Hedonic implications in negative discrepancy between expected and obtained reward: an animal model for studying frustration

SERAFINI, M. ; BURA, S.; CUENYA, L.; LÓPEZ RAMÍREZ, M.

Buenos Aires

Congreso; 2° Congreso de la Federación de Asociaciones Latinoamericanas y del Caribe de Neurociencias (FALAN); 2016

Sociedad Chilena de Neurociencias.Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias. Sociedad de Neurociencias del Uruguay. Sociedade Brasileira de Neurociencias e Comportamento.

Consummatory Successive Negative Contrast (cSNC) is an animal model to study frustration responses. A group is exposed to a high magnitude reward and then to a devalued one. A consummatory suppression is observed in comparison to a group that always gets the lower reward. Previous studies suggest that a decrease in the motivational properties of devalued reward occurs. However, few studies have explored its hedonic alterations. The objective was to evaluate hedonic changes through the taste reactivity test (TRT), which allows to measure hedonic value, dissociated from other motivational components. Male adult Wistar rats were used (n = 38). They were pre-trained for 5 daily trials, 5 min each one. The experimental group received 32% sucrose solution while a control group 4%. An intraoral cannula was then inserted through surgery and later began the TRT. It consisted of the infusion of the sucrose solution for 3 min (rate 1ml/min) while the animals? appetitive orofacial responses (tongue protrusion, mouth movement, paw lick) were recorded. In the preshift phase (5 daily trials) the experimental group was infused with 32% while the control received 4%. In postshift phase both groups were infused with 4%. There was a cSNC effect: the experimental group showed a significantly lower total time of orofacial appetitive behavior in comparison to the control condition. These data suggest that frustration reaction involves a decrement of hedonic properties of devalued reinforcement.