title: The effects of social contact on cocaine intake under extended-access conditions in male rats.
abstract: Social learning theories of drug use propose that drug use is influenced by the behavior of peers. We previously reported that cocaine self-administration under limited-access conditions can be either facilitated or inhibited by social contact, depending on the behavior of a peer. The purpose of this study was to determine whether social contact influences cocaine self-administration under conditions that are more representative of problematic patterns of drug use. Male rats were assigned to either isolated or pair-housed conditions in which a social partner either had access to cocaine or did not have access to cocaine. Pair-housed rats were tested in custom-built operant conditioning chambers that allowed both rats to be tested simultaneously in the same chamber. In Experiment 1, rats were tested for 14 consecutive days during daily 6-hr test sessions. In Experiment 2, different doses of cocaine were tested in 23-hr test sessions conducted every 3 days. All groups of rats escalated their cocaine intake in Experiment 1; however, pair-housed rats with a partner without access to cocaine had lower levels of intake throughout the 14 days of testing. In Experiment 2, pair-housed rats with a partner without access to cocaine had lower levels of cocaine intake than did rats with a partner with access to cocaine, and this effect was observed at all doses of cocaine tested. These data indicate that the behavior of a social partner (i.e., whether or not that partner is also self-administering cocaine) influences cocaine self-administration under conditions that model problematic patterns of drug use. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Davidson College.
authors.forename: Andrea M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Franklin and Marshall College.
authors.forename: Ryan T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Lacy
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky.
authors.forename: Justin C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Strickland
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Davidson College.
authors.forename: Charlotte P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Magee
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Davidson College.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003042:Cocaine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003216:Conditioning, Operant; D008297:Male; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012646:Self Administration; D012919:Social Behavior
chemical_list: D003042:Cocaine