[Experimental model of heuristic decision making in experiments on rats for pharmacologic screening]

In experiments on 399 rats the authors developed a method permitting the evaluation of the rate and probability of solving the task demanding from the experimental animals to survive after immersion in cold water. Each animal was exposed to stress only once in life. The task was solved by the animals with the probability rate of approximately 80-100% within 2 min. The pharmacological agents with the depriming effects (morphine, aminazine, sodium oxybutyrate, phenazepam) decreased the aim-oriented behavioral reactions of experimental animals. Caffeine (5-10 mg/kg) decreased the reaction time necessary for solving the task and phenazepam (5 mg/kg) blocked the decision made by the exposed rats to eliminate the stress situation. Nootropil and strychnine exerted no effects on the probability and quickness of the exposed rats to solve the stressful task.