Associative learning in neonatal rats revealed by cardiac response patterns

Abstract

Infant rat pups (3-4 days of age) that received a single pairing of a novel odor (CS) with illness later responded to the CS with sustained accelerations in heart rate (HR); a different novel odor evoked deceleratory HR responses. Control pups responded to the CS and the second novel odor with cardiac deceleration. In a second experiment, rat pups that received three pairings of a novel odor with a cold (10 degrees C) temperature reinforcement displayed a similar pattern of HR responses, i.e., acceleration to the CS and deceleration to the novel odor. Cardiac response patterns are a useful measure of learning in infant mammals. The directional modulations of HR found in these experiments compare favorably with previous interpretations of "orienting" and "defensive" reactions derived from studies of HR responses in humans.