Failure of pimozide to disrupt the acquisition of light-dark and spatial discrimination problems

The effects of pimozide, a dopamine (DA) receptor blocker, on associative learning was examined using two appetitively motivated choice paradigms. In Experiment I, low to moderate doses of pimozide (0.125, 0.25 mg/kg) were not found to disrupt the acquisition of a two bar simultaneous discrimination task. However, with continued testing, progressive deficits in response accuracy were observed in rats pretreated with 0.25 mg/kg pimozide. When subsequently tested drug-free these animals demonstrated a rapid and marked improvement in performance. Experiment II used a spatial discrimination task (T-maze) requiring a natural response (running) with minimal response demands (short stem and arms). Rats pretreated with 0.25, 0.50, and 1.0 mg/kg pimozide showed comparable levels of acquisition and maintained discriminated performance relative to vehicle controls. Similar results were obtained when the reinforced (S+) and nonreinforced (S-) stimuli were reversed. Moreover, animals receiving 2.0 mg/kg pimozide and not rendered cataleptic also demonstrated acquisition of both the initial discrimination and its reversal. It was concluded that rats pretreated with pimozide are able to acquire the significance of environmental stimuli and direct their responding accordingly if they are motorically capable of emitting the required response.