Table Of Contentstimulus Properties of
Drugs
stimulus Properties of
Drugs
EDITORS
TRAVIS THOMPSON
Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
ROY PICKENS
Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
PLENUM PRESS • NEW YORK AND LONDON
library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Thompson, Travis I
Stimulus properties of drugs.
Reprint of the edition published by Appleton-Century-Crofts, New Y ork.
Inc1udes bibliographies and index.
1. Psychopharmacology. 2. Stimulants. I. Title. [DNLM: 1. Behavior-Drug effects.
2. Psychopharmacology. QV77 T48s 1
RM315.T461975 615'.785 74-30439
ISBN 978-1-4757-0790-8 ISBN 978-1-4757-0788-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4757-0788-5
© 1971 Plenum Press, New York
A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation
227 West 17th Street, New York, N.Y. 10011
Softcover reprint of the hardcover I st edition 1971
United Kingdom edition published by Plenum Press, London
A Division of Plenum Publishing Company, Ltd.
4a Lower John Street, London, WIR 3PD, England
All righ ts reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfIlming,
recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
DEDICATION
To the members of the Behavioral Pharmacology Society
Contributors
ROBERT L. BALSTER, Behavioral Pharmacology Section, Texas Research
Institute, Houston Texas
GEORGE E. BIGELOW, Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, Minnesota
JOSEPH V. BRADY, Division of Behavioral Biology, The Johns Hopkins
University, Baltimore, Maryland
A. CHARLES CATANIA, Department of Psychology, New York University,
New York, New York
PETER B. DEWS, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston,
Massachusetts
JOHN A. DOUGHERTY, Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, Minnesota
STEVEN R. GOLDBERG, Department of Pharmacology, Harvard Medical
School, Boston, Massachusetts
ROBERT T. HARRIS, Behavioral Pharmacology Section, Texas Research
Institute, Houston, Texas
HOWARD F. HUNT, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New
York, New York
KENNETH MacCORQUODALE, Department of Psychology, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
J. BRUCE OVERMIER, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, Minnesota
DONALD A. OVERTON, Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, Philadel
phia, Pennsylvania
vii
viii Contributors
JORGE PEREZ-CRUET, Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacology, The National
Heart Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
ROY PICKENS, Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
CHARLES R. SCHUSTER, Department of Psychiatry, University of Chicago,
Chicago, Illinois
TRAVIS THOMPSON, Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, University
of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
MILTON A. TRAPOLD, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota,
Minneapolis, Minnesota
JAMES H. WOODS, Department of Pharmacology, University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor, Michigan
contents
CONTRIBUTORS Vll
PREFACE Xl
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Xlll
Section 1 INTRODUCTION 1
Interoceptive Stimulus Control of Behavior
Travis Thompson and Roy Pickens 3
Section 2 UNCONDITIONED STIMULUS FUNCTIONS
OF DRUGS 13
2 Drug Conditioning and Drug Effects on
Cardiovascular Conditional Functions
Jorge Perez-Cruet 15
3 Conditioning of the Activity Effects of Drugs
Roy Pickens and John A. Dougherty 39
4 Nalorphine: Conditioning of Drug Effects
on Operant Performance
Steven Robert Goldberg 51
5 Unconditioned Stimulus Functions of Drugs:
Interpretations
I. Howard F. Hunt 73
II. Milton A. Trapold 79
Section 3 DISCRIMINATIVE STIMULUS FUNCTIONS
OF DRUGS 85
6 Discriminative Control of Behavior
by Drug States
Donald A. Overton 87
ix
x Contents
7 An Analysis of the Function of Drugs in the
Stimulus Control of Operant Behavior
Robert T. Hanis and Robert L. Balater III
8 The Discriminative Control of a Food Reinforced
Operant by Interoceptive Stimulation
Charles R. Schuster and Joaeph V. Brady 133
9 Discriminative Stimulus Functions of Drugs:
Interpretations
I. A. Charles Catania 149
II. J. Bruce Ovennier 157
Section 4 REINFORCING STIMULUS FUNCTIONS OF
DRUGS 161
10 Opiates as Reinforcing Stimuli
James H. Woods and Charles R. Schuster 163
11 Characteristics of Stimulant Drug Reinforcement
Roy Poens and Travis Thompson 177
12 Environmental Variables Influencing Drug Self-
Administration
Travis Thompson, George Bigelow, and Roy Pickens 193
13 Reinforcing Stimulus Functions of Drugs:
Interpretations
I. Peter B. Dews 209
II. Kenneth MacCorquodaie 215
Index 219
Preface
Behavioral pharmacology represents a relatively recent scientific enterprise,
the development of which can be followed by plotting the publication of major
conceptual papers, review articles, and books. Dews (1955), Sidman (1955), and
Brady (1956) published some of the first methodologically significant papers,
changing the way both psychologists and pharmacologists viewed the analysis of
the behavioral actions of drugs. Dews and Morse (1961), Cook and Kelleher
(1963), Gollub and Brady (1965), and Weiss and Laties (1969) kept the field
abreast of major developments in the study of behavioral mechanisms of drug
action. In 1968, the first textbook in the field was published (Thompson and
Schuster), followed by a book of readings covering the preceding 15 years of the
field (Thompson, Pickens, and Meisch, 1970). The first attempt to outline a set
of generalizations concerning behavioral mechanisms of drug actions was
puhlished in 1968 by Kelleher and Morse.
As behavioral pharmacology developed, it became clear that demonstrations
that drugs affect hehavior were relatively uninteresting. It was the mechanisms
by which these effects are hrought about that was of concern. While other
aspects of pharmacology have been concerned with biochemical, physiological,
and in some cases biophysical accounts of drug actions, behavioral pharmacology
has dealt with behavioral mechanisms ... that is, "any verifiable description of a
drug's effects which can he shown to uniquely covary with a specific measured
'response'. Generally, this relation can be subsumed under some more general set
of relations or principles" (Thompson, Pickens, and Meisch, 1970, p. I).
Among the behavioral mechanisms by which drugs can affect behavior, one
which has received considerable attention in recent years has been that drugs can
serve as stimuli. Thus, much as visual and auditory stimuli can control behavior,
drug-induced interoceptive stimulation can alter behavior as well. This book was
an effort to bring together investigators working in the field, and to review their
own and other findings concerning the possible stimulus functions drugs may
serve. The major topics reported include eliciting, discriminative, and reinforcing
Xl
XII Preface
functions of drugs. The findings have been exciting, revealing a new way of
approaching the analysis of the highly complex interactions of drugs with
environmental events to control behavior. Most revealing, in the words of one of
the contributors to this volume, " ... These results seem most remarkable to me
for their congruence with the effects of other stimulus manipulations .... This
orderliness and consistency pleases me, because it reassures me about the
sensitivity and generality of our laboratory procedures, and the validity of our
generalizations .... " (MacCorquodale, p. 217). This represents the importance
of the work reported here. These data are part of a systematic approach to relate
behavioral actions of drugs to principles and generalizations concerning behavior.
It is this generality which makes them worthy of attention.
The editors are deeply indebted to the contributors to this volume, for their
diligence and patience in arriving at a final publishable form of the book.
Particular thanks goes to Gordon T. Heistad who was involved in the initial
conception of the book, for his work in the early phases of organizing the book,
contacting authors, and for his advice and guidance to the editors. The
conceptual framework of the volume reflects our basic indebtedness to B.F.
Skinner to whom our gratitude cannot be simply expressed. In addition, we
want to thank Peter Dews, Roger Kelleher, William Morse, Charles R. Schuster,
Lewis Gollub, Bernard Weiss, and Victor Laties for their contributions to our
approach to behavioral pharmacology. We are grateful to them for all their work
and writings which have shaped our thinking.
Brady, J.V. A comparative approach to the evaluation of drug effects upon affective
behavior. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci., 1956,64,632-643.
Cook, L. and Kelleher, R.T. Effects of drugs on behavior. Ann. Rev. Pharmacol., 1963,3,
205·222.
Dews, P.B. Studies on behavior. I. Differential sensitivity to pentobarbital of pecking
performance in pigeons depending on the schedule of reward. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther.,
1955,113,393-40l.
Dews, P.B. and Morse, W.H. Behavioral pharmacology. Ann. Rev. Pharmacol., 1961, 1,
145·174.
Gollub, L.R. and Brady, J.V. Behavioral pharmacology. Ann. Rev. Pharmacol., 1965, 5,
235-262.
Kelleher, R.T. and Morse, W.H. Determinants of the specificity of behavioral effects of
drugs. Ergebnisse der Physiologie, 1968,60, I-56.
Sidman, M. Technique for assessing the effects of drugs on timing behavior. Science, 1955,
122,925.
Thompson, T. and Schuster, C.R. Behavioral Pharmacology. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.,
Prentice-Hall, Inc. 1968.
Thompson, T., Pickens, R., and Meisch, R.A. Readings in Behavioral Pharmacology. New
York, A ppleton-Century·Crofts, 1970.
Weiss, B. and Laties, V.G. Behavioral pharmacology and toxicology. Ann. Rev. Pharmacol.,
1969,9,297-326.
Travis Thompson and Roy Pickens
Minneapolis, Minnesota
April 20, 1971
