Abstract
This preclinical study examined the psychological processes affected by amphetamine that contribute to human psychosis. Using a novel avoidance conditioning paradigm involving two conditioned stimuli (CS) with varied salience, we found that acute amphetamine (1.5 mg/kg, i.p.) selectively enhanced avoidance responding to a less salient stimulus, but not to a salient one. These findings suggest that elevated dopaminergic activity selectively enhances the attributions of motivational salience to a less salient stimulus, a process that may bear relevance to the development of human delusional thoughts.
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Acknowledgments
This study was funded in part by a support from the Nebraska Tobacco Settlement Biomedical Research Development Funds, and UNL Layman Award to ML.
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Li, M., He, W. & Munro, R. Amphetamine selectively enhances avoidance responding to a less salient stimulus in rats. J Neural Transm 115, 773–776 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-007-0002-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-007-0002-7