Avoidance behavior and ileum motility in monkey during different conditioning schedules pre- and postcingulumotomy

Lever-pulling behavior and ileum motility are simultaneously compared in rhesus monkeys during chronic avoidance conditioning (14 days), before and after either cortical-control or bilateral cingulum lesions. Each day consisted of 12 h of aperiodic conditioning interspersed with a total of 12 h of aperiodic rest. The data indicated that lever-pulling and percent ileum motility per avoidance schedule tended to change in the same direction. The cingulum ablations seemed to either augment or reduce both avoidance behavior and percent ileum motility, depending upon the particular monkey. The direction of change in avoidance behavior and percent motility postcingulumotomy appeared to be related to the animal’s characteristic ileum response (hypo- or hypermotile) during avoidance conditioning. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of determining individual, baseline emotional reactivity in the assessment of cingulum manipulation.