Abstract
Male albino rats were trained by autoshaping in a two-bar operant for water reinforcement. A behavioral variability reinforcement contingency was then imposed in which variations in an unrestricted four-response sequence were required. LAG-5 contingencies (in which response sequences over the previous five sets could not be repeated) produced reliably high uncertainty scores, which were easily reversed by impositions of stereotypic response-reinforcement contingencies. Compared with saline-injected controls, subjects receiving i. p. injections of ethanol (0.5 g/kg) were found to show an increased uncertainty of responding in the LAG-5 contingency condition. In that previous findings suggest a decrease in uncertainty of responding under stereotypic contingencies, it is proposed that a drug variability-contingent dependency exists that may shed light on the brain mechanisms of behavioral variability.
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Crow, L.T. Alcohol effects on variability-contingent operant responding in the rat. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 26, 126–128 (1988). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334882
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334882