Differential effects of a foodbased conditioned inhibitor on food or cocaineseeking behavior
The present experiment compared the effects of a food-based conditioned inhibitor on food seeking vs. cocaine seeking behavior. In two groups of rats, the A+/AB− Pavlovian conditioned inhibition procedure was used to create a conditioned inhibitor for food. Then, for one group of rats (Food–Food Group), a click stimulus was established as an operant discriminative stimulus (SD) for food-reinforced lever pressing. In the other group (Food–Cocaine Group), the click was established as an SD for cocaine self administration. In testing, the putative inhibitor for food was simultaneously presented with the click for the first time in both groups. In the Food–Food Group, the food-based inhibitor suppressed responding occasioned by the click significantly more than did a neutral control stimulus. In contrast, in the Food–Cocaine Group, there was no difference in the amount of suppression produced by the food-based inhibitor and the control stimulus. These results suggest that the effects of food-based Pavlovian conditioned inhibitors are specific for food-motivated behavior and do not easily transfer to cocaine motivated behavior.
