The behavior system for sexual learning

Domjan, Michael; Gutiérrez, Germán

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2019.01.013

Cited by 28 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…This form of learning as stated elegantly by Fanselow and Wassum ( 2015 ), has an evolutionary function that enables us to anticipate events and alter our behavior accordingly to promote survival (Fanselow and Wassum, 2015 ). Pavlovian learning is advantageous to reproduction (Domjan and Gutiérrez, 2019 ) as it influences hormonal responses (Graham and Desjardins, 1980 ), sexual performance (Zamble et al, 1985 ), and attraction (Domjan, 1994 ). For example, fish or quail exposed to a paired cue while seeing, but not interacting with a female, will have an increased number of offspring (fish) or increased number of sperm production and fertilized eggs (quail) when the cue is presented and the barrier between the male and female is removed (Hollis et al, 1989 ; Matthews et al, 2007 ).…”

Section: The Biological Purpose Of Pavlovian Learning and How It Relamentioning

confidence: 99%

Drug-Induced Conditioned Place Preference and Its Practical Use in Substance Use Disorder Research

McKendrick

Graziane

2020

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

128

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The conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm is a well-established model utilized to study the role of context associations in reward-related behaviors, including both natural rewards and drugs of abuse. In this review article, we discuss the basic history, various uses, and considerations that are tied to this technique. There are many potential takeaway implications of this model, including negative affective states, conditioned drug effects, memory, and motivation, which are all considered here. We also discuss the neurobiology of CPP including relevant brain regions, molecular signaling cascades, and neuromodulatory systems. We further examine some of our prior findings and how they integrate CPP with self-administration paradigms. Overall, by describing the fundamentals of CPP, findings from the past few decades, and implications of using CPP as a research paradigm, we have endeavored to support the case that the CPP method is specifically advantageous for studying the role of a form of Pavlovian learning that associates drug use with the surrounding environment.

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Section: The Biological Purpose Of Pavlovian Learning and How It Relamentioning

confidence: 99%

Drug-Induced Conditioned Place Preference and Its Practical Use in Substance Use Disorder Research

McKendrick

Graziane

2020

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

128

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“…To study sexual incentive learning, positive-negative affect, sexual arousal and sexual reward expectancy elicited by the CSs were examined. Appetitive and aversive conditioning can result in a change in the strength of sexual motivation for a stimulus, but also in a change in the more general hedonic value (like-dislike) of a stimulus reflected in feelings of positive-negative affect (Berridge & Kringelbach 2008;Domjan & Gutierrez 2019). Although, in general, stronger feelings of sexual arousal in response to a stimulus will go together with more liking of this stimulus, studies on sexual responding have shown that sexual arousal and positivenegative affect can be relatively independent (Brom et al 2015;Janssen 2007), therefore, both affect and sexual arousal were assessed.…”

Section: Subjective Ratingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A randomized, placebo-controlled laboratory study of the effects of D-cycloserine on sexual memory consolidation in women

et al. 2020

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Rationale and objective The aim of this study was to investigate the possible facilitating effect of the partial NMDA receptor agonist D-cycloserine (DCS) on memory consolidation of conditioned sexual responses and to examine the capability of DCS to reduce context-specificity of learning. Methods In a randomized placebo-controlled double-blind trial, 50 healthy females were exposed to a differential conditioning procedure. Two pictures of a male abdomen were used as conditional stimuli (CSs), of which one (the CS+) was followed by the unconditional stimulus (US), a genital vibrotactile stimulus. After the conditioning session on day 1, participants received either 125 mg of DCS or a placebo. The effects of DCS on affect, sexual arousal and US expectancy in response to the CS+ and CS− were examined 24 h after the conditioning procedure.Results A main effect of DCS was found on affect at the first test trials (p = 0.04, η p 2 = 0.09), and a similar non-significant but trend level effect was found for sexual arousal (p = 0.06, η p 2 = 0.07), which appeared to persist over a longer time (p = 0.07, η p 2 = 0.08). Unexpectedly, ratings of positive affect and sexual arousal in response to both the CS+ and the CS− were higher in the DCS condition compared to the control condition, possibly indicating that DCS administration reduced stimulus specificity. Since the results did not show clear evidence for context learning, we were not able to test effects on context-specificity of learning. Conclusion Although largely inconclusive, the results provide tentative support for a facilitating effect of DCS on affect and sexual arousal in response to stimuli that were presented in a sexual conditioning procedure, however, no conclusions can be drawn about effects of DCS on sexual reward learning, since the design and results do not lend themselves to unambiguous interpretation.

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“…These systems dictate not only the temporal relationship between behaviors but also, depending on the motivational system that has been activated by the US, the dyadic associability of the specific cue and outcome and the form of the conditioned response in relation to the CS (Timberlake, 2001). The behavior systems approach has offered much insight into a number of complex behaviors like eating, defense, play, and sexual behaviors (Akins, 2000;Domjan, 1994;Domjan & Gutiérrez, 2019;Domjan, Lyons, North, & Bruell, 1986;Fanselow, 1994;Pellis, Pellis, Pelletier, & Leca, 2019;Timberlake, 1993).…”

Section: Ecological Approaches To Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Biological Significance in Human Learning and Memory

Seitz¹,

Blaisdell²,

Polack³

et al. 2019

IJCP

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Deeply rooted within the history of experimental psychology is the search for general laws of learning that hold across tasks and species. Central to this enterprise has been the notion of equipotentiality; that any two events have the same likelihood of being associated with one another as any other pair of events. Much work, generally summarized as ‘biological constraints on learning,’ has challenged this view, and demonstrates pre-existing relations between cues and outcomes, based on genes and prior experience, that influence potential associability. Learning theorists and comparative psychologists have thus recognized the need to consider how the evolutionary history as well as prior experience of the organism being studied influences its ability to learn about and navigate its environment. We suggest that current models of human memory, and human memory research in general, lack sufficient consideration of how human evolution has shaped human memory systems. We review several findings that suggest the human memory system preferentially processes information relevant to biological fitness, and highlight potential theoretical and applied benefits afforded by adopting this functionalist perspective.

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The behavior system for sexual learning

Cited by 28 publications

References 69 publications

Drug-Induced Conditioned Place Preference and Its Practical Use in Substance Use Disorder Research

Drug-Induced Conditioned Place Preference and Its Practical Use in Substance Use Disorder Research

A randomized, placebo-controlled laboratory study of the effects of D-cycloserine on sexual memory consolidation in women

The Role of Biological Significance in Human Learning and Memory

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