Learned and unlearned responses to stimulation of the same subcortical site

Abstract

Cats were trained to use subcortical electrical stimulation as a discriminated stimulus to indicate the presence or absence of reward. Subcortical brain sites (caudate nucleus and ventrolateral nuclei of the thalamus) were selected for training because previous research had shown that stimulation of these sites would inhibit the bar pressing response. The learned response was shown to generalize only to comparable points in the contralateral nucleus and to nearby points in the same nucleus. No positive transfer of training to other subcortical or cortical stimulating sites was found. The learned response was shown to interact with the unlearned inhibitory response.