rats - zkadhem

[ArchivalUser]

26.
Rats with a bacterial infection are trained to consume immunity-suppressing and nausea-producing cyclophosphamide in saccharine-flavored water. Before training, the cyclophosphamide administration led to an increased death rate. After training, even when cyclophosphamide is removed from the flavored water, the increased death rate persists. This modification of the immune system is an example of which of the following?
A. Operant conditioning
B. Classical conditioning
C. Avoidance training
D. Adversive experience
E. Overwhelming stress

[ArchivalUser]

bb

[ArchivalUser]

answer to this q

[ArchivalUser]

:)) sheefa ok i will reply but i was waiting for more answers.
The answer is: B

Robert Ader, a psychologist, discovered that the immune system can be suppressed through classical conditioning. When he conditioned infected rats to avoid immunity-suppressing and nausea-producing cyclophosphamide as the unconditioned stimulus, he found that the rats continued to die from the infection, even after he stopped giving them cyclophosphamide in the saccharine-flavored water. The immune system had become conditioned to the suppressant effects of the drug. When he used this same protocol with a strain of rats susceptible to an autoimmune disease similar to lupus erythematosus (LE) he found that these rats had learned to suppress their immune system, thus retarding the autoimmune process, and lived longer than the LE rats. Subsequent experiments established that the human immune system can also be behaviorally conditioned, thus demonstrating the modulating effect of behavior on the immune system through the central nervous system.

[ArchivalUser]

thx alot
nice questions
keep good work man