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Limitations of existing theory in explaining state‐dependent performance of rats on the maier three‐table reasoning problem
Author(s) -
Stahl Jeanne Marsh,
Pieper Walter Alan
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
drug development research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.582
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1098-2299
pISSN - 0272-4391
DOI - 10.1002/ddr.430160214
Subject(s) - (+) naloxone , methadone , morphine , psychology , test (biology) , table (database) , saline , cognitive psychology , anesthesia , computer science , medicine , opioid , psychiatry , data mining , paleontology , receptor , biology
The three‐table reasoning problem was developed by Norman Maier in 1929 to test the ability of rats to combine the essentials of two isolated experiences to reach a goal. The purpose of this paper is to describe the test situation and the performance of rats that were given each experience in a different chemical state prior to testing. Rats given morphine, methadone, or naloxone for both experiences and the test performed well on this task, whereas rats given the first experience in an undrugged or saline condition and given the second experience in a morphine, methadone, or naloxone condition performed poorly. Similarly, rats given experience 1 in a undrugged condition, experience 2 in a morphine or methadone condition, and the test in a naloxone condition performed poorly. Although these results cannot be explained by most theories of state‐dependent learning, an interpretation is presented, with suggestions for further research.