Abstract
The effects of alcohol on successive positive- and negative-incentive contrast effects resulting from shifts in magnitude of food reward were studied in a runway conditioning experiment with female albino rats. Immediately prior to the conditioning trials, half of the fluid-deprived animals consumed a 10% sucrose solution, and half consumed a 10% sucrose solution containing 4.8% ethanol. A negative-incentive contrast effect occurred under both fluid conditions, but a positiveincentive contrast effect did not occur under either fluid condition. Thus, there was no evidence that alcohol either eliminated negative emotional reactions to downshifts in reward or contributed to positive emotional reactions to upshifts in reward. On the contrary, consuming alcohol had negative consequences on runway performance, causing the successive negative contrast effect to be more protracted than it was among the animals that did not consume alcohol. The results suggest that consuming alcohol following incentive reduction interferes with animals’ disengagement from the lost incentive.
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This research was supported by a Grant in Aid of Research from the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota. The author wishes to thank Alan Sauter, Phillip Godding, and Kathryn Kurz for their assistance in running the experiments.
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Cox, W.M. Effects of alcohol on successive incentive contrast. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 26, 67–70 (1988). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334864
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334864