biostudies-literaturePinho JSGeneralitat de CatalunyaEuropean Research CouncilRP105863https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC12674615biostudies-literatureUnknown14Daily choices are often influenced by environmental cues that are not directly associated with reinforcers. This phenomenon, known as higher-order conditioning, can be studied using sensory preconditioning tasks in rodents. This behavioral paradigm involves the repeated pairing of two innocuous stimuli, such as a light and a tone, followed by a devaluation phase in which one stimulus is associated with an unconditioned stimulus, such as a mild footshock. The result is a conditioned response (e.g., freezing) to both the conditioned stimulus (direct learning) and the non-conditioned stimulus (mediated learning). In our study, we successfully established a light-tone sensory preconditioning task specifically in male mice, as sex differences were observed in both control experimental groups aneLifeDorsal hippocampus mediates light-tone associations in male mice.PMC12674615948217SGR 00022Jo Investigo Program 2022 INV-1 00005/100005TG3Pinho JSManzanares-Sierra IBusquets-Garcia ARamon-Duaso CfalseDorsal hippocampus mediates light-tone associations in male mice.Daily choices are often influenced by environmental cues that are not directly associated with reinforcers. This phenomenon, known as higher-order conditioning, can be studied using sensory preconditioning tasks in rodents. This behavioral paradigm involves the repeated pairing of two innocuous stimuli, such as a light and a tone, followed by a devaluation phase in which one stimulus is associated with an unconditioned stimulus, such as a mild footshock. The result is a conditioned response (e.g., freezing) to both the conditioned stimulus (direct learning) and the non-conditioned stimulus (mediated learning). In our study, we successfully established a light-tone sensory preconditioning task specifically in male mice, as sex differences were observed in both control experimental groups an2025-01-01T00:00:00Z2025 Dec2026-06-05T22:13:56.828Z2026-05-22T03:15:27.888ZS-EPMC126746154133488510.7554/eLife.105863