Maternal presence serves as a switch between learning fear and attraction in infancy

Odor-shock conditioning produces either olfactory preference or aversion in preweanling (12-15 days old) rats, depending on the context. In the mother's absence, odor-shock conditioning produces amygdala activation and learned odor avoidance. With maternal presence, this same conditioning yield...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Nature neuroscience Vol. 9; no. 8; pp. 1004 - 1006
Main Authors:	Sullivan, Regina M, Moriceau, Stephanie
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Nature Publishing Group 01-08-2006
Subjects:	Age Amygdala (Brain) Amygdala - physiology Animals Association Learning - physiology Avoidance Learning - physiology Conditioning, Classical Corticosterone - metabolism Fear Learning Learning disabilities Mothers Neural transmission Odorants Odors Olfactory receptors Preferences Rats Regulation Variance analysis Weaning United States
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Summary:	Odor-shock conditioning produces either olfactory preference or aversion in preweanling (12-15 days old) rats, depending on the context. In the mother's absence, odor-shock conditioning produces amygdala activation and learned odor avoidance. With maternal presence, this same conditioning yields an odor preference without amygdala activation. Maternal presence acts through modulation of pup corticosterone and corticosterone's regulation of amygdala activity. Over-riding maternal suppression of corticosterone through intra-amygdala corticosterone infusions permits fear conditioning and amygdala activation.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-2 ObjectType-Feature-1
ISSN:	1097-6256 1546-1726
DOI:	10.1038/nn1733