Abstract
The influence of d-amphetamine on the acquisition of light-contingent bar-pressing was assessed in rats in a two-lever operant task as a function of dose and incentive value of the sensory reinforcer. Relative to saline-injected controls, amphetamine increased the probability of discriminated responding on the active reward-bar at the 0.75 but not at the 2.50 mg/kg dosage level. Further, only at the lower dose was the effect of incentive condition significant, with animals receiving variant light-onset emitting a greater percentage of presses on the active bar than animals receiving invariant light-onset. It was concluded that low doses of amphetamine do not enhance all categories of behavior in the rat in a learning situation, but selectively facilitate only those responses directed by the reinforcement contingencies. In addition, the poor performance observed for animals injected with the higher dosage in the present experiment may have been due to the stimulated perseveration of stereotypic behavior patterns which were incompatible with the task requirements.
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This experiment was conducted during the first author's tenure as a Predoctoral Trainee in Psychology at the Gerontological Psychology Research Laboratory.
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Gomer, F.E., Jakubczak, L.F. Dose-dependent selective facilitation of response-contingent light-onset behavior by d-amphetamine. Psychopharmacologia 34, 199–208 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00421961
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00421961