The role of associative learning in sensitization.

Abstract

In Pavlovian sensitization, conditioned stimuli are said to activate response modes (e.g., feeding, sexual, or fear), which result in an increase in the response to other stimuli that activate the same response mode. Pavlovian sensitization effects are likely to result from any encounter with a highly arousing stimulus, leading to high translational relevance for investigations of anxiety disorders, cognition, and the neurobiology of learning.