Fig. 5: CeA hSyn and D1 ChR2 rats seek auditory Pavlovian cue that was previously paired with shock rod encounters.

a Diagram depicts the instrumental conditioned reinforcement task, in which rats could nosepoke to earn brief presentations of the shock-associated auditory CS+ (tone or white noise) that was previously paired with shock rod contacts, or the safe CS− sound (whichever noise/tone was not the CS+) that had previously been heard in the home cage. On one day, nosepokes into a designated active porthole earned the shock-associated CS+, whereas nosepokes into the alternative inactive porthole earned nothing. On another day, nosepokes in the active porthole earned presentations of the safe CS− sound, while nosepokes in the inactive porthole earned nothing. b hSyn ChR2 (N = 8) rats made more nosepokes on the day they earned their shock-associated CS+ sound than on the day they earned their safe CS− sound. c D1 ChR2 (N = 6) rats similarly made twice as many nosepokes on the day they earned their shock-associated CS+ sound than on the day they earned their safe CS− sound. d Control eYFP rats (N = 6) made relatively few nosepokes for either CS, and did not differ between CS+ or CS− days. e D1 ChR2 rats responded more on the CS+ day than hSyn ChR2 and control eYFP rats. f hSyn ChR2, D1 ChR2, and control eYFP rats did not respond differently on the CS− day. g Naïve unoperated control rats (N = 8) did not have a preference between tone or white noise used as CSs. Data represent means and SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.