Classical and instrumental conditioning of eyeblink responses in Wistar–Kyoto and Sprague–Dawley rats

Abstract

Wistar–Kyoto (WKY) rats, an animal model of anxiety vulnerability, acquire lever-press avoidance faster than outbred Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats. Faster avoidance acquisition may reflect an inherent ability to acquire cue–outcome associations, response–outcome associations or both. To evaluate cue–outcome learning, acquisition of classically conditioned eyeblink response was compared in SD and WKY rats using a delay-type paradigm (500-ms conditioned stimulus (CS) coterminating with a 10-ms unconditional stimulus (US)). WKY rats demonstrated enhanced classical conditioning, with both faster acquisition and greater asymptotic performance in delay-type training than SD rats. To evaluate response–outcome learning, separate SD and WKY rats were given control over US delivery through imposition of an omission contingency into delay-type training (emitting a conditioned response (CR) prevented delivery of the US). The schedule of US delivery derived by these rats became the training regimen for a separate group of SD and WKY rats, yoked within strain. In SD rats, no differences in acquisition were detected between those given control over US delivery and those trained with the same partial reinforcement schedule. Acquisition rates of those WKY rats with control exceeded those trained with a yoked-schedule of US presentation. Collectively, WKY rats exhibit enhanced classical conditioning and sensitivity to schedules of reinforcement compared to outbred SD rats. Anxiety vulnerability, in particular inhibited temperament, may be traced to active processes in the prediction and control of aversive events.