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The Amygdala Central Nucleus: Contributions to Conditioned Cardiovascular Responding during Aversive Pavlovian Conditioning in the Rabbit

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Conditioning

Part of the book series: Advances in Behavioral Biology ((ABBI,volume 26))

Summary

The research described represents an attempt to determine the exact amygdala components which contribute to the acquisition of conditioned responding during aversive conditioning. Our initial analysis focuses on the amygdala central nucleus and its contribution to the acquisition of conditioned bradycardia during Pavlovian fear conditioning in the rabbit. The results demonstrate that (a) lesions of the central nucleus attenuate the magnitude of the conditioned bradycardia response, (b) the administration of ß-adrenergic antagonists and opiate agonists into the region of the central nucleus also attenuate the magnitude of the conditioned bradycardia response, (c) the medial component of the central nucleus projects directly to cardioregulatory nuclei in the dorsal medulla including the site of origin of cardioinhibitory neurons in the rabbit, (d) electrical stimulation of the central nucleus in rabbit produces profound, short-latency bradycardia and depressor responses, with maximum bradycardia elicited from the site of origin of the central nucleus-dorsal medulla projection, and (e) during the course of the conditioning procedure increases in central nucleus neuronal activity develop to the conditioned stimulus (CS) at the time when the conditioned bradycardia response develops. In some cases the magnitude of the increase in neuronal activity to the CS was significantly correlated with the magnitude of the bradycardia response to the CS over the course of the conditioning session.

The results are consistent with the hypothesis that at least one function of the amygdala central nucleus in the acquisition of conditioned bradycardia may be in the motoric expression of the conditioned response to the CS by modulation of vagal preganglionic cardioinhibitory neurons within the dorsal medulla.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vt., USA

    Bruce S. Kapp, Craig D. Applegate & Robert C. Frysinger

  2. Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C., USA

    Michela Gallagher

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  1. Bruce S. Kapp
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  2. Michela Gallagher
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  3. Craig D. Applegate
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  4. Robert C. Frysinger
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for the Health Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Charles D. Woody

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© 1982 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Kapp, B.S., Gallagher, M., Applegate, C.D., Frysinger, R.C. (1982). The Amygdala Central Nucleus: Contributions to Conditioned Cardiovascular Responding during Aversive Pavlovian Conditioning in the Rabbit. In: Woody, C.D. (eds) Conditioning. Advances in Behavioral Biology, vol 26. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-0701-4_39

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-0701-4_39

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-0703-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-0701-4

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