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Biomedical subjects

A Poling

Publications and source records attributed to A Poling.

97 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Attenuation of ethanol intake by contingent punishment of food-maintained responding.

Two food-deprived rats responded under a concurrent fixed-ratio 12 (food) fixed-ratio 1 (8% ethanol) reinforcement schedule in which a tone occurred during every second or every fourth interpellet interval. When ethanol-maintained lever presses during the presence of the tone shifted the food schedule to one in which electric shock punishment occurred, ethanol-maintained responding consistently decreased. The decrease in the frequency of ethanol-maintained responding varied directly with shock voltage from 25 to 100 V, and occurred during intervals with the tone present and absent. These results indicate that ethanol intake may be attenuated by contingent changes in a concurrent food schedule.

Alcohol Drinking↗

Effects of feeding regimen on ethanol intake by guinea pigs.

During daily two-hr sessions, guinea pigs licked a drinking tube filled with either 0 (tap water), 2,4 or 8% (v/v) ethanol solution under three feeding regimens. Consumption of each solution was highest when sufficient food to maintain subjects at 90% of free-feeding weight was provided during sessions, lower when the same food ration was provided after sessions, and lowest when ad lib access to food was provided within and between sessions. However, this decrease in consumption across feeding regimens was inversely related to ethanol concentration. Under all feeding regimens, volume of solution consumed decreased with increasing ethanol concentration while milligrams ethanol consumed increased with ethanol concentration. These results are similar in some respects to previous findings with rats and monkeys, suggesting that further studies of oral ethanol self-administration by guinea pigs may be merited.

Alcohol Drinking↗

Suppression of ethanol-reinforced lever pressing by delaying food availability.

When food was initially available to rats under a fixed-interval 26-second schedule and each liquid-reinforced lever press delayed food availability 8 seconds, suppression of liquid-reinforced lever pressing and liquid consumption occurred when the liquid presented was 4, 8, 16, 32, and 0% ethanol. Suppression did not occur in yoked-control animals, which received food coincidentally with experimental animals but were not directly exposed to the delay dependency. After exposure to the food schedule, each ethanol solution served as a reinforcer in the absence of food presentation. Delaying food availability for increasingly long periods (8 to 2048 seconds) suppressed ethanol-reinforced lever pressing and consumption relative to baseline levels, with the maximum decrease being below the level maintained in the absence of food. However, degree of suppression did not increase monotonically with delay length. Liquid-reinforced performance of yoked-control animals indicated that suppression did not result from changes in the sequencing of food presentation alone.

Alcohol Drinking↗

MDMA and d-amphetamine produce comparable effects in pigeons performing under a multiple fixed-ratio interresponse-time-greater-than-t schedule of food delivery.

The purpose of this study was to gain further information about the behavioral effects of (+/-) 3.4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) on schedule-controlled responding. MDMA (0.32, 0.56, 1.0, 3.2, 5.6, and 10 mg/kg) and d-amphetamine (0.32, 0.56, 1.0, 3.2, 5.6, and 10 mg/kg) were administered to pigeons performing under a multiple fixed-ratio 30 (FR 30) interresponse-time-greater-than-15-s (IRT > 15-s) schedule of food delivery. In general, both drugs had no significant effect on response rates under the IRT > 15-s component at doses that decreased rates under the FR component. Results of the present experiment indicate that under some conditions MDMA and d-amphetamine produce similar, and rate-dependent, effects.

Animals↗

Reporting of medication regimen in applied studies of persons with mental retardation and ADHD.

The present survey determined whether articles describing attempts to alter behavior in people with mental retardation and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (a) reported whether or not participants were receiving medications, (b) evaluated drugs as independent variables, and (c) evaluated (or discussed) interactions between pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments. All behavior-change articles published from 1991 through 1995 in 10 major journals were evaluated. In contrast to the results of earlier surveys, nearly 40% of studies involving participants with mental retardation provided information about medication. This change appears to represent a significant methodological improvement. Nearly 60% of articles involving persons with ADHD provided information about medication. Studies of drugs were common when participants were people with ADHD, but not when they were people with mental retardation. The psychopharmacology of mental retardation continues to be a small, but important, research area. Studies examining treatment interactions were rare, regardless of participants' characteristics. Given that pharmacological treatments may alter participants' sensitivity to nonpharmacological interventions, further research in this area is sorely needed.

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗