AMPHETAMINE-INDUCED CONDITIONED ACTIVITY IN RATS - COMPARISON WITH NOVELTY-INDUCED ACTIVITY AND ROLE OF THE BASOLATERAL AMYGDALA

A within-subject design was used to investigate the behavioral and neu ral basis of the conditioned activity induced by amphetamine in male W istar rats. In this design, conditioned activity was inferred when the activity of a given rat following a vehicle injection was greater in its amphetamine-paired environment (CS+) than in its vehicle-paired en vironment (CS-). Conditioned activity (a) did not change in magnitude with the number of conditioning sessions, (b) did not differ from the level of activity recorded during the first exposure to the CS- (novel ty), (c) had an extinction rate that was similar to the rate of habitu tation to the CS-, and (d) was not impaired by a bilateral excitotoxic lesion of the basolateral amygdala. Results are discussed in light of the incentive conditioning and habituation theories of conditioned ac tivity.