Inhibitory Avoidance

Inhibitory avoidance (IA), also termed step-down avoidance, is a single-trial aversive learning paradigm in which the animal learns to refrain from stepping down from an elevated platform onto a shock grid (Gold, 1986). Upon stepping down during training, a brief foot shock is delivered, and retention is assessed 24–48 h later by measuring the latency to step down from the platform. Because learning occurs in a single trial, the IA task offers precise temporal control over pharmacological manipulations targeting consolidation, reconsolidation, and retrieval (Izquierdo et al., 2016).

The primary metric is step-down latency on the test day, with higher latencies reflecting stronger inhibitory memory. Secondary measures include the number of step-down events during extended observation, platform freezing duration, and latency to first approach the grid edge. The single-trial design makes IA especially sensitive to post-training manipulations of the basolateral amygdala and hippocampus, the two structures most critical for this form of contextual-emotional memory.

ConductMaze automates the IA task by controlling platform-mounted pressure sensors for step-down detection, programmable grid shock delivery, and a motorized retractable platform. The software timestamps step-down events with sub-millisecond accuracy and supports multi-phase protocols with configurable retention intervals for reconsolidation studies.