Abstract
Differential learning of operant behavior under non-drug and amphetamine states was explained with a “drug-behavior-reinforcement interaction” process. When a drug affects the relationship between ongoing behavior and existing reinforcement contingencies, the sets of behavioral patterns subjected to the process of reinforcement or non-reinforcement under a drug may differ from the patterns under non-drug conditions. If, following sufficient training, the drug conditions are then changed, persistence of these behavioral patterns may result in a difference from those patterns produced if acquisition occurs solely under non-drug conditions. To investigate this process, groups of rats were given varying amounts of non-drug acquisition training on a response-duration differentiation task before being given extended training under 0.75 mg/kg d-amphetamine. All groups were then tested under non-drug conditions. Amphetamine significantly enhanced performance, and this enhancement transferred to subsequent non-drug conditions. However, if non-drug training occurred before drug training, this enhancement was greatly attenuated. Furthermore, only those behavioral components under which amphetamine led to an increase in reinforcement rate showed enhancement in the non-drug state. The results, which supported the present position, were discussed in relation to a “stimulus generalization decrement” explanation of differential learning under amphetamine.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barrett, R. J., Leith, N. J., Ray, O. S.: Permanent facilitation of avoidance behavior by d-amphetamine and scopolamine. Psychopharmacologia (Berl.) 25, 321–331 (1972)
Belleville, R. E.: Control of behavior by drug-produced internal stimuli. Psychopharmacologia (Berl.) 5, 95–105 (1964)
Brown, H.: Drug-behavior interaction affecting development of tolerance to d-amphetamine as observed in fixed ratio tolerance behavior of rats. Psychol. Rep. 16, 917–921 (1965)
Deese, J., Hulse, S. H.: The psychology of learning. New York: McGraw-Hill 1967
Doty, B. A., Doty, L. A.: Facilitative effects of amphetamine on avoidance conditioning in relation to age and problem difficulty. Psychopharmacologia (Berl.) 9, 234–241 (1966)
Ferraro, D. P., Grilly, D. M.: Response differentiation: A psychophysical method for response produced stimuli. Percept. and Psychophys. 7, 206–208 (1970)
Ferraro, D. P., Grilly, D. M., Tang, R. S. W.: Transfer of a differentiation along a response continuum. J. comp. physiol. Psychol. 66, 793–796 (1968)
Glick, S. D.: Facilitation or impairment of learning by d-amphetamine as a function of stimuli. Psychopharmacologia (Berl.) 21, 353–360 (1971)
Gomer, F. E., Jakubczak, L. F.: Dose-dependent selective facilitation of response-contingent light-onset behavior by d-amphetamine. Psychopharmacologia (Berl.) 34, 199–208 (1974)
Krieckhaus, E. E., Miller, N. E., Zimmerman, P.: Reduction of freezing behavior and improvement of shock avoidance by d-amphetamine. J. comp. physiol. Psychol. 60, 36–40 (1965)
Kulig, B. M., Calhoun, W. H.: Enhancement of successive discrimination reversal learning by methamphetamine. Psychopharmacologia (Berl.) 27, 233–240 (1972)
Kulkarni, A. S., Job, W. M.: Facilitation of avoidance learning by d-amphetamine. Life Sci. 6, 1579–1587 (1967)
Lal, H.: Control of learned conditioned-avoidance responses (CAR) by amphetamine and chlorpromazine. Psychopharmacologia (Berl.) 14, 33–37 (1969)
Lal, H., Roffman, M.: Learning associated with “amphetamine state”. Proceedings of the 77th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, vol. 4, pp. 881–882 (1969)
Millenson, J. R.: Principles of behavioral analysis. New York: Macmillan 1967
Miller, R. G.: Simultaneous statistical inference. New York: McGraw-Hill 1966
Morse, W. H., Herrnstein, R. J.: Effects of drugs on characteristics of behavior maintained by complex schedules of intermittent positive reinforcement. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 65, 303–317 (1956)
Myers, J. L.: Fundamentals of experimental design. Boston: Allyn and Bacon 1966
Overton, D. A.: Dissociated learning in drug states (state dependent learning). In: Psychopharmacology: A review of progress 1957–1967. Proceedings of sixth annual meeting of neuropsychopharmacology. D. E. Efron, ed., pp. 918–930. Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office 1968
Overton, D. A.: Experimental methods for the study of statedependent learning. Fed. Proc. 33, 1800–1813 (1974)
Pavlov, I. P.: Conditioned reflexes. New York: Dover 1960
Rahmann, H.: The influence of methamphetamine on learning, long-term memory, and transposition ability in golden hamsters. In: International symposium on amphetamines and related compounds. E. Costa and S. Garattini, eds., pp. 813–818. New York: Raven Press 1970
Randrup, A., Munkvad, I.: Biochemical, anatomical, and psychological investigations of stereotyped behavior induced by amphetamine. In: International symposium on amphetamines and related compounds, E. Costa and S. Garattini, eds., pp. 695–713. New York: Raven Press 1970
Skinner, B. F.: Superstition in the pigeon. J. exp. Psychol. 38, 168–172 (1948)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
These results represent part of the doctoral dissertation submitted to the University of New Mexico.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Grilly, D.M. Effects of prior experience on differential learning under amphetamine. Psychopharmacologia 43, 271–277 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00429263
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00429263