Drug effects on responding maintained by stimulus-reinforcer and response-reinforcer contingencies.
The effects of pentobarbital and d-amphetamine were assessed on key pecking by pigeons under conventional single-key multiple schedules and under two-key multiple schedules in which discriminative stimuli appeared on one key (stimulus key) while pecks on a second key (constant key) produced food. Pecks on the stimulus key had no scheduled consequences. A 60-second variable-interval schedule operated in one component of each multiple schedule: either extinction or a 60-second variable-time schedule operated in the alternate component. When the alternate-component schedule was extinction, a high rate of responding was maintained in the variable-interval component of the single-key schedule; responding on both keys was maintained in the variable-interval component of the two-key schedule. Pentobarbital increased responding in the variable-interval component of the single-key schedule and increased stimulus-key, but not constant-key responding in that component of the two-key schedule. When the alternate-component schedule was changed to variable time, responding declined in the variable-interval component of the single-key schedule; stimulus-key responding was no longer maintained under the two-key schedule. Pentobarbital decreased responding in the variable-interval component of both schedules. With an exception, d-amphetamine only decreased responding in the variable-interval component of the single- and two-key schedules both when the alternate-component schedule was extinction and when it was variable time. The results suggest that the effects of pentobarbital, but not d-amphetamine, depend on the nature of the contingency (stimulus-reinforcer, response-reinforcer) that maintains responding.
D000818:Animals; D010856:Columbidae; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000187:drug effects*; D003913:Dextroamphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005108:Extinction, Psychological; D008297:Male; D010424:Pentobarbital / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology
D010424:Pentobarbital; D003913:Dextroamphetamine