CONCOMITANT HEART-RATE AND CORNEORETINAL POTENTIAL CONDITIONING IN RABBIT (ORYCTOLAGUS-CUNICULUS) - EFFECTS OF CAUDATE LESIONS

Rabbits received either bilateral, unilateral, or sham caudate lesions and were subjected to Pavlovian conditioning training. Corneoretinal potential (CRP), electromyographic (EMG), and heart rate (HR) CRs were assessed. Lesions which destroyed the anteromedial two thirds of the head of the caudate nucleus greatly impaired the acquisition of the CRP response during both simple and differential Pavlovian conditioning. However, the magnitude of the HR CR and the HR discrimination were unaffected by these lesions. Measures of free field activity, electromyographic activity, and CRP thresholds to shock revealed no evidence of a motor or sensory deficit in the lesioned animals. These data thus demonstrate a deficit in a specific learned somatomotor response but no impairment in the autonomic changes which usually accompany somatomotor conditioning. © 1978.