Comparison of Auditory Thresholds Obtained with a Conditioned and an Unconditioned Response

There are two types of behavioral approaches for determining if an animal can hear a sound. One is to observe an animal’s spontaneous response (reflex) to the sound; the other is to train (condition) it to respond to the sound. Because reflexive-response thresholds are typically not as low as conditioned-response thresholds, the question of whether the two thresholds are systematically related emerged. The purpose of the current research was to compare absolute thresholds for pure tones in rats obtained with a sensitive unconditioned procedure, prepulse inhibition, to thresholds obtained using a versatile conditioning procedure, conditioned suppression/avoidance. The results have practical and theoretical interest. Practically, we have found that thresholds obtained with prepulse inhibition, though less sensitive, can closely approximate those obtained with conditioned suppression/avoidance if the animals are tested in the same sound field and thresholds are determined by the Linear Interpolation method. Theoretically, these results provide insight into the sensitivity difference between conditioned and unconditioned responses.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Toledo

Year dc:date

2012

Author dc:creator

• Lee, Jennifer Elizabeth

Contributors dc:contributor

• Heffner, Henry

• Behavioral Sciences
• conditioning
• hearing
• animal behavior
• reflex
• conditioned suppression
• conditioned avoidance
• prepulse inhibition
• threshold

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1325738685

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:toledo1325738685