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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: Nebr Symp Motiv. 2009;55:91–109. doi: 10.1007/978-0-387-78748-0_6

TABLE 6.1.

DUAL-REINFORCEMENT MODEL

Response-dependent Nicotine (Contingent) Response-independent Nicotine (Non-contingent)
Primary Reinforcement Can maintain operant behavior in the absence of non-nicotine stimuli Cannot maintain operant behavior in the absence of non-nicotine stimuli
Can establish concurrent neutral environmental stimuli as conditioned reinforcers* Cannot establish concurrent neutral environmental stimuli as conditioned reinforcers*
Reinforcement Enhancement Can elevate behavior maintained by reinforcing stimuli ** Can elevate behavior maintained by reinforcing stimuli **
*

Pavlovian conditioning can theoretically be established when a neutral stimulus is temporally paired with discrete infusions of either self-administered or experimenter-administered (non-contingent) nicotine. We have opted to focus on the former because it is a better model of conditioning that may occur when humans smoke cigarettes.

**

This applies to stimuli that are unconditioned reinforcers or that have been established as conditioned reinforcers through prior pairing with nicotine or some other unconditioned reinforcer.