Body Temperature as a Conditional Response Measure for Pavlovian Fear Conditioning

On six days rats were exposed to each of two contexts. They received an electric shock in one context and nothing in the other. Rats were tested later in each environment without shock. The rats froze and defecated more often in the shock-paired environment; they also exhibited a significantly larger elevation in rectal temperature in that environment. The rats discriminated between each context, and we suggest that the elevation in temperature is the consequence of associative learning. Thus, body temperature can be used as a conditional response measure in Pavlovian fear conditioning experiments that use footshock as the unconditional stimulus.