Behavioral variability (BV) is proposed as a general adaptation process to environmental changes related to adjustments for the search of reinforcement sources. During extinction procedures, BV is reflected by increases of the number, topography, or sequences of behaviors. Inhibitory drugs have been found to decrease BV during radial arm-maze extinction procedures. The present research explores the effect of an excitatory drug, nicotine, on BV. Chronic and acute administration of 0.04 mg/kg of nicotine were evaluated for Radial Arm-Maze acquisition and extinction procedures. Both chronic and acute nicotine during extinction diminished behavioral indicators of accuracy and performance. In addition, chronic nicotine administration, but not acute, improved the pattern of acquisition in the task. Nicotine effects during extinction are interpreted in terms of BV-related dimensions and enhancement for the search of potential novel reinforcement sources after the loss of learned reinforcement places. Interestingly, the present nicotine effects on BV, opposite to previous reports using inhibitory drugs, suggest the hypothesis that excitatory and inhibitory drugs might differentially affect general BV neurochemical mechanisms for Radial Arm- Maze extinction.

行为变异性（BV）被提出作为对环境变化的一般适应过程，该过程与寻找钢筋源的调整有关。在灭绝过程中，BV通过数量，地形或行为序列的增加来反映。已发现在radial臂迷宫灭绝过程中抑制药物可降低BV。本研究探讨了兴奋剂尼古丁对BV的影响。评估了0.04 mg / kg尼古丁的慢性和急性给药，以进行放射状迷宫采集和消灭程序。灭绝过程中的慢性和急性尼古丁都会降低准确性和性能的行为指标。此外，长期（而非急性）尼古丁给药改善了任务中的获取方式。灭绝过程中的尼古丁效应是根据与BV相关的尺寸和增强的意义来解释的，这些信息是在失去学习的加固位点后寻找潜在的新型加固源的。有趣的是，目前的尼古丁对BV的影响与先前使用抑制性药物的报道相反，提出了以下假设：兴奋性和抑制性药物可能会不同地影响放射状迷宫灭绝的一般BV神经化学机制。