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Impulsive choice, alcohol consumption, and pre‐exposure to delayed rewards: II. Potential mechanisms
Author(s) -
Stein Jeffrey S.,
Renda C. Renee,
Hinnenkamp Jay E.,
Madden Gregory J.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of the experimental analysis of behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1938-3711
pISSN - 0022-5002
DOI - 10.1002/jeab.116
Subject(s) - alcohol , psychology , immediacy , alcohol consumption , audiology , consumption (sociology) , differential effects , medicine , chemistry , biochemistry , social science , philosophy , epistemology , sociology
Abstract In a prior study (Stein et al., 2013), we reported that rats pre‐exposed to delayed rewards made fewer impulsive choices, but consumed more alcohol (12% wt/vol), than rats pre‐exposed to immediate rewards. To understand the mechanisms that produced these findings, we again pre‐exposed rats to either delayed (17.5 s; n = 32) or immediate ( n = 30) rewards. In posttests, delay‐exposed rats made significantly fewer impulsive choices at 15‐ and 30‐s delays to a larger, later food reward than the immediacy‐exposed comparison group. Behavior in an open‐field test provided little evidence of differential stress exposure between groups. Further, consumption of either 12% alcohol or isocaloric sucrose in subsequent tests did not differ between groups. Because Stein et al. introduced alcohol concentration gradually (3–12%), we speculate that their group differences in 12% alcohol consumption were not determined by alcohol's pharmacological effects, but by another variable (e.g., taste) that was preserved as an artifact from lower concentrations. We conclude that pre‐exposure to delayed rewards generalizes beyond the pre‐exposure delay; however, this same experimental variable does not robustly influence alcohol consumption.