Conditioned Place Preference or Aversion

In a Conditioned Place Preference task, the animal learns an association between an enviroment with distinctive cues and a positive reinforcer. It is often used as an animal model of the subjective effects of drugs.

Procedure

A drug is injected and the subject is introduced to distinctive environment A.  This procedure is repeated for several trials.   During these conditioning trials the animal develops an association between the subjective state produced by the drug (often drugs that produce mood elevation or euphoria in humans) and the contextual cues present while the drug is active.  To test the conditioning, the animal is placed in an apparatus with drug-related cues in one compartment and neutral cues in the other. If conditioning occurred, the animal will move toward the compartment containing the drug-related cues.

Conditioned Place Preference

In a Conditioned Place Preference experiment, subjects are returned to an apparatus were they can freely move between a compartment in which they were conditioned with drug-related cues, and a compartment with neutral cues.  If the conditioning was successful for positive, reinforcing drug states, they should spend more time in the compartment with drug-related cues.

Conditioned Place Aversion

In a Conditioned Place Aversion experiment, subjects are returned to an apparatus were they can freely move between a compartment in which they were conditioned with an aversive stimulus, such as a shock; and a compartment with neutral cues.  If the aversive conditioning was successful, they should spend more time in the compartment with neutral cues.