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Conditioned Emotional Response Lab Report
Focus on Method
Abstract
Introduction
Summarize lab introduction for Conditioned Emotional Response or Fear Conditioning
Rationale: why do this lab exercise?
Brief description of procedures as carried out in this exercise
Hypothesis: What changes in behavior were expected as a result of presenting a CS paired with a US?
*Method*
Subject
Rats are male, albino rats
Provide number, age and weights of rats at time of observation; DOB 7/28/12
Provide information about light/dark cycle in vivarium, feeding, and watering
Previous experience with conditioning
Apparatuses
Chamber A
Used MED-Associates standard rat operant chamber with water dipper assembly with 0.01 cc cup
Constructed of aluminum, stainless steel, polycarbonate
Double lever, house light, 2 stimulus lights (provide locations)
Push Rod in ceiling
Chamber B
Plastic opaque rat cage with wire lid
Chambers were controlled by MED-Associates' software, MED-PC IV, on a Dell Pentium D PC
running Windows XP
Used MED-Associates Shocker Scrambler Module, ENV-414
Shock: 1.5mA, 1.0 s foot shock
Used a MED-Associates tone generator
Tone: 80dB, 5000Hz, 20 s.
Procedure
Describe important steps in sequence for replicating fear conditioning procedure
May summarize lab instructions but do not plagiarize
Provide criterion if used one
Results
Graph 1--mean percentage of time that animal froze during Acclimation, Immediate and Delayed Testing as a
function of conditioning trials
Describe verbally what data in the graphs show
Discussion
Summarize results in the context of hypothesis
Relate results to rationale in introduction
Describe limitations of study
Future directions; next study; re-do of study
Procedures adapted from:
LaBar, K. S., & LeDoux, J. E. (1996). Partial disruption of fear conditioning in rats with unilateral amygdala damage:
Correspondence with unilateral temporal lobectomy in humans. Behavioral Neuroscience, 110, 991-997. doi:
10.1037/0735-7044.110.5.991
Schafe, G. E., & Ledoux, J. E. (2000). Memory consolidation of auditory Pavlovian fear conditioning requires protein
synthesis and protein kinase A in the amygdala. The Journal of Neuroscience, 20(18), RC96. doi: 10.1016/S01662236(00)01969-X Retrieved from http://www.jneurosci.org/content/20/18/RC96.full.pdf+html?sid=420c4788-42304418-b6b9-4c6aafdc5815
Schafe, G. E., Nadel, N. V., Sullivan, G. M., Harris, A., & Ledoux, J. E. (1999). Memory consolidation for contextual and
auditory fear conditioning is dependent on protein synthesis, PKA, and MAP kinase. Learning and Memory, 6, 97110.