Modeling Appetitive Pavlovian-Instrumental Interactions in Mice

In appetitive Pavlovian associative learning, a stimulus (conditioned stimulus, CS) that has been associated with the delivery of a reinforcing event (unconditioned stimulus, US; e.g., food) can subsequently elicit or modulate goal-directed instrumental behaviors. For example, a Pavlovian CS can serve to reinforce (novel) instrumental behavior (conditioned reinforcement or CRf), or it can energize and potentiate ongoing instrumental responses when presented non-contingently (Pavlovian-instrumental transfer or PIT). Notably, these different effects of a Pavlovian CS on instrumental behavior are mediated by dissociable psychological and neurobiological mechanisms. Given the critical role that Pavlovian-instrumental interactions play in regulating motivated behavior and maladaptive manifestations of motivation such as eating disorders and addictions, understanding the underlying psychological and neurobiological mechanisms will be important. This unit describes behavioral protocols that produce robust and reliable PIT and CRf in mice and that open the door for future studies using transgenic approaches into the molecular mechanisms underlying associative learning and motivation.