No abstract

Four rats responded under a "self-control" procedure designed to obtain delay-discount functions within sessions. Each session consisted of seven blocks, with seven trials within each block. Each block consisted of two initial forced-choice trials followed by five free-choice trials. On choice trials, the rats could press either of two retractable levers. A press on one lever was followed by presentation of a smaller reinforcer (a single dipper presentation of a sucrose solution); a press on the other lever was followed by presentation of a larger reinforcer (four consecutive dipper presentations). The delay associated with the smaller reinforcer always was 0 s, whereas the signaled delay associated with the larger reinforcer increased across blocks (from 0 to 50 s). Under these conditions, the percentage of choices of the larger reinforcer decreased across blocks, and relatively reliable delay-discount functions were obtained within sessions. Doses of methylphenidate (1.0 to 17.0 mg/kg) and morphine (0.3 to 17.0 mg/kg) were then administered prior to selected sessions. Typically, intermediate doses of methylphenidate shifted the discount functions to the right (increased choices of the larger reinforcer). For 2 of the rats, this effect was pronounced; for the other 2 rats, this effect occurred after the range of delays for the larger reinforcer was decreased (0 to 20 s). On the other hand, in most cases morphine produced a slight leftward shift in the discount function (decreased choices of the larger reinforcer). The present procedure appears to be a useful and efficient method to characterize drug effects on an entire delay-discount function. As with many procedures used to study self-control choices, however, sources of control other than reinforcement delay and amount may have been operating in the present study, and these sources must be considered when interpreting drug effects.

Preference pulses are thought to represent strong, short-term effects of reinforcers on preference in concurrent schedules. However, the general shape of preference pulses is substantially determined by the distributions of responses-per-visit (visit lengths) for the two choice alternatives. In several series of simulations, we varied the means and standard deviations of distributions describing visits to two concurrently available response alternatives, arranged "reinforcers" according to concurrent variable-interval schedules, and found a range of different preference pulses. Because characteristics of these distributions describe global aspects of behavior, and the simulations assumed no local effects of reinforcement, these preference pulses derive from the visit structure alone. This strongly questions whether preference pulses should continue to be interpreted as representing local effects of reinforcement. We suggest an alternative approach whereby local effects are assessed by subtracting the artifactual part, which derives from visit structure, from the observed preference pulses. This yields "residual" preference pulses. We illustrate this method in application to published data from mixed dependent concurrent schedules, revealing evidence that the delivery of reinforcers had modest lengthening effects on the duration of the current visit, a conclusion that is quantitatively consistent with early research on short-term effects of reinforcement.

Identity matching-to-sample has been difficult to demonstrate in rats, but most studies have used visual stimuli. There is evidence that rats can acquire complex forms of olfactory stimulus control, and the present study explored the possibility that identity matching might be facilitated in rats if olfactory stimuli were used. Four rats were trained on an identity match-to-sample procedure with odorants mixed in cups of sand as stimuli. Digging in the sample cup produced two comparison cups, and digging in the comparison cup that contained the same scent as the sample was reinforced. When criterion accuracy levels were reached, novel stimuli were added to the baseline training regimen. All 4 rats reached terminal performance of above 90% correct matching with more than 20 different baseline stimuli and matched novel stimulus combinations with above-chance accuracy; 3 of the 4 rats matched novel stimuli at levels significantly above chance. Accurate matching performance was demonstrated both with 2- and 3-comparison procedures. These results suggest that generalized matching-to-sample can be observed in rats when olfactory stimuli are used and, furthermore, that multiple-exemplar training may be important for its emergence.

Extended pausing during discriminable transitions from rich-to-lean conditions can be viewed as escape (i.e., rich-to-lean transitions function aversively). In the current experiments, pigeons' key pecking was maintained by a multiple fixed-ratio fixed-ratio schedule of rich or lean reinforcers. Pigeons then were provided with another, explicit, mechanism of escape by changing the stimulus from the transition-specific stimulus used in the multiple schedule to a mixed-schedule stimulus (Experiment 1) or by producing a period of timeout in which the stimulus was turned off and the schedule was suspended (Experiment 2). Overall, escape was under joint control of past and upcoming reinforcer magnitudes, such that responses on the escape key were most likely during rich-to-lean transitions, and second-most likely during lean-to-lean transitions. Even though pigeons pecked the escape key, they paused before doing so, and the latency to begin the fixed ratio (i.e., the pause) remained extended during rich-to-lean transitions. These findings suggest that although the stimulus associated with rich-to-lean transitions functioned aversively, pausing is more than simply escape responding from the stimulus.