State-dependent retention induced by postacquisition exposure to pentobarbital or shock stress in rats

Abstract

Although state-dependent retention (SDR) has been the focus of considerable research in recent years, there has been little work demonstrating this phenomenon when the treatment is administered after learning. In the present study, the effectiveness of two different treatments, pentobarbital and shock-induced stress, in producing postacquisition SDR in rats was examined. In all experiments, water-deprived rats were exposed to a novel flavor, apple juice, on each of 2 days. Subjects that remember their initial exposure to this substance should show an increase in consumption on their second exposure (i.e., an attenuation of neophobia). It was found that subjects exposed to pentobarbital (Experiment 1) or shock-induced stress (Experiment 2) immediately after their initial exposure did not increase their intake on the subsequent exposure unless they were reexposed to pentobarbital (Experiment 1) or shock-induced stress (Experiment 2b) shortly prior to that exposure. These results clearly show that this "attenuation of neophobia" paradigm can be used to investigate postacquisition SDR. © 1986 Psychonomic Society, Inc.