Second, PSA-NCAM was cleaved in the basolateral amygdaloid complex through micro-infusions of the enzyme endoneuraminidase N, and the consequences of such treatment were investigated on the acquisition, consolidation, remote memory expression, and extinction of conditioned fear memories. Intra-amygdaloid cleavage of PSA-NCAM did not affect acquisition, consolidation or expression of remote fear memories. However, intra-amygdaloid PSA-NCAM cleavage enhanced fear extinction processes. These results suggest that upregulation of PSA-NCAM is a correlate of fear conditioning that is not necessary for the establishment of fear memory in the amygdala, but participates in mechanisms precluding fear extinction. These findings point out PSA-NCAM as a potential target for the treatment of psychopathologies that involve impairment in fear extinction.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Effects of amphetamine, dexfenfluramine, and diazepam on responding during extinction in nonhuman primates.

The effects of pharmacological manipulations on responding under extinction conditions were determined in baboons using a schedule of reinforcement that modeled food acquisition and food consumption. Responding during the initial acquisition component was reinforced by stimuli paired with food, while responding during the latter consumption component was reinforced with food. Certain sessions began with a 7-h extinction phase, where responding in both components produced only the paired stimuli. Dexfenfluramine (DFEN) decreased responding during extinction. Diazepam (DZP) increased responding during extinction. Low doses of amphetamine (AMPH) increased responding during extinction. Thus, DZP and AMPH increased and DFEN decreased the conditioned reinforcing effects of stimuli paired with food.

Animals↗

Context, ambiguity, and unlearning: sources of relapse after behavioral extinction.

There is now ample evidence that extinction, the loss of learned performance that occurs when a Pavlovian signal or an instrumental action is repeatedly presented without its reinforcer, does not reflect a destruction of the original learning. This article summarizes the evidence and extends and updates earlier reviews. The main alternative to "unlearning" is the idea that extinction (as well as other retroactive interference processes, including counterconditioning) involves new learning that is stored along with the old. One consequence is that the Pavlovian signal or instrumental action has two available "meanings" and thus has the properties of an ambiguous word: its current meaning (and the resulting behavioral output) depends on what the current context retrieves. Contexts can be provided by a variety of background stimuli, including the physical environment, internal drug state, and time. The second thing learned (e.g., extinction, counterconditioning) seems especially dependent on the context for retrieval. A variety of evidence is consistent with this analysis, which highlights several important sources of relapse after extinction. The article concludes with several issues for future research, among them the question of how we can optimize extinction and other putative "unlearning" treatments so as to prevent the various forms of relapse discussed here.

Anxiety Disorders↗

Nucleus accumbens cell firing during maintenance, extinction, and reinstatement of cocaine self-administration behavior in rats.

Electrophysiological recording procedures were used to examine nucleus accumbens (Acb) cell firing in rats (N=13) during cocaine self-administration sessions consisting of three phases. In phase one (maintenance), each lever press resulted in an intravenous cocaine infusion (0.33 mg, 6 s) paired with a tone-houselight stimulus (20 s). Of 144 Acb cells recorded during maintenance, 39 neurons (27%) exhibited phasic firing relative to the cocaine-reinforced response [4-8]. Briefly, Acb neurons showed increases in firing rate within seconds preceding the reinforced response and/or changes (increases or decreases) in activity within seconds following response completion. In phase two (extinction), saline was substituted for cocaine in the task. Results indicated that cells displaying exclusively anticipatory discharges during maintenance exhibited similar phasic activity during extinction. However, neurons that displayed post-response activity during the maintenance phase typically showed significant attenuation of phasic firing rates during extinction. After 30 min of no responding, animals were 'primed' with an intravenous infusion of cocaine, and self-administration was reestablished during phase three (reinstatement). Results showed that pre-response discharge patterns remained relatively intact while post-response cells typically exhibited a partial recovery of phasic activity. Similar findings were observed during other extinction experiments in which the stimulus only was removed (CS extinction). These findings support the notion that specific factors operating within the self-administration context differentially control pre- versus post-response discharge patterns of Acb neurons.

Action Potentials↗

Adrenalectomy eliminates the extinction spike in autoshaping with rats.

Experiment 1, using rats, investigated the effect of adrenalectomy (ADX) on the invigoration of lever-contact performance that occurs in the autoshaping situation after a shift from acquisition to extinction (called the extinction spike). Groups of rats with ADX or sham operations were trained under spaced and massed conditions [average intertrial intervals (ITI) of either 15 or 90 s] for 10 sessions and then shifted to extinction. ADX did not affect acquisition training but it eliminated the extinction spike. Plasma corticosterone levels during acquisition were shown in Experiment 2 to be similar in rats trained under spaced or massed conditions. Adrenal participation in the emotional arousal induced by conditions of surprising nonreward (e.g., extinction) is discussed.

Adrenalectomy↗

Dose- and time-dependent scopolamine-induced recovery of an inhibitory avoidance response after its extinction in rats.

The present investigation was aimed at elucidating the dose and time dependency of scopolamine-induced recovery of inhibitory avoidance after its extinction. Two experiments were conducted: in the first, we analyzed the effects of four doses (1, 2, 4, and 8 mg/kg) of the musacrinic receptor antagonist scopolamine, on the expression of this conditioned response once it had been extinguished. Independent groups of rats were trained in a one-trial, step-through inhibitory avoidance task and submitted to daily retention (extinction) tests. After extinction had occurred, animals were injected intraperitoneally 10 min before retention testing, either with saline or scopolamine. Results show that scopolamine produced a dose-dependent recovery of the avoidance response. The second experiment was carried out in the same animals, which were now tested for retention of inhibitory avoidance at 1, 2, 3, 6, and 9 months after completion of the first experiment. All rats received counterbalanced injections of saline or scopolamine 10 min before testing at each time interval. Reliable recovery of the avoidance response was observed at the 1-month interval with a clear dose dependency while, after the second month, only the groups treated with the two higher doses continued responding. The results indicate that recovery of the extinguished response produced by muscarinic blockade follows dose- and time-dependent curves, and can be achieved long after a single training session. These data suggest that the inhibitory avoidance memory trace is retained in the brain after behavioural extinction of this response, thus supporting the view of extinction as new learning that affects the retrieval of the original memory, but does not modify its storage.

Animals↗

The partial reinforcement extinction effect in humans: effects of schizophrenia, schizotypy and low doses of amphetamine.

The partial reinforcement extinction effect (PREE) was studied in human subjects. It has been suggested that the PREE depends on neural mechanisms critical to the cognitive dysfunction which underlines acute schizophrenia. We therefore predicted that the PREE should be reduced, through decreased resistance to extinction in the partial reinforcement (PR) condition, in various types of individual: (a) healthy volunteers given low doses of oral amphetamine; (b) those in the acute (but not chronic) phase of a schizophrenic illness and; (c) healthy volunteers with high scores on personality measures of schizotypy. Despite obtaining robust demonstrations of PREE in all experiments, none of these predictions were confirmed. A single, low dose, of amphetamine had no effect on either continuous reinforcement (CR) or partial reinforcement (PR). Acute and chronic schizophrenic patients showed a reduced PREE compared to controls. However this was due to increased resistance to extinction in the CR groups. Finally, high schizotypy scores were associated with greater PREE, attributable to both decreased extinction in the CR condition and increased extinction in the PR condition. The results of these experiments on human PREE provide no support that PREE is a valid paradigm with which to explore the cognitive dysfunction underlying schizophrenia.

Acute Disease↗

The magnitude and the extinction duration of the cocaine-induced conditioned locomotion-activated response are related to the number of cocaine injections paired with the testing context in C57BL/6J mice.

Behavioural activation repeatedly induced by a stimulant in rodents can persist in the absence of the drug if the animals are tested in the context where the drug was previously given, a phenomenon often explained in terms of Pavlovian conditioning. The aim of this study was to verify whether the amplitude of the putative CR (the drug-like activity) increases with the number of the US-CS associations (the number of drug-context pairings), one of the most representative rules of Pavlovian conditioning. The effect of the number of trials on the speed of extinction was also considered. C57BL/6J mice received 3, 6 or 12 once-daily injections of either saline or 12 mg/kg (-)-cocaine hydrochloride (s.c.) in the same test context, a photocell activity-box in which they were tested for 60 min after every injection. Other groups received the same treatments outside of the test context (being placed in a novel cage tub after each injection). Twenty-four hours after the last treatment session, all mice were challenged with saline in the test context (test for conditioned activity), extinction sessions taking place on the three subsequent days. Sensitisation to the locomotor-activating effect of cocaine developed only amongst the animals injected 6 or 12 times, the magnitude of the last sensitised response being comparable for these two injections regimen. On saline challenge, only the animals that had received 6 or 12 cocaine injections showed significant conditioned activity (CR), with the greatest response occurring following 12 injections. The 6-trial group reached the level of non-significance after fewer extinction sessions than the 12-trial group; however, the rates of extinction did not differ (comparable regression coefficients and quasi-parallel curves). These results suggest that the amplitude of the CR (cocaine-like stimulation after saline), and perhaps less convincingly the duration of extinction, are functions of the number of the US-CS (cocaine-context) pairings, supporting the Pavlovian nature of post-sensitisation placebo drug-like effects.

Analysis of Variance↗

Extinction of cocaine self-administration produces alterations in corticotropin releasing factor gene expression in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus.

The long-term effect of cocaine self-administration on corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) mRNA content in the hypothalamic CRF-containing neurons has not yet been established. The purpose of this study was to examine the time course effects of the extinction of cocaine self-administration behavior on CRF gene expression in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) using in situ hybridization histochemistry (IHHS). Seventy-two littermate male Lewis rats were randomly assigned in triads to one of three conditions: (a) contingent intravenous self-administration of 1 mg/kg/injection of cocaine (CONT), (b) non-contingent injections of either 1 mg/kg/injection of cocaine (NONCONT) or (c) saline yoked (SALINE) to the intake of the self-administering subject. The self-administering rats were trained to self-administer cocaine under a fixed ratio 5 (FR5) schedule of reinforcement for a minimum of 3 weeks. After stable baseline levels of drug intake had been reached, saline was substituted for drug. Following this first extinction period, cocaine self-administration was reinstated for an additional period of 2 weeks. Immediately after cessation of the last session of cocaine self-administration (Day 0) and 1, 5 and 10 days after the second extinction period, animal brains in each triad were removed to be processed for IHHS. CRF mRNA levels in the PVN were significantly lower in the NONCONT cocaine group at Day 0 compared to CONT or SALINE groups. On Day 1, hypothalamic CRF gene expression significantly decreased in the CONT cocaine group with respect to the SALINE group, but there were no differences between the cocaine groups or among the NONCONT cocaine and SALINE groups. After 5 and 10 days of extinction, no differences were found in CRF mRNA content in the PVN between the three conditions of this study. These results suggest that, after the extinction of cocaine self-administration, changes in hypothalamic CRF gene expression are differentially affected depending upon the type of cocaine administration, and that the stages of cocaine withdrawal might not be associated with enduring changes in hypothalamic CRF mRNA levels.

Analysis of Variance↗

Central infusion of vasopressin in male rats accelerates extinction of conditioned taste avoidance induced by LiCl.

In shock avoidance tasks, extinction is prolonged when vasopressin is infused into the lateral ventricle after an acquisition session. Experiments were performed to determine whether a dose of vasopressin that does not induce conditioned taste avoidance (CTA) could prolong extinction of a LiCl-induced CTA when it is infused into the lateral ventricle of Sprague-Dawley male rats after acquisition. The first experiment was designed to determine whether infusion of vasopressin into the lateral ventricle would induce a CTA. Consumption of a sucrose solution was paired with infusion of vasopressin or saline, and even after two pairings, none of the vasopressin-treated rats showed decreases in sucrose consumption. Therefore, in the second experiment, this same dose of vasopressin was infused into the lateral ventricle 50 min after consumption of a sucrose solution was paired with an injection of LiCl. Vasopressin increased the rate of extinction of the LiCl-induced CTA. These results are the opposite of what has been found after peripheral administration of vasopressin before acquisition and/or extinction of a LiCl-induced CTA. Possible reasons for the difference in the direction of the effect on extinction include differential effects of vasopressin depending on the route of administration, the timing of injection, and the presence of aversive effects produced by the neuropeptide.

Animals↗

Extinction of cocaine self-administration produces a differential time-related regulation of proenkephalin gene expression in rat brain.

The purpose of this study was to examine the time course effects of extinction of cocaine self-administration behavior on proenkephalin (PENK) gene expression in caudate-putamen nucleus (ST), nucleus accumbens (Acc), olfactory tubercle (Tu), piriform cortex (Pir), ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMN), and central amygdala (Ce) as measured by in situ hybridization histochemistry. Seventy-two littermate male Lewis rats were randomly assigned in triads to one of three conditions: (1) contingent intravenous self-administration of 1 mg/kg/injection of cocaine (CONT); (2) noncontingent injections of either 1 mg/kg/injection of cocaine (NONCONT); or (3) saline yoked (SALINE) to the intake of the self-administering subject. The self-administering rats were trained to self-administer cocaine under a FR5 schedule of reinforcement for a minimum of 3 weeks. After stable baseline levels of drug intake had been reached, saline was substituted for drug. Following this first extinction period, cocaine self-administration was reinstated for an additional period of 2 weeks. Immediately after cessation of the last session of cocaine self-administration (day 0) and 1-, 5-, and 10-day after the second extinction period, animal brains in each triad were removed to be processed for in situ hybridization. PENK mRNA levels were significantly higher in the cocaine groups when compared with SALINE group in the ST, Acc, Pir, and Tu regions on days 0, 1, 5, and 10 of the extinction and lower in the Ce region of CONT group when compared to NONCONT and SALINE groups on days 1, 5, and 10 of the extinction period. In the VMN nucleus, PENK mRNA content in CONT group versus NONCONT and SALINE groups was also lower, but there were statistically significant differences only on day 5. These results suggest that changes in PENK gene expression after contingent cocaine administration might be involved in cocaine withdrawal states.

Animals↗

Reward-produced memories regulate memory-discrimination learning, extinction, and other forms of discrimination learning.

In memory-discrimination learning, reward-produced memories are differentially rewarded such that they are the only stimuli available to support discriminative responding. Memory-discrimination learning was used in this study as follows: Reward-produced memories that were assumed to regulate instrumental performance in previously reported extinction and discrimination learning investigations were isolated and explicitly differentially reinforced (prior to a shift to extinction) in each of 4 runway investigations with rats. Results obtained here in the explicit discrimination learning stage and in the subsequent extinction stage were consistent with the prediction of the memory view and with prior discrimination learning and extinction findings. The memory interpretation was applied to memory-discrimination learning, to extinction, and to 2 other types of discrimination learning. It appears that a theory must use reward-produced memories to explain all 4 types of discrimination learning.

Animals↗

Picrotoxin enhances latent extinction of conditioned fear.

Male CD1 mice received 20 pairings of tone and footshock (FS) or tone alone in an arm of a Y-maze on Day 1. On Day 2 either extinction (tone alone) or no extinction was followed immediately by saline or picrotoxin (0.5 or 1.0 mg/kg ip). Nonextinguished groups received only saline or picrotoxin (1.0 mg/kg ip) on Day 2. Other groups received saline or picrotoxin (1.0 mg/kg) 2 hr after extinction. On Day 3 all mice were placed in the Y-maze (with doors to all 3 alleys open), and total alley entries during a 2-min test session were recorded. Day 1 FS training resulted in reduced alley entries during the test session. Day 2 extinction session significantly attenuated the effects of the FS training. Day 3 performance of mice given picrotoxin (1.0 but not 0.5 mg/kg) immediately postextinction was comparable to that of mice not given FS on Day 1. The findings suggest that picrotoxin enhanced extinction of conditioned fear.

Animals↗

Resistance to extinction in evaluative conditioning.

A well-demonstrated phenomenon in traditional Pavlovian conditioning research with humans is that of experimental extinction. In contrast, human evaluative conditioning research suggests that evaluative learning shows marked resistance to extinction. Here, the authors replicate both findings concurrently. Two differential fear conditioning experiments with an electrocutaneous stimulus as the unconditioned stimulus evidenced (a) sensitivity to extinction using an autonomic skin-conductance measure and (b) complete resistance to extinction using an affective-priming measure. The results corroborate the idea that evaluative conditioning is more resistant to extinction than is expectancy learning (F. Baeyens, P. Eelen, & G. Crombez, 1995).

Adolescent↗