Rapid and robust olfactory conditioning with milk before suckling experience: promotion of nipple attachment in the newborn rat
Abstract
An olfactory conditioning paradigm tested the hypothesis that newborn rats are able to learn about events associated with their first experience with milk as early as 3-5 hr after birth. Exposure to lemon odor (conditioned stimulus, [CS]) paired with intraoral milk infusions (unconditioned stimulus, [US]) resulted in strong conditioning: In the presence of the CS, sustained attachment occurred to an empty nipple as if it provided milk, whereas pups in control conditions showed little attachment. A single CS-US pairing was sufficient for strong conditioning, which was evident with a trace interval as long as 60 s. Conditioning was robust enough to promote attachment to a nipple providing saline, which is aversive to the newborn rat, and comparably strong conditioning occurred with sucrose or saccharin as the US. These findings suggest that olfactory conditioning has the potential to modify suckling behavior.
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Once pups are born, a novel odor placed either on the mother or in the air surrounding her will readily take on the properties of maternal odor.
“Once pups are born, a new maternal odor can be rapidly learned; a novel odor (e.g. peppermint) placed either on the mother or in the air surrounding her will readily take on the properties of maternal odor (Cheslock et al., 2000, Roth and Sullivan, 2005, Sullivan et al., 1990).”
From Early life adversity during the infant sensitive period for attachment: Programming of behavioral neurobiology of threat processing and social behavior (2017) · cites this paper as Cheslock et al., 2000
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References 40 · Cited by 68
- Authors
- Cheslock, S. J., Varlinskaya, E. I., Petrov, E. S., & Spear, N. E.
- Affiliations
- Binghamton University (US)
- Venue
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Published
- 2000
- Volume
- 114
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 484-495
- ISSN
- 0735-7044 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-0084
- OpenAlex
- W1986203714
- Cited by
- 68
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 1.69
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Behavioral Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5r03hd036782-02)
- National Institute of Mental Health (R37MH035219, R37MH35219)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD36782)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Sensory Systems › Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior
- Keywords
- olfactory conditioning, neonatal rats, suckling behavior, milk, conditioned stimulus, unconditioned stimulus, trace conditioning, aversive conditioning, sucrose, saccharin
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Animals, Newborn, Association Learning, Conditioning, Classical, Female, Male, Milk, Smell, Sucking Behavior, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Rats
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