Factors governing the vulnerability of DRL operant performance to the effects of ethanol

✍ Scribed by Frank A. Holloway; Richard A. Wansley

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1973
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 707 KB
• Volume: 28
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0033-3158
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00422755

✦ Synopsis

The effects of various doses of ethanol on DRL performance was examined in rats under conditions of cued and non-cued DRL tasks and under conditions of low versus high baseline performance criteria. The dose-level at which ethanol produced a significant reduction in number of responses and reinforcements interacted in a complex fashion with level of baseline performance, the cue conditions, and the order of DRL tasks. Generally, performance was impaired at a lower dose level for groups initially trained to a low criterion of DRL performance than for groups later trained to a highel criterion of DRL performance, regardless of cue condition. Further, the dose level at which ethanol impaired performance (as indicated by number of reinforcements obtained) under non-cued DRL conditions was lower than that for the cued DRL conditions, but only on the initial task where baseline DRL performance criterion was lower. Finally, the group with a higher baseline level of responding (i.e., poorer Dt~L performance) was more vulnerable to the disrupting effects of ethanol on this measure than groups with lower baseline response rates.