Background

Ethanol exposure at early ontogeny promotes further predisposition to consume the drug. Operant conditioning allows motivational alcohol properties to be assessed. To date, the operant conditioning approach used during infancy consisted in paired subjects being trained to learn an operant response, using simultaneously a yoked partner, which received reinforcer solution as a result of a paired animal instrumental response (OYS).

New method

In our study, we attempted to evaluate ethanol reinforcing effects during PDs 15–18 in an operant conditioning schedule with a stimulus discrimination procedure (OSD), as an alternative control learning. This new proposal includes a single subject, who has to choose between an S+ nose-poke hole, which delivers the reinforcer into the mouth, or an S- nose-poke hole with no reinforcement effect.

Results

The OSD results seemed to be more reliable than those obtained using the OYS procedure, since some data appeared to be more robust when using a yoked nose-poke hole than when employing a yoked subject, such as in control learning. Consequently, OSD has the following advantages compared to the OYS procedure: a) the operant response learned is controlled by the overall behavior of the same subject, resulting in a relatively clearer data; b) a yoked animal is not necessary, thereby reducing the number of rats used in the operant conditioning procedure.

Comparison with existing methods and conclusions

A novel technique of operant conditioning adapted to infancy was developed by training animals to emit a particular response to gain access to alcohol solution as a reinforcer.

中文翻译：

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具有刺激歧视的操作性条件反射：一种评估断奶前大鼠酒精强化的替代方法

背景

在个体发育早期接触乙醇会进一步促进服用该药物的倾向。操作性条件反射可以评估激励酒精的特性。迄今为止，在婴儿期使用的操作性条件反射方法包括成对的受试者接受训练以学习操作性反应，同时使用一个被束缚的伙伴，由于配对动物工具反应 (OYS)，该伙伴接受了强化剂解决方案。

新方法

在我们的研究中，我们尝试在 PD 15-18 期间评估乙醇强化效果，在操作性条件反射计划中使用刺激辨别程序 (OSD)，作为替代控制学习。这项新提案包括一个受试者，他必须在将强化剂送入口腔的 S+ 鼻戳孔或没有强化效果的 S- 鼻戳孔之间进行选择。

结果

OSD 结果似乎比使用 OYS 程序获得的结果更可靠，因为在使用带轭的鼻子戳孔时，某些数据似乎比使用带轭的主题时更可靠，例如在控制学习中。因此，与 OYS 程序相比，OSD 具有以下优点： a) 学习到的操作性反应受同一主体的整体行为控制，从而产生相对更清晰的数据；b) 不需要带轭的动物，从而减少了操作性条件反射过程中使用的大鼠数量。

与现有方法和结论的比较

一种适用于婴儿期的操作性条件反射新技术是通过训练动物发出特定反应来获得酒精溶液作为强化剂而开发的。