The Role of Instrumental Learning in Behavioral Tolerance to Drugs

Role of dose order in the development of tolerance to effects of cocaine on schedule-controlled behavior in pigeons

“…Response rates were reduced by cocaine in the present study and, because reinforcement rate is perfectly correlated with response rate under ratio schedules reinforcement, reinforcement was also decreased. As Wolgin (1989) has noted, the reinforcement-loss view implies that subjects learn to compensate such that the loss of reinforcement is overcome. This (these) compensatory response(s) presumably comes under the stimulus control (Terrace 1966) of the drug state induced by the repeatedly experienced dose (see Carey 1973 for evidence supporting this view).…”

Experiential constraints on the development of tolerance to amphetamine hypophagia following sensitization of stereotypy: instrumental contingencies regulate the expression of sensitization

“…We have proposed that, when food is available, rats learn to suppress stereotyped movements that initially interfere with feeding (Wolgin 1989). This view derives from three primary findings.…”

Behavioural influences on benzodiazepine tolerance: when do they occur and what do they mean?

“…Such an effect is typically termed" Contingent" tolerance as tolerance is contingent upon animals receiving the drug in association with behavioural testing. Many studies indicate that contingent tolerance develops to a number of drugs in various behavioural and in vitro bioassays (Wolgin 1988). Collectively, the literature shows that for no single drug class have the necessary or sufficient conditions been established for tolerance to be behaviourally contingent (Goudie 1988).…”

“…A major weakness of the instrumental learning account of contingent tolerance is that the coping strategies thought to be instrumentally learned are hypothetical entities (Demellweek and Goudie 1983 b;Wolgin 1988). Recent studies with amphetamine (Wolgin et al 1987) included behavioural observations of animals showing tolerance to drug-induced anorexia.…”

“…Furthermore, "mere" observations of contingent tolerance tell us tittle about underlying mechanisms (Goudie 1988;Wolgin 1988). Adequate analyses of the mechanisms involved will require large scale systematic programs of experimentation.…”