title: Effects of methamphetamine on duration discrimination.
abstract: Experiments 1 and 2 address the controversy regarding the reliability of methamphetamine effects on interval timing. A temporal discrimination procedure was used, in which the rats were reinforced for pressing the left or the right levers after short and long signals, respectively. Methamphetamine (0.5 mg/kg sc) severely disrupted operant performance at 20-100 min after injection, which disabled the measurement of drug effects on temporal perception (Experiment 1). The same dose of methamphetamine shifted the psychometric function to the left at 100-180 min after injection, indicating an increase in subjective durations (Experiment 2). Although these results confirm the role of dopamine in interval timing, that a change in the speed of a neural clock mediates the methamphetamine-induced change in temporal perception is still a working hypothesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Indiana University at Bloomington, USA. cevik@ibu.edu.tr
authors.forename: Münire Ozlem
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Cevik
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000187:drug effects*; D004298:Dopamine / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D013998:Time Perception
chemical_list: D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D008694:Methamphetamine; D004298:Dopamine