Abstract
Mice were subjected to place preference conditioning using either morphine (3 mg/kg) or food as reward. During conditioning and test, detailed observations of the animals’ behavior were made. Both morphine and food produced place preference. In the animals rewarded with morphine, this was due to longer visits to the rewarded compartment, whereas food-rewarded mice made more frequent visits of the same length as before conditioning. The frequency with which the different behavioral items were displayed was subjected to factorial analyses of correspondence. These analyses showed that morphine and food reward had different behavioral consequences. At test, the animals rewarded with morphine remained in close contact to environmental cues that had been associated with morphine administration. This was interpreted as showing that these cues had been associated with a morphine-induced affective reaction. To the contrary, food-rewarded animals displayed a lot of exploratory behaviors, like rearing and sniffing, indicating that they were searching for the now-absent food in the environment where it had previously been present. Thus, while morphine-induced place preference is a result of associations between an affective state and environmental stimuli, food-induced preference is based on conditioned approach behaviors, and affective reactions are only of marginal importance for conditioning.
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Spiteri, T., Le Pape, G. & Ågmo, A. What is learned during place preference conditioning? A comparison of food- and morphine-induced reward. Psychobiology 28, 367–382 (2000). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03331994
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03331994