Figure 4.

Anxiolytics do not abolish action caution. A, Performance of signaled active avoidance during the AA1 and AA2 procedures in mice injected with buspirone (2 mg/kg, i.p.). Training in AA2 led to the usual abolishment of ITCs and a sharp delay in avoidance latencies without impaired performance. Being cautious about producing the signaled action when the unsignaled action is punished is not alleviated by an anxiolytic. B, Probability histogram (%) of avoidance latencies during AA1 and AA2 fitted with an exponential Gaussian for mice injected with buspirone. Note the rightward shift of the latencies indicating the mice delayed their action in a sign of caution. C, Speed traces (mean ± SEM) of active avoidance responses aligned by the CS onset (upper) and baselined-corrected avoidance responses aligned by the response occurrence (bottom) during AA1 and AA2 procedures. Note the faster avoidance responses during AA2 despite starting at a lower baseline. D, Performance of signaled active avoidance during the AA1 and AA2 procedures in mice injected with paroxetine (10 mg/kg, i.p.) or diazepam (1 mg/kg, i.p.). Training in AA2 led to the usual abolishment of ITCs and a sharp delay in avoidance latencies without impaired performance. Being cautious about producing the signaled action when the unsignaled action is punished is not alleviated by two different additional anxiolytics.