Abstract
Two experiments investigating odor production and utilization in rats under the effects of Thorazine and Elavil injections, respectively, are reported. In Experiment 1, significantly slower speeds shown by the Thorazine-injected subjects indicated that this drug depressed performance. It is felt that depressed performance allowed these subjects to attend and respond to odor cues earlier in Phase 1 than did saline-injected control animals. Reversing the injection conditions (Phase 2) failed to disrupt already-established patterning. During the first phase of Experiment 2, Elavil-injected subjects failed to establish patterned responding, whereas such responding was readily established by saline-injected subjects. Reversing the injection conditions (Phase 2) resulted in the rapid development of double-alternation patterning by the subjects that were shifted from Elavil to saline and in the maintenance of such responding by the animals shifted from saline to Elavil.
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Travis-Neideffer, M. N., Ludvigson, H. W., & Moreno, R.Deprivation-state specificity of odor cues in the rat: Constraints vs. overshadowing. Paper presented at the meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, Houston, April 1981.
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This research was supported by a Research and Creativity Grant from Emporia State University to the first author and by a faculty research grant from Middle Tennessee State University to the last author.
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Davis, S.F., Thomas, R.L. & Prytula, R.E. The development and maintenance of odor-based double-alternation responding under conditions of Thorazine and Elavil injection. Animal Learning & Behavior 9, 551–555 (1981). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03209789
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03209789