Tail-Flick Test: II. The Role of Supraspinal Systems and Avoidance Learning

It is held that the tail-flick test of pain depends on a spinal reflex because a similar response is observed in spinally transected rats. But when subjects were manually held and a cool heat setting was used, supraspinal systems facilitated the response (Experiment 1). This effect did not depend on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioral neuroscience 1997-08, Vol.111 (4), p.754-767
Main Authors: King, Tamara E, Joynes, Robin L, Grau, James W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic Stimulation
Anatomical correlates of behavior
Animal
Animals
Arousal - physiology
Association Learning - physiology
Attention - physiology
Avoidance Conditioning
Avoidance Learning - physiology
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain - physiology
Central Nervous System
Conditioning, Classical - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Learning
Male
Motivation
Nerve Net - physiology
Neural Pathways - physiology
Neurology
Nociceptors - physiology
Pain
Pain Threshold - physiology
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Rats
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Reaction Time - physiology
Receptors, Opioid, mu - physiology
Reflex - physiology
Reflexes
Rodents
Spinal cord
Spinal Cord - physiology
Tail - innervation
Thermosensing - physiology
Touch - physiology
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Summary:It is held that the tail-flick test of pain depends on a spinal reflex because a similar response is observed in spinally transected rats. But when subjects were manually held and a cool heat setting was used, supraspinal systems facilitated the response (Experiment 1). This effect did not depend on the rate at which the tail was heated (Experiment 2) but rather on the co-occurrence of visual, auditory, and tactile cues that predict impending pain (Experiments 3 and 4). Subjects rapidly learned to exhibit a tail movement during these co-occurring cues, and this avoidance response was instrumental in nature (Experiment 5). Optimal learning was observed when the visual signal was presented 8-12 s before a heat-elicited response is normally observed (Experiment 6), and a low dose of morphine inhibited the performance of the instrumental response (Experiment 7).
ISSN:0735-7044
1939-0084
DOI:10.1037/0735-7044.111.4.754