Molindone: effects in pigeons responding under conditional discrimination tasks.
Pigeons were trained to respond under three conditional discrimination procedures; 1) a fixed-consecutive-number procedure with (FCN 8-SD) and without (FCN 8) an added external discriminative stimulus, 2) a delayed matching-to-sample (DMTS) procedure using 0-sec, 2-sec and 8-sec delay intervals, and 3) a repeated acquisition of behavioral chains (RA) procedure using a four-link response chain with three stimulus keys. The atypical neuroleptic agent molindone decreased accuracy under the FCN 8 at doses that had no effect on accuracy under the FCN 8-SD. Under the DMTS procedure, molindone-induced decreases in accuracy were directly related to the delay interval, with the largest relative decrements obtained at the 8-sec delay and the smallest at the 0-sec delay. Under the RA procedure, molindone decreased accuracy at doses that had little or no effect on the number of correct responses emitted. Relative to control values, molindone-induced decreases in accuracy were smallest under the DMTS and FCN 8-SD procedures and largest under the FCN 8 and RA procedures. The differential effects obtained with molindone under each of these procedures illustrate the need to employ a variety of assays when determining the behavioral actions of neuroleptics. In addition, this battery of behavioral tests may provide a useful tool for assessing the different neurochemical actions of neuroleptic compounds.
Picker
M J
MJ
Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27599-3270.
Cleary
J P
JP
Berens
K
K
Oliveto
A H
AH
Dykstra
L A
LA
D000818:Animals; D010856:Columbidae; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects*; D007211:Indoles / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008972:Molindone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule
D007211:Indoles; D008972:Molindone