Abstract
Albino rats were trained in a two-bar LAG-5 reinforcement schedule in which the previous five four-response sequences could not be repeated. Accounting for order, on different days, the animals were given ethanol (0,.4, and.8 g/kg) 10-min prior to the operant sessions and measures were made of total responses per minute for 16 min. Fourier transforms of the data for each animal showed that although alcohol diminished response rate, it did not diminish response variability. The data are compared with Fourier analyses of alcohol effects on CRF reinforcement schedules for which alcohol is shown to diminish both rate and variability of responding. The possible importance of this differential effect of alcohol on variability of responding is discussed.
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Crow, L.T., McKinley, P.J. Time-series analysis of response rates: Alcohol effects on variability-contingent operants. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 27, 573–575 (1989). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334673
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03334673