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Facilitation of bar pressing and “supression” of conditioned supression in cats as a function of alcohol

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Summary

Two experiments designed to test the effects of alcohol on suppression of bar pressing are reported. In Experiment I, a modified version of the conditioned suppression technique was employed. The results showed that alcohol facilitated bar-pressing both prior to and after the introduction of a fear-inducing stimulus. Experiment II was designed to test the possibility that alcohol had facilitated bar-pressing prior to the buzzer in Experiment I by reducing fear which had generalized to the entire situation. As no emotional conditioning procedures were used at all, there was no possibility of such generalization. Yet, the effects of alcohol were the same in Experiment II as in Experiment I. It was concluded that the action of alcohol here could not be interpreted within a fear-reduction framework.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of California, Los Angeles

    Patricia S. Goldman Ph.D. & Richard F. Docter Ph.D.

  2. Department of Neuropsychology, N.I.M.H., Bethesda, Md., USA

    Patricia S. Goldman Ph.D.

  3. American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C., USA

    Richard F. Docter Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Patricia S. Goldman Ph.D.
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  2. Richard F. Docter Ph.D.
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Goldman, P.S., Docter, R.F. Facilitation of bar pressing and “supression” of conditioned supression in cats as a function of alcohol. Psychopharmacologia 9, 64–72 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00427704

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00427704

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