during the second-order conditioning phase in paired animals than in unpaired controls, believed to represent an ethanol-mediated conditioned motor response that had become conditioned to CS1. Cunningham & Noble (1992) provided support for this hypothesis. These authors found that the progressive increase in general activity observed when animals are given daily exposures to ethanol (a phenomenon also known as behavioral sensitization, Kawakami et al., 2007) is mediated to a large extent by Pavlovian learning. The present study adds new evidence suggesting that, in adolescent rats, ethanol is capable of inducing first-order conditioned motor activation. Yet in terms of another measure of activation — general locomotion — similar conditioning was not apparent. Conditioned increases in locomotion can be considered a measure of learning when assessing motivational conditioning (Arias & Chotro, 2006; Brining et al., 1991). Nevertheless, overall locomotion does not seem to be as sensitive (Arias & Chotro, 2005; 2006) or as specific as wall climbing (Hoffman et al., 1991).
