Alcohol and removal of reward. An analytical study of rodent maze behavior.

Miller, Neal E.; Miles, Walter R.

doi:10.1037/h0056444

Cited by 25 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(14 reference statements)

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“…Several experiments have studied the effects of alcohol and Sodium Amytal on "inhibition" produced by nonreinforcement. Miller and Miles (1936) reported that 800 mg/kg alcohol during food-rewarded training increased the incidence of previously nonrewarded, and thus presumably "inhibited," entrances into goal-pointing blind alleys in a maze. Blough (1956) has reported that alcohol and sodium pentobarbital decreased the inhibitory effect of a signal for nonreward.…”

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confidence: 99%

Effects of alcohol and amobarbital on performance inhibited by experimental extinction.

Barry¹,

Ar²,

Ne³

1962

Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology

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confidence: 99%

Effects of alcohol and amobarbital on performance inhibited by experimental extinction.

Barry¹,

Ar²,

Ne³

1962

Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology

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“…On the one hand, Denenberg, Pawlowski, & Zarrow (1961) report that shifting from placebo to alcohol did not result in a response decrement; whereas , Miller & Miles (1936), and Nelson & Wollen (1965) report a response decrement after the shift to alcohol. On the other hand, Nelson & Wollen (1965) also report that shifting from alcohol to placebo results in a greater response decrement than shifting from placebo to alcohol.…”

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confidence: 99%

The immediate and long-term effect on runway performance of reversing ethanol and dextrose conditions

Schalock

Wollen

1966

Psychon Sci

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These contradictory findings and their explanations are difficult to interpret due to: Lack of non-reversed control groups (Nelson & Wollen, 1965); inadequate control of injected alcohol (Denenberg et aI, 1961); and use of alcohol solutions whose concentrations not only differ, but were potentially too weak to reflect the alcohol's effects. The study reported below is a further attempt to determine the effects of shifting from alcohol to placebo. and vice versa, by controlling the weaknesses reported above. METHOD SubjectsThe Ss were 40 naive, male, hooded rats from the Washington state University colony. The Ss, which ranged from 90-116 days old at the beginning of deprivation, were maintained on a 23-hr. food and water deprivation schedule. ApparatusThe apparatus used was a straight alley 60 in. long, divided into a 12-in. start box (SB), a 36-in. alley, and a 12-in. goal box (GB). Inside alley dimensions were 3.5 in. wide and 4.7 in. high. The apparatus was painted flat black throughout, and the entire runway was covered by elear Plexiglas. Two guillotine doors separated the SB from the alley. The door nearest the SB was transparent, whereas the one nearest the alley was opaque. An opaque door separated the GB from the runway.Psychon. Sci.. 1966. Vol. 4 Pretraining ROBERT L. SCHALOCKl AND KEITH A. WOLLEN WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITYPretraining consisted of (1) handling each animal 3 min. daily from the fifth to the fourteenth day of deprivation; (2) feeding each animal 10 97 mg Noyes reward pellets immediately prior to his daily ad lib feeding from the tenth to the fourteenth day of deprivation; (3) injecting each animal with ethanol (1.5 cc of a 30% by volume ethanol and distilled water solution per 100 gm of body weight) from Day 10 to Day 14 of deprivation; and (4) allowing Ss, in groups of 3, to run freely in the apparatus for an hour per day from Days 11 to 13 of deprivation, and alone for 15 min. on Day 14. TrainingDuring training each S was weighed immediately before running, and depending upon the group to which he belonged was injected with 1.5 cc/100 gm of either a 30% ethanol and water solution or a caloricequivalent (54.86 gm/100 ml of water) dextrose solution. Both solutions were heated to 101 0 before being given. Fluid administered was by stomach loading, using a Baxter K-31 Infant Feeding Tube with syringe.The training phase consisted of 45 trials per S, 5 the first day and 10 on each of the 4 successive days. The procedure for each trial was as follows. The S was taken from a waiting cage and placed in the start box. The opaque door was opened as soon as the S oriented towards it. Exactly 1 sec. later, the second (transparent) door was raised automatically. When the S reacheQ the GB, the GB door was lowered to prevent retracing. Following the consumption of one 97 mg Noyes pellet the animal was placed in a waiting cage for an intertrial interval of 70 sec., following which another trial was given.The response measure used was the time required to run from the interception of a light-beam 6 in....

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“…However, although the main effect of alcohol is apparently cortical (37), there is ample evidence to show that, unlike the barbiturates, which appear to have a selective action on specific structures, alcohol is a general depressant acting both peripherally and centrally (38). For example, alcohol impairs maze running efficiency in rats (39,40,41,42,43,44) @although it may be, since the animals were in most cases given intensive doses of alcohol over an extended period, that the impairment in learning is not a temporary effect of the alcohol directly butâ€"as with brain damaged individuals â€"¿ aresult of some permanent damage originated by the alcohol. This is one reason why studies of conditioning in alcoholics may be of limited value; it is only by studying the effects of controlled doses of alcohol on normal humans that the properties of alcohol may be discovered.…”

Section: Experimentalstudiesof Alcohol In Relationto Learning and Conmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alcohol, Alcoholism and Conditioning: A Review of the Literature and Some Theoretical Considerations

Franks

1958

J. ment. sci

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Alcoholism is a grave social, economic and psychiatric problem which has attracted the attention of countless research workers and theorists. From a survey of the recent literature two conclusions emerge. Firstly, that there is at present no general agreement as to the aetiology, dynamics and treatment of alcoholism (1). Secondly, that the inadequacies of the majority of the experiments reported are such that the findings are often difficult to interpret and highly limited in their value (2, 3). In many cases the conclusions do not follow from the data; in others they are impossible to evaluate because insufficient procedural details are given; other studies attempt to answer a large number of questions and answer none adequately; some findings are based upon extremely small or atypical samples while others are based upon experiments open to such obvious criticisms that serious consideration is unwarranted. Many of these studies are apparently the by-product of the busy clinician's experiences and consequently lacking in rigour of any description. Remarkably few are predictive in their techniques or based upon any clearly formulated and testable theory. It is hardly surprising that so many fail to satisfy the usual criteria of acceptable scientific research (4).

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Alcohol and removal of reward. An analytical study of rodent maze behavior.

Cited by 25 publications

References 9 publications

Effects of alcohol and amobarbital on performance inhibited by experimental extinction.

Effects of alcohol and amobarbital on performance inhibited by experimental extinction.

The immediate and long-term effect on runway performance of reversing ethanol and dextrose conditions

Alcohol, Alcoholism and Conditioning: A Review of the Literature and Some Theoretical Considerations

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