Assessing the relationship between incentive downshift and place preference in rats.

KAMENETZKY, G.; CUENYA, L.; PEDRÓN, V.; MUSTACA, A.; PAPINI, M.

Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Congreso; 14th Biennial Meeting International Society for Comparative Psychology; 2008

International Society for Comparative Psychology.

Three experiments explored the relationship between incentive downshift and place preference. Incentive downshifts were induced with two procedures. Rats exposed to a downshift from 32% sucrose to 4% sucrose exhibit a drastic suppression of consummatory behavior compared to controls always exposed to 4% sucrose—consummatory successive negative contrast (cSNC). Similarly, a downshift from 32% sucrose to no incentive leads to a drastic reduction of consummatory behavior—consummatory extinction (cE). In Experiment 1, rats exposed to an incentive downshift in a cSNC situation showed increased conditioned place preference previously induced by pairings of a new context with ethanol. In Experiments 2 and 3, consummatory behavior during the first downshift trial (cSNC) and during cE trials was negatively correlated with the amount of time spent in the dark side in a place preference test. These results uncover a relationship between the consequences of incentive downshift and place preferences induced by a conditioning history with ethanol or by a predisposition to approach dark locations.