Effects of endorphin blocking on conditioned SCR in humans

Abstract

In order to test the hypothesis that low levels of endogenous opioids (endorphins) predispose to strong conditioning effects, female Ss ( N = 36) were assigned to a placebo group, a low-dose naltrexone group, or a high-dose naltrexone group and then underwent a classical conditioning procedure. This procedure consisted of an acquisition phase in which all Ss received 5 pairings of a CS+ (neutral picture) and a UCS (100 dB white noise). The CS− (neutral picture) was never followed by a UCS. During extinction, Ss received 4 unreinforced presentations of CS+ and CS−. Throughout the experiment, skin conductance responses (SCRs) to the CSs and UCSs were recorded. Acquisition was successful in that CS+ slides elicited stronger SCRs than CS − slides. However, during acquisition, there was no interaction between drug and differential response (CS+ vs CS−). During extinction, there was no overall remaining effect of conditioning. Again, no evidence was found to suggest that (remaining) effects of conditioning were stronger in the naltrexone treated Ss than in the placebo S's. If anything, the opposite seemed to be true with especially high-dose naltrexone Ss showing relatively weak conditioning effects.