Participation of the amygdaloid complex in conditioned reflex learning in dogs

Abstract

The features of the formation of conditioned alimentary reflexes in response to the stimulation of the basolateral division of the amygdaloid complex with an electrical current at a frequency of 50 pulses per second were studied in five dogs. The possibility of the development of differential inhibition in response to unreinforced stimulation of the same structures of the amygdaloid complex with a current at a frequency of 5 pulses per second was demonstrated. The rate of formation of positive and inhibitory conditioned reflex reactions, their quantitative characteristics, and the depth of differential inhibition in response to stimulation of the amygdaloid complex is greater than those found with the use of acoustic stimuli in the same dogs. Comparison of the rate and dynamics of the process of conditioning of two structures belonging to different levels of nervous integration, namely, the limbic (the amygdaloid complex) and the striatal (the caudate nucleus), carried out under the same experimental conditions, indicates that activation of the nervous elements of the limbic formation acquires signal significance significantly more rapidly than in the case of the caudate nucleus.