TY - JOUR
T1 - An analysis of the utility of differential outcome procedures in drug discrimination research
AU - Goodwin, A. K.
AU - Baker, Lisa E.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2002/7
Y1 - 2002/7
N2 - In differential outcomes procedures, the correlation of unique reinforcers with distinct discriminative stimuli can decrease the amount of time needed for response acquisition and improve terminal accuracy of responding. The drug discrimination assay is widely used to categorize psychoactive drugs as similar or dissimilar and to describe underlying neurochemical changes associated with drug administration. Because the drug discrimination assay relies heavily upon initial response acquisition and continuing terminal accuracy, a procedure successful at shortening acquisition time and improving terminal accuracy would be beneficial. The present studies examined differences in acquisition of drug stimulus control between rats exposed to differential outcome procedures and rats exposed to the outcomes, in a non-systematic way, in two experiments. The first experiment examined acquisition of control by (±)-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), D-amphetamine and saline; the second examined control by MDMA, (+)-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and saline. Neither initial acquisition nor terminal accuracy was influenced by differential outcomes in either experiment. Although the differential outcome effect has been demonstrated in many situations, it does not appear to be useful in the drug discrimination assay. Possible reasons for the lack of an observed effect are discussed.
AB - In differential outcomes procedures, the correlation of unique reinforcers with distinct discriminative stimuli can decrease the amount of time needed for response acquisition and improve terminal accuracy of responding. The drug discrimination assay is widely used to categorize psychoactive drugs as similar or dissimilar and to describe underlying neurochemical changes associated with drug administration. Because the drug discrimination assay relies heavily upon initial response acquisition and continuing terminal accuracy, a procedure successful at shortening acquisition time and improving terminal accuracy would be beneficial. The present studies examined differences in acquisition of drug stimulus control between rats exposed to differential outcome procedures and rats exposed to the outcomes, in a non-systematic way, in two experiments. The first experiment examined acquisition of control by (±)-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), D-amphetamine and saline; the second examined control by MDMA, (+)-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and saline. Neither initial acquisition nor terminal accuracy was influenced by differential outcomes in either experiment. Although the differential outcome effect has been demonstrated in many situations, it does not appear to be useful in the drug discrimination assay. Possible reasons for the lack of an observed effect are discussed.
KW - Conditional discriminations
KW - Differential outcome effect
KW - Differential outcome procedure
KW - Drug discrimination
KW - Operant conditioning
KW - Rat
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U2 - 10.1097/00008877-200207000-00003
DO - 10.1097/00008877-200207000-00003
M3 - Article
C2 - 12218507
AN - SCOPUS:0036633355
SN - 0955-8810
VL - 13
SP - 271
EP - 278
JO - Behavioural Pharmacology
JF - Behavioural Pharmacology
IS - 4
ER -