Drug discrimination procedures: Differential characteristics of the drug A vs drug B and the drug A vs drug B vs no drug cases

Abstract

Two groups of pigeons with a history of two choice operant drug discrimination tasks (3.0 mg/kg morphine versus 5.6 mg/kg cocaine, and 3.0 mg/kg morphine versus 3.0 mg/kg cocaine, respectively; Swedberg and Järbe 1985) were subjected to three choice tasks in which responses on a third manipulandum were reinforced in the no drug condition. Training drugs generalization gradients in both groups were similar to those normally obtained in two choice drug versus no drug tasks. The salience differences between the training stimuli within the groups observed in the previous two choice task did not differentially affect the three choice discrimination gradients. Tests with novel drugs after the introduction of the no drug condition yielded increased responding to the no drug condition with the exception of the dopamine agonist apomorphine. Results are discussed in terms of a discrimination learning model specifying principles of relative discriminative stimulus control in various discrimination cases.