The Hierarchical Aversiveness of Two Simultaneous Pains within an Operant Approach Avoidance Paradigm

Author

Celina Antionette Salcido

Graduation Semester and Year

2019

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Perry N Fuchs

Abstract

Pain is a subjective, private, yet universal phenomenon that depends on a unique combination of sensory, affective, and evaluative characteristics. Although preclinical models have been used to understand much of pain physiology, the inability to communicate with animals limits affective and evaluative feedback, failing to adequately represent the entire pain experience. Therefore, this study sought to characterize the affective component of pain within an operant approach-avoidance paradigm (AAP) to determine which type of pain (inflammatory or neuropathic) may be more aversive. To reveal possible differences in pain aversiveness, animals received bilateral inflammatory and neuropathic pain conditions and were be given the choice to a) forgo appetitive reward by not receiving noxious stimulus of either inflammatory or neuropathic condition or b) receive noxious stimulus in exchange for appetitive reward. Pharmacological treatment was also assessed to reveal if selectively attenuating inflammatory or neuropathic pain via drug treatment could modulate or reverse approach-avoidance behaviors. The results revealed there was no preference in stimulation and no difference in latency to lever press and lever success rate to a specific paw in the bilateral pain condition. This suggests there was no difference in level of pain affect for neuropathic and inflammatory conditions. Pharmacological treatment of ketorolac and gabapentin did not affect measures in the AAP and modified place escape avoidance paradigm. This research may reveal important information regarding about the lack of hierarchical aversiveness of the two most common pain models.

Keywords

Pain, Affect, Inflammatory, Neuropathic, Operant, Approach, Avoidance

Disciplines

Psychology | Social and Behavioral Sciences

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

Recommended Citation

Salcido, Celina Antionette, "The Hierarchical Aversiveness of Two Simultaneous Pains within an Operant Approach Avoidance Paradigm" (2019). Psychology Dissertations. 113.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/psychology_dissertations/113