Habituation of the rat’s respiratory response to auditory stimulation during sleeping and waking

Abstract

The rat's respiratory response to auditory stimuli is described. Stimulation within a session consisted of 10 16-kHz tones of 60 dB SPL and 3 16-kHz tones of 80 dB SPL. Form and habituation ofthe respiratory response were not affected by the rat's state ofvigilance: Onset and offset of auditory stimulation evoked a respiratory pause whether the rat was awake or in slow-wave sleep. The response displayed short-term, but not 10ng-term, habituation: It disappeared within a session, but showed complete recovery when the stimulation was repeated 1 week later. The data are discussed with respect to the question of whether the respiratory response evoked by auditory stimulation constitutes an orienting response (OR) within the OR concept.