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d‐AMPHETAMINE AND FIXED‐INTERVAL PERFORMANCE: EFFECTS OF OPERANT HISTORY
Author(s) -
Urbain Cathleen,
Poling Alan,
Millam James,
Thompson Travis
Publication year - 1978
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 - 10.1901/jeab.1978.29-385
Subject(s) - reinforcement , schedule , amphetamine , psychology , operant conditioning , interval (graph theory) , statistics , medicine , zoology , mathematics , social psychology , computer science , biology , neuroscience , combinatorics , dopamine , operating system
Sixteen rats were initially exposed for 50 sessions to either a fixed‐ratio 40 or an interresponse‐time‐greater‐than‐11‐second food reinforcement schedule, then shifted to a fixed‐interval 15‐second food reinforcement schedule. Animals with fixed‐ratio 40 histories lever pressed at much higher rates under the fixed‐interval schedule than did animals with interresponse‐time‐greater‐than‐11‐second histories. This difference persisted across 93 sessions of fixed‐interval exposure. The effects of d ‐amphetamine were assessed after 15 and 59 sessions of fixed‐interval exposure. On both occasions, the low‐rate responding of animals with interresponse‐time‐greater‐than‐11‐second histories was typically increased by all doses of the drug, while the high‐rate responding of animals with fixed‐ratio 40 histories was typically decreased by all doses of the drug. These results suggest that control response rate under the fixed‐interval schedule, which may be affected by a history of responding under another schedule, is the primary determinant of the relative effects of d ‐amphetamine.