Premium
RATIO SIZE AND COCAINE CONCENTRATION EFFECTS ON ORAL COCAINE‐REINFORCED BEHAVIOR
Author(s) -
Macenski Mitchell J.,
Meisch Richard A.
Publication year - 1998
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.1998.70-185
Subject(s) - reinforcement , self administration , statistics , value (mathematics) , toxicology , psychology , anesthesia , medicine , mathematics , biology , social psychology
Monkeys were given a choice between cocaine solutions and water under concurrent fixed‐ratio reinforcement schedules. The operant response was spout contact. Six rhesus monkeys served as subjects. The cocaine concentration was varied from 0.0125 to 0.8 mg/ml, and the fixed‐ratio value was varied from 8 to 128. Cocaine maintained higher response rates than did water over a wide range of conditions. Response rate and number of cocaine deliveries per session were inverted U‐shaped functions of concentration. These functions were shifted to the right as the fixed ratio was increased. The number of cocaine deliveries was more persistent as fixed‐ratio value was increased when the unit dose was larger rather than smaller. Cocaine consumption was analyzed as a function of unit price (fixed‐ratio value divided by cocaine concentration), and unit price accounted for between 77% and 92% of the variance in cocaine consumption for individual monkeys. The current data support the claim that a drug's reinforcing effects increase directly with dose and underscore the need to gather parametric data when examining the effects of experimental manipulations on a drug‐reinforced baseline.