Alcohol effects on behavioral thermoregulation with microwave radiation.

Ethanol may play an active role in modifying "set point" levels in conjunction with behavioral thermoregulation. A geometric series of doses of ethanol solutions was administered (ip) prior to fixed-interval 2-min. schedules of microwave reinforcement in rats tested in a cold environment. Four Sprague-Dawley rats were conditioned to regulate their thermal environment with 5-sec. exposures of MW reinforcement. Friedman's nonparametric test showed significant differences between ethanol doses, and Sign tests showed that moderate and high doses of ethanol suppressed operant behavior reinforced by MW radiation. Interactions between changes in "set-point" and discriminative properties of ethanol are discussed.