Nicotine administration enhances conditioned inhibition in rats.
The effect of nicotine on conditioned inhibition was examined using a serial feature negative discrimination task. Nicotine (0.35 mg/kg) or vehicle was administered before each of the 16 training sessions. On some trials in each session, a tone was presented and followed by food reward. On other trials, the tone was preceded by a visual stimulus and not reinforced. Nicotine-treated rats exhibited greater discrimination between the two trial types as evidenced by less frequent responding during non-reinforced trials, and learned the discrimination in fewer sessions than vehicle-treated rats. In contrast, there were no group differences in responding during the reinforced trials.
MacLeod
Jill E
JE
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, 6207 Moore Hall, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.
Potter
Alexandra S
AS
Simoni
Michael K
MK
Bucci
David J
DJ
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant / Q000187:drug effects*; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D009538:Nicotine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018722:Nicotinic Agonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans
D018722:Nicotinic Agonists; D009538:Nicotine