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Effects of alcohol ingestion on copulatory behavior of male rats

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Summary

Copulation was observed in each of 21 male rats on two tests following ingestion of alcohol and on two tests following ingestion of water. Latencies to the first mount, intromission, and ejaculation were all increased by alcohol, as were the mean interval between successive intromissions and the length of the post-ejaculatory refractory period. Mount frequencies were increased. Accompanying these retardation effects was a sensitization-like effect-a decrease in the number of intromissions preceding ejaculation. This effect of alcohol on intromission frequency was discussed in relation to the well-documented “enforced-interval effect”.

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This research was done during the authors' tenure as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Science Foundation in the Psychology Department of the University of California, Berkeley. The work was facilitated by grant MH 04000-07 from the National Institutes of Health to Dr. Frank A. Beach. The author wishes to thank Dr. Beach for his help throughout the execution of this experiment.

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Dewsbury, D.A. Effects of alcohol ingestion on copulatory behavior of male rats. Psychopharmacologia 11, 276–281 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00405234

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