Abstract
Heart rate and motor responses were recorded in cats of different ages during classical conditioning. A deceleratory-acceleratory heart rate pattern observed during the CS-US interval in one and four-week-old kittens is an alpha conditioned response, a potentiated original response to the CS. At eight weeks of age two new distinct patterns of pure acceleration or pure deceleration are acquired during conditioning and in the absence of motor learning. At 12 weeks of age and in adult subjects, heart rate patterns during the CS-US interval become more complex and conditioned motor responses can be observed. A covariance of HR acceleration and motor responses during the CS-US interval is absent in eight-week-old subjects, but quite high in 12-week-old subjects and adult cats. The data are interpreted as suggesting separate elicitatory mechanisms of HR and motor responses which may show synchrony later in ontogeny.
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This research was supported by grant HD 05958 from the National Institutes of Health. Many of the computer programs for data analysis were written by G. Wolfe; other programs were written by W. J. Wilson, and T. Nicholas, a postdoctoral trainee supported under HD07032(USPHS). The authors gratefully acknowledge the help of the volunteers, M. Pleta, A. Oda, and W. Kavanau, in post-operative care and data processing.
Preliminary reports were made at two Neurosciences Meeting (Soltysik and Wolfe, 1977; Wolfe and Soltysik, 1980).
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Nicholas, T., Wolfe, G., Soltysik, S.S. et al. Postnatal development of heart rate patterns elicited by an aversive CS and US in cats. Pav. J. Biol. Sci. 18, 144–153 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03019165
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03019165