Abstract
The effect of oxytocin on cognitive bias was investigated in rats in a modified conditioned place preference paradigm. Fifteen male rats were trained to discriminate between two different cue combinations, one paired with palatable foods (reward training), and the other paired with unpalatable food (aversive training). Next, their reactions to two ambiguous cue combinations were evaluated and their latency to contact the goal pot recorded. Rats were injected with either oxytocin (OT) or saline with the prediction that rats administered OT would display a shorter average latency to approach on ambiguous trials. There was no significant difference between latencies to approach on ambiguous trials compared to reward trials, but the rats were significantly slower on the aversive compared to the ambiguous conditions. Oxytocin did not affect approach time; however, it was unclear, after follow-up testing, whether the OT doses tested were sufficient to produce the desired effects on cognitive bias. Future research should consider this possibility.
Highlights
In humans, cognitive bias describes the influence of emotional states on biases in informationprocessing (Bethell et al, 2012)
Discussion there were no differences in contact latencies between treatment groups, the rats were found to display what would be considered positive cognitive bias
That the rats traveled faster toward the goal pot on test trials compared to training trials could have been due to an increase in the salience of the cues or in a reduction of neophobia as the rats became more familiar with the testing apparatus throughout the experiment
Summary
Cognitive bias describes the influence of emotional states on biases in informationprocessing (Bethell et al, 2012). There is increasing evidence that the internal affective state of an animal can influence their reactions to ambiguous stimuli (Burman et al, 2009). By assessing the reaction to such novel, ambiguous stimuli researchers hope to gain insight into the affective states and mental welfare of animals (Bethell et al, 2012). The most commonly used technique when investigating cognitive bias in non-humans is a go/no-go task in which the animals are trained to discriminate between two distinct cues, one that they are required to give a specific response to (for example, in order to gain a reward), and the other that they are required to withhold a response to avoid an unpleasant stimulus. Researchers present the animal with ambiguous cues, which are typically intermediate between the trained cues, or completely novel and distinct (Bethell et al, 2012; Briefer and McElligott, 2013)
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