title: Characteristics of spatiotemporal integration in the priming and rewarding effects of medial forebrain bundle stimulation.
abstract: Only the function relating the required pulse frequency to the interburst interval discriminates between the priming effect and the rewarding effect: Separating two short bursts of pulses has no effect on their combined rewarding effect, but it enhances their priming effect. There are significant nonscalar differences between animals in the number-current and charge-duration functions for priming and reward, but there are no significant differences in these functions between effects within animals. Substantially more electrical-stimulation is required to produce good priming than to produce a reward that sustains maximum possible levels of performance. These findings suggest that the priming effect is a transient excitement generated by the receipt of one or more very large rewards. The discussion elaborates a model that reconciles this hypothesis with the earlier finding that the rewarding effect may be blocked pharmacologically without blocking priming.
authors.affiliation: University of Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sax
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Gallistel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D008297:Male; D008474:Medial Forebrain Bundle / Q000502:physiology*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology; D009042:Motivation; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D011601:Psychophysics; D051381:Rats; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012653:Self Stimulation / Q000502:physiology*; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000502:physiology*; D013998:Time Perception / Q000502:physiology*