Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Drug discrimination: stimulus control during repeated testing in extinction.

T J Zarcone1, N A Ator

  • 1Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, USA. zarcone@ukans.edu

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
|February 24, 2001
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Neurocognitive dysfunction and pharmacological intervention using guanfacine in a rhesus macaque model of self-injurious behavior.

Translational psychiatry·2015
Same author

Statistical inference in behavior analysis: Environmental determinants?

The Behavior analyst·2012
Same author

Behavioral biology.

The Behavior analyst·2012
Same author

Low grip strength, impaired tongue force and hyperactivity induced by overexpression of neurotrophin-3 in mouse skeletal muscle.

International journal of developmental neuroscience : the official journal of the International Society for Developmental Neuroscience·2002
Same author

Motor and associative deficits in D2 dopamine receptor knockout mice.

International journal of developmental neuroscience : the official journal of the International Society for Developmental Neuroscience·2002
Same author

Digital measurement of operant disk press force maintained in CD-1, BALB/c, and C57BL/6 mice.

Behavior research methods, instruments, & computers : a journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc·2001
Same journal

Performance and feedback function on variable differential reinforcement of low rates: Tempus urgit vel abundat?

Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2026
Same journal

The Genoeconomics of Impulsive Intertemporal Choice: A Critical Review.

Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2026
Same journal

Shaping the extinction burst: Increasing its probability and preventing its emergence across topographies.

Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2026
Same journal

Evaluating the combined effects of effort and probability on monetary discounting.

Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2026
Same journal

An improved translational approach to studying persistence-strengthening effects of differential reinforcement of alternative behavior.

Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2026
Same journal

Interactions between the effects of food and water motivating operations on concurrent food- and water-reinforced responding in mice.

Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior·2026
See all related articles

This study shows that even when rats respond less frequently, their ability to distinguish between lorazepam and no drug remains strong. This indicates reliable stimulus control in drug discrimination tasks.

Area of Science:

  • Behavioral neuroscience
  • Pharmacology
  • Psychology

Background:

  • Drug discrimination procedures are crucial for understanding how substances affect behavior.
  • Assessing stimulus control under varying response rates is essential for validating behavioral assays.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between response rate and stimulus control in rats trained to discriminate lorazepam.
  • To evaluate the impact of repeated extinction exposures on drug discrimination performance.

Main Methods:

  • Rats were trained on a two-lever drug-discrimination task with lorazepam (1.0 mg/kg) or saline.
  • Modified fixed-ratio (FR) 10 schedules were used, requiring 10 consecutive responses for reinforcement.
  • Extinction tests were conducted to assess stimulus control without reinforcement.

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • Repeated exposure to extinction conditions reduced overall response rates in all rats.
  • Despite reduced rates, stimulus control, measured by lever choice and FR 10 completion, remained high.
  • The percentage of total FR 10s measure proved more robust than percentage of total responses under low-rate conditions.

Conclusions:

  • Response rate and stimulus control are independent in well-trained animals during drug discrimination.
  • This independence supports the validity of interpreting discriminative effects of novel conditions, even with low response rates.