Control Rate of Response or Reinforcement and Amphetamine's Effect on Behavior

Abstract

The roles of control response rate and reinforcement frequency in producing amphetamine's effect on operant behavior were evaluated independently in rats. Two multiple schedules were arranged in which one variable, either response rate or reinforcement frequency, was held constant and the other variable manipulated. A multiple differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate seven-second yoked variable-interval schedule was used to equate reinforcement frequencies at different control response rates between multiple-schedule components. Amphetamine increased responding under the variable-interval component. In contrast, amphetamine decreased responding equivalently between components of a multiple random-ratio schedule that produced similar control response rates at different reinforcement frequencies. The results provide experimental support to the rate-dependency principle that control rate of responding is an important determinant of amphetamine's effect on operant behavior.

A Pharmacological Examination of the Resistance‐to‐change Hypothesis of Response Strength

“…In the present study, reinforcement rate was not a consistent predictor of relative changes in response rate. These data are consistent with those of Lucki and DeLong (1983) who exposed rats to a multiple random-ratio (RR) 20 RR 50 schedule of reinforcement. This schedule produced similar response rates but with different reinforcement rates.…”

“…Pharmacological agents have been shown to disrupt operant baselines by increasing and decreasing response rates. Amphetamine, for example, has been shown to increase low response rates maintained by DRL and fixedinterval (FI) schedules of reinforcement (Clark & Steele, 1966;Heffner, Drawbaugh, & Zigmond, 1974;Lucki & DeLong, 1983;McMillan, 1979;McMillan & Healey, 1976;363 1986, 46, 363-379 NUMBER 3 (NOVEMBER) 'Zimmerman & Schuster, 1962) and to decrease or not affect high response rates maintained by variable-ratio, VI, and fixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement (Clark & Steele, 1966;Heffner et al, 1974;Lucki, 1983;Lucki & DeLong, 1983;Owen, 1960). These data have supported the rate-dependency hypothesis, which argues that control rate of response determines a drug's effect on response rate (e.g., Dews & Wenger, 1977).…”

DSP4 alters the effect of d-amphetamine on variable-interval performance: analysis in terms of Herrnstein's equation

“…The dose-related suppressant effect of d-amphetamine on variable-interval performance is in agreement with numerous previous reports (e.g. Sanger and Blackman 1975;Bradshaw et al 1981b;Lucki 1983;Lucki and DeLong 1983;Morley et al 1985, •987). The separation of the dose-effect curves obtained with the two schedules indicates that for any given dose of d-amphetamine, the degree of suppression was greater when performance was maintained under the higher reinforcement frequency; this is in agreement with our previous observations using different pairs of variable-interval schedules (Morley et al 1985(Morley et al , 1987, and is consistent with d-amphetamine's ability to reduce the values of both parameters of Herrnstein's equation (see Introduction; also Bradshaw et al 1981 b;Morley et al 1985).…”

An Integrative Model for the Study of Behavioral Momentum

“…Both Cohen (1986) and Lucki and DeLong (1983) studied the effects of various drugs on rats in multiple schedules in which the components differed in reinforcer rate, and found no difference between components in the resistance of response rate to drug effects. However, Hughes and Branch (1991) have reported acute effects of cocaine injections on monkeys' performances in three-component multiple fixedratio (FR) schedules that are consistent with the results reviewed above.…”