Medial prefrontal lesions and Pavlovian eyeblink and heart rate conditioning: effects of partial reinforcement on delay and trace conditioning in rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Effects of continuous (100%) versus partial (25%) reinforcement were studied on Pavlovian delay and trace eyeblink conditioning in rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) with either lesions to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) or sham lesions. Concomitant heart rate changes evoked by the conditioned stimulus were also assessed. Partial reinforcement retarded eyeblink conditioning in both the trace and delay paradigm, but this impairment was greater during trace conditioning and in rabbits with mPFC lesions. Accompanying conditioned stimulus-evoked heart rate slowing was attenuated under all conditions by the mPFC lesions, although this result was not always statistically significant.