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Psychopharmacologia

, Volume 46, Issue 2, pp 169–177 | Cite as

Theoretical and methodological considerations on drug discrimination learning

  • Francis C. Colpaert
  • Carlos J. E. Niemegeers
  • Paul A. J. Janssen
Animal Studies
Received:
Revised:

Abstract

A method is described which allows the assessment of discriminative stimulus properties of drugs, and the ability of amphetamine (0.16 mg/kg, s.c), chlordiazepoxide (5 mg/kg, p.o.), desipramine (5 mg/kg, s.c), and haloperidol (0.02 mg/kg, s.c.) to produce a discriminative stimulus complex (DSC) is evidenced. The method is found to yield clear-cut data that are specifically related to drug discrimination learning without being possibly confounded by state dependent effects. In addition, the experimental procedure is designed so as to provide an appropriate measurement of operant response modulating drug effects.

Key words

Drug discrimination Cue State dependent learning Amphetamine Desipramine Haloperidol Chlordiazepoxide 
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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 1976

Authors and Affiliations

  • Francis C. Colpaert
    • 1
  • Carlos J. E. Niemegeers
    • 1
  • Paul A. J. Janssen
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of PharmacologyJanssen Pharmaceutica Research LaboratoriesBelgium

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