EFFECTS OF PENTOBARBITAL ON FIXED-RATIO REINFORCEMENT

Certain doses of pentobarbital consistently increased the rate of pecking engendered by a fixed-ratio schedule of 30 responses in a group of 13 pigeons, and still higher doses produced decrements in rate of responding. For individual subjects, the dose-effect functions were qualitatively similar, bu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior 1963-01, Vol.6 (1), p.125-130
Main Authors: Waller, Marcus B., Morse, W. H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Columbidae
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
Learning
Old Medline
Pentobarbital
Reinforcement (Psychology)
Reinforcement Schedule
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Summary:Certain doses of pentobarbital consistently increased the rate of pecking engendered by a fixed-ratio schedule of 30 responses in a group of 13 pigeons, and still higher doses produced decrements in rate of responding. For individual subjects, the dose-effect functions were qualitatively similar, but differed with respect to the doses producing the maximum increase and subsequent decrease in rate. In general, the maximum occurred at lower doses and the decrement was greater at the highest dose in the birds with the highest control rates. It was also possible to distinguish between the effects of pentobarbital and several other drugs on the behavior maintained by FR 30. The results indicate that changes in rate of responding on FR 30 after drug administration are dose-dependent, drug-specific effects.
ISSN:0022-5002
1938-3711
DOI:10.1901/jeab.1963.6-125