A microcomputer-based method for physiologically interpretable measurement of the rewarding efficacy of brain stimulation.
Determination of the function relating rate of pressing to the number of pulses in a train of fixed duration (the rate-frequency function) yields a physiologically interpretable measure of changes in the rewarding efficacy of the stimulation, because the number of action potentials in the reward-relevant first stage axons is directly proportional to the number of pulses in the train. We describe a system, based on a low cost microcomputer, which permits determination of 16-data-point rate-frequency functions in 4-6 animals simultaneously in less than 10 minutes. We give an empirical and theoretical justification for using the curve-shift measurement procedure in drug and lesion work, where the experimental treatments must be presumed to have substantial effects on performance factors.
D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D003201:Computers; D008838:Microcomputers; D011594:Psychometrics; D011600:Psychopharmacology / Q000379:methods*; D011603:Psychophysiology / Q000379:methods*; D051381:Rats; D012201:Reward; D012653:Self Stimulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D012984:Software