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- Title
The Effects of Cocaine on Pigeons' Choices between Fixed-Ratio And Geometrically Escalating Schedules: A Preliminary Study.
- Authors
Halper, Elizabeth; Neuman, Paul
- Abstract
Choice patterns over time in situations of diminishing returns have been compared to computations based on the Sums-of-Reciprocals Principle or the Linear Optimality Principle. The present experiment was designed to examine the effect of cocaine on choice in situations of diminishing returns, using the above averaging techniques for reference lines to identify potential invariances. After determining appropriate dosages, pigeons were exposed to a concurrent-chains schedule in which brief initial links led to either of two terminal links. One terminal link consisted of 15 responses (FR 15), and the other was a geometrically increasing progressive-ratio schedule (GPR) whose rate of escalation was determined with a multiplier of 1.15. A selection of the FR schedule reset the GPR to its initial response requirement of five. Consistent with earlier research, computations based on the sums-of-reciprocals principal better described choice patterns during baseline (nondrug) conditions. However, patterns shifted towards the reference line generated using the linear optimality averaging principle during the drug conditions. Although neither technique precisely accounted for behavior, it is clear that behavior patterns were systematically altered by cocaine in a way that indicated sensitivity to reinforcement prospects over longer periods of time than the sums-of-reciprocals principle predicts. Marked residual effects on choice were also visible during the return to baseline, as behavior patterns were slow or did not return to those during initial baseline. This study provided a preliminary analysis of the effects of cocaine on choice in situations involving diminishing returns.
- Subjects
COCAINE; PIGEONS; BIRD behavior; LOCAL anesthetics; NARCOTICS; TROPANES
- Publication
Behavior Analyst Today, 2004, Vol 5, Issue 3, p218
- ISSN
1539-4352
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1037/h0100036