Abstract
An automated system for measuring intracranial self-stimulation behavior is described. The system consists of two Commodore 6502 microcomputers interfaced with a constant-current generator and a standard operant chamber. The system hardware allows sine- and square-wave stimulation. Stimulus intensity can be varied in 256 steps between 0 and 100, 0 and 500, or 0 and 1,000 /µA. The system programs, which are written in machine language, allow the control of various schedules of reinforcement, the counting of operant responses and reinforcements, the measurement of interresponse intervals, and the storage of the data on disk. The software is designed for the determination of the threshold of reinforcement, on the basis of the titration of postreinforcement pauses caused by changeover in schedule control between concurrent continuous reinforcement and fixed ratio schedules.
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This work was supported by Grant HU 306/2-5 from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
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Wagner, U., Goldenberg, R. & Huston, J.P. A computerized system for monitoring and controlling intracranial electrical self-stimulation behavior. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers 22, 499–506 (1990). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03204433
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03204433