Effects of chlorpromazine on fixed-ratio responding: modification by fixed-interval discriminative stimuli

Effects of chlorpromazine (1 to 100 mg/kg) were assessed on two pigeons' responding under various modifications of a multiple schedule of food delivery. During a fixed-interval component, the first response after 5 min produced food; during the subsequent, fixed-ratio component, the 30th response produced food. Modifications of the schedule entailed changes in stimulus conditions imposed during the fixed-ratio component that did not systematically alter characteristics of performance under non-drug conditions. In the first phase of the experiment, distinctive visual stimuli were correlated with each schedule component (conventional multiple schedule); chlorpromazine produced small decreases in fixed-ratio responding (20% at 30 mg/kg). When each response during the fixed-ratio component produced the stimulus correlated with the fixed-interval schedule (fixed-interval discriminative stimulus) for 1.2 s, effects of chlorpromazine were not different from those under the conventional multiple schedule. Chlorpromazine produced greater decreases in fixed-ratio responding (55% at 30 mg/kg) when either the first response of each fixed ratio changed the stimulus correlated with the fixed-ratio schedule to the fixed-interval discriminative stimulus for the remainder of the fixed-ratio component, or when the fixed-interval discriminative stimulus was presented independently of responding according to a matched temporal sequence. When the fixed-interval discriminative stimulus was present continuously during the fixed-ratio component (mixed schedule), chlorpromazine produced even more substantial decreases in fixed-ratio responding (greater than 80% at 30 mg/kg). Effects of chlorpromazine on fixed-interval responding were also modified by the schedules of fixed-interval discriminative stimulus presentation. The effects of chlorpromazine were a joint function of the stimuli prevailing during the multiple schedule and the degree to which responding influenced these stimuli.