BRAIN STIMULATION AS A REINFORCER: INTERMITTENT SCHEDULES

Rats with chronically implanted, bipolar electrodes in the septal and medial forebrain bundle areas, in addition to the region of the mammillary bodies of the posterior hypothalamus, were trained to press a permanently mounted lever in order to produce a second, retractable lever. Rewarding brain st...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior 1965-03, Vol.8 (2), p.75-88
Main Authors: Pliskoff, Stanley S., Wright, James E., Hawkins, T. Daryl
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brain - physiology
Cerebral Ventricles
Electric Stimulation
Electrophysiology
Extinction, Psychological
Hypothalamus
Old Medline
Rats
Reinforcement (Psychology)
Self Stimulation
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Summary:Rats with chronically implanted, bipolar electrodes in the septal and medial forebrain bundle areas, in addition to the region of the mammillary bodies of the posterior hypothalamus, were trained to press a permanently mounted lever in order to produce a second, retractable lever. Rewarding brain stimulation was programmed on the retractable lever; following completion of the programmed number of CRF response-stimulations, that lever was retracted from the box. Responding on the permanent lever could reintroduce the retractable lever. Fixed interval, fixed ratio, DRL, and variable interval schedules were programmed on the permanent lever in the range of schedule parameters often used with conventional reinforcers. Typical effects are described, and it is concluded that there are no striking differences between brain-stimulation reinforcement and the conventional reinforcers.
ISSN:0022-5002
1938-3711
DOI:10.1901/jeab.1965.8-75