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. 1967 Sep;10(5):485–493. doi: 10.1901/jeab.1967.10-485

Methylphenidate and stimulus control of avoidance behavior1

Roger Stretch, Nicholas Skinner
PMCID: PMC1338414  PMID: 6050059

Abstract

The introduction of a warning signal that preceded a scheduled shock modified the temporal distribution of free-operant avoidance responses. With response-shock and shock-shock intervals held constant, response rates increased only slightly when the response-signal interval was reduced. The result is consistent with Sidman's (1955) findings under different conditions, but at variance with Ulrich, Holz, and Azrin's (1964) findings under similar conditions. Methylphenidate in graded doses increased response rates, modifying frequency distributions of interresponse times. Drug treatment may have disrupted a “temporal discrimination” formed within the signal-shock interval. More simply, methylphenidate influenced response rates by increasing short response latencies after signal onset; this effect was more prominent than the drug's tendency to increase the frequency of pre-signal responses. When signal-onset preceded shock by 2 sec, individual differences in performance were marked; methylphenidate suppressed responding in one rat as a function of increasing dose levels to a greater degree than in a second animal, but both subjects received more shocks than under control conditions.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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