Cued Fear Conditioning
Overview
Cued (or auditory/tone) fear conditioning is a Pavlovian paradigm in which an explicit conditioned stimulus (CS) — typically a pure tone or a light — is paired with a foot shock unconditioned stimulus (US). Unlike contextual fear conditioning, the CS-US association is independent of the environmental context, allowing the learned fear response to be tested in a completely different chamber. This dissociation makes cued fear conditioning a selective probe of amygdala-dependent associative learning.
The basolateral amygdala (BLA) is essential for acquiring and storing CS-US associations, while the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) drives the expression of conditioned fear responses such as freezing, potentiated startle, and autonomic changes (LeDoux, 2000). Because hippocampal lesions spare cued fear memory while abolishing contextual fear memory, comparing the two paradigms within the same subjects reveals the relative contribution of hippocampal vs. amygdala circuits.
ConductMaze automates cued fear conditioning with precise CS delivery (tone generator, LED cue light), TTL-synchronized shock timing through the grid floor, and multi-context chamber reconfiguration. The software supports configurable CS modalities, trace conditioning intervals, and automated freezing scoring during both CS-on and CS-off periods for discrimination analysis.
Trial Flow
Habituation
Place subject in Context A, 2-min baseline
CS Onset
Tone or light CS presented (e.g., 30s, 2kHz)
CS-US Pairing
Foot shock (0.5mA, 2s) co-terminates with CS
Inter-Trial Interval
Variable ITI (60-120s), repeat CS-US pairings
Consolidation
24h in home cage
Cued Test in Context B
Novel context, present CS alone, measure freezing
Freezing Scored
Compare freezing during CS-on vs CS-off periods
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| CS Modality | enum | Tone (2kHz, 80dB) | Conditioned stimulus type (tone, white noise, light, compound) |
| CS Duration | seconds | 30 | Duration of each CS presentation |
| Shock Intensity | mA | 0.5 | Foot shock intensity (0.1 – 1.5 mA) |
| Shock Duration | seconds | 2 | Duration of each foot shock |
| Number of Pairings | integer | 5 | Number of CS-US presentations during acquisition |
| ITI Range | seconds | 60-120 | Randomized inter-trial interval range |
| Trace Interval | seconds | 0 | Gap between CS offset and US onset (0 = delay conditioning) |
| Test Context | enum | Context B | Novel context configuration for cued test (different walls, floor, scent) |
Metrics
| Metric | Unit | Description |
|---|---|---|
| CS Freezing Percentage | % | Freezing during CS presentations in the test — primary cued fear index |
| Pre-CS Freezing | % | Freezing during baseline/inter-CS periods — generalization control |
| Discrimination Ratio | ratio | CS freezing / (CS freezing + pre-CS freezing) — fear specificity |
| Freezing Bout Count | count | Number of discrete freezing episodes during CS |
| Mean Bout Duration | seconds | Average duration of each freezing episode |
| Latency to First Freeze | seconds | Time from CS onset to first freezing bout |
Sample Data
| Subject | Group | PreCS_Freeze_pct | CS_Freeze_pct | Discrimination_Ratio | Bout_Count | Latency_s |
|---|
Representative data for illustration purposes. Actual values will vary by species, strain, and experimental conditions.
Applications
- 1Amygdala circuit dissection — selective dependence on BLA for CS-US association vs CeA for fear expression
- 2PTSD research — cue-triggered fear recall and fear generalization across contexts
- 3Trace conditioning — prefrontal and hippocampal contributions when CS and US are separated in time
- 4Anxiolytic screening — dose-response effects on cued freezing with context as within-subject control
- 5Memory reconsolidation — post-retrieval pharmacological interventions to weaken cued fear memories
Related Protocols
Compatible Products
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