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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2022.08.05.502178

A fear conditioned cue orchestrates a suite of behaviors

Chu, A.·Michel, C. B.·Gordon, N. T.·Hanrahan, K. E.·DuBois, A. M.·Williams, D. C.·McDannald, M. A.
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Abstract

Pavlovian fear conditioning has been extensively used to study the behavioral and neural basis of defensive systems. In a typical procedure, a cue is paired with foot shock, and subsequent cue presentation elicits freezing, a behavior theoretically linked to predator detection. Studies have since shown a fear conditioned cue can elicit locomotion, a behavior that - in addition to jumping, and rearing - is theoretically linked to imminent or occurring predation. A criticism of studies observing fear conditioned cue-elicited locomotion is that responding is non-associative. We gave 24 rats (12 female) Pavlovian fear discrimination over a baseline of reward seeking. The within-subjects procedure had full controls for associative learning, consisting of three cues predicting unique foot shock probabilities: danger (p=1), uncertainty (p=0.25), and safety (p=0). TTL-triggered cameras captured 5 behavior frames/s prior to and during cue presentation. We scored 86,400 frames for nine discrete behaviors spanning reward, passive fear, and active fear. Temporal ethograms show that a fear conditioned cue elicits locomotion, jumping, and rearing that is maximal towards cue offset, when foot shock is imminent. A fear conditioned cue further suppresses reward-related behavior, and elicits freezing in a sex-specific manner. The differing temporal profiles and independent expression of these behaviors reveal a fear conditioned cue to orchestrate a rich and intricate suite of behaviors.

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Chu, A., Michel, C. B., Gordon, N. T., Hanrahan, K. E., DuBois, A. M., Williams, D. C., McDannald, M. A.. 2022-08-05. A fear conditioned cue orchestrates a suite of behaviors. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.08.05.502178

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