Forty-five male, Sprague Dawley rats were used to determine if external stimuli could influence the length of a conditioned taste aversion. Animals were given a novel taste (sucrose), and then injected with one of three different substances, marihuana, LiCI, or saline. The animals were then placed into either a stimulation condition, a non-stimulation condition, or returned to the home cage.
The stimulation condition contained aversive stimuli in the form of bright, flashing lights and loud noises. The other conditions had no aversive stimulation. It was expected that the animals receiving injections of marihuana would have an increase in their responsiveness to events in their environment, and thus be more sensitive to the aversive stimulation. By reacting to not only the internal toxicosis, but also the aversive external stimulation, it was hoped that the animals would undergo a more totally aversive experience in the stimulation condition.
This increase in discomfort with the addition of external aversive stimuli was expected to be reflected in the development of longer conditioned aversions in animals receiving the marihuana and stimulation. The LiCI group was expected to show no reactiveness to the external aversive stimuli. Although taste aversions did develop in the marihuana and LiCI groups, no differences were found between treatment conditions nor between toxins. This study shows that external aversive stimuli do not play a role in an animal's conditioned aversion to sucrose after injection of a toxic drug such as marihuana or LiCI.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:pdx.edu/oai:pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu:open_access_etds-3154 |
| Date | 09 June 1975 |
| Creators | Greenwood, Albert William |
| Publisher | PDXScholar |
| Source Sets | Portland State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Dissertations and Theses |
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