THE IMPACT OF SHOCK ON REACTIVITY TO A TACTILE STIMULUS Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • We have previously shown that exposure to either three brief (0.75 s) or three long (25 s) tail shocks can induce a strong hypoalgesia in rats as measured by tail withdrawal from radiant heat, and that these two examples of hypoalgesia are mediated by different neural systems. The present experiments evaluate whether exposure to either brief or long shock disrupts reactivity to a tactile stimulus applied to the tail. We found that subjects exposed to brief shock are hyperreactive to the tactile stimulus. This effect was observed on all of our response measures: latency to exhibit a tail movement, magnitude of tail movements, latency to vocalize, and vocalization magnitude. Similarly, exposure to long shock increased reactivity to tactile stimulation. However, this effect was only evident on three of the four measures: latency to vocalize, vocalization magnitude, and magnitude of tail movements. Implications of the results are discussed. 1990.

published proceedings

  • LEARNING AND MOTIVATION

author list (cited authors)

  • ILLICH, P. A., & GRAU, J. W.

citation count

  • 12

complete list of authors

  • ILLICH, PA||GRAU, JW

publication date

  • August 1990