Related Experiment Videos
Conditional control by midazolam and amphetamine in a rapid appetitive discrimination procedure
1Department of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, University of Nijmegen, Netherlands. maes@nici.kun.nl
European Journal of Pharmacology
|January 14, 1997
Summary
Rats learned to associate drug states with food rewards. Drug cues influenced behavior, showing conditioned drug effects similar to previous aversive studies.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Pharmacology
- Psychopharmacology
Background:
- Drug cues can acquire control over behavior.
- Appetitive discrimination procedures are used to study drug effects.
- Conditional control by drug cues is not well understood in appetitive settings.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine conditional control by midazolam and amphetamine cues.
- To investigate the role of drug states in appetitive discrimination.
- To explore the joint operation of unconditioned and conditioned drug effects.
Main Methods:
- Male Wistar rats were trained in an appetitive discrimination task.
- Rats received drug (midazolam or amphetamine) or saline injections.
- Training involved stimuli paired with food or no food, under different drug states.
Main Results:
- Rats reinforced in a drug state showed shorter magazine-response latencies.
- This effect occurred for previously reinforced stimuli compared to non-reinforced stimuli.
- Behavioral control was demonstrated by drug cues in an appetitive context.
Conclusions:
- Findings suggest occasion setting by drug cues in appetitive discrimination.
- Conditional drug effects are influenced by the training procedure.
- Results align with previous findings in aversive drug-discrimination experiments.