A microcomputer-based method for physiologically interpretable measurement of the rewarding efficacy of brain stimulation.

Determination of the function relating rate of pressing to the number of pulses in a train of fixed duration (the rate-frequency function) yields a physiologically interpretable measure of changes in the rewarding efficacy of the stimulation, because the number of action potentials in the reward-relevant first stage axons is directly proportional to the number of pulses in the train. We describe a system, based on a low cost microcomputer, which permits determination of 16-data-point rate-frequency functions in 4-6 animals simultaneously in less than 10 minutes. We give an empirical and theoretical justification for using the curve-shift measurement procedure in drug and lesion work, where the experimental treatments must be presumed to have substantial effects on performance factors.