Abstract
Four boys living in an institution for individuals with mental retardation participated in a study of the effects of chlorpromazine and thioridazine on discrimination learning. While on their previously prescribed drug, either chlorpromazine or thioridazine, the boys were trained on visual discrimination problems using multiple and concurrent schedules until their rate of learning new problems was stabilized. They then learned a series of new problems while taking only placebo tablets, and finally learned a further series of problems while receiving the alternative drug. Results showed that both drugs elevated discriminative performance relative to placebo. On multiple schedules the drugs increased a discriminative index based on response rate; on concurrent schedules they increased a discriminative index based on stimulus duration.
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Beale, I.L., Smith, O.A. & Webster, D.M. Effects of chlorpromazine and thioridazine on discrimination learning in children with mental retardation. J Dev Phys Disabil 5, 43–54 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01046597
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01046597