Psychology Department, American University, Washington, DC, USA.
Behav Pharmacol. 2024 Dec 1;35(8):442-452. doi: 10.1097/FBP.0000000000000798. Epub 2024 Oct 15.
The primary goal of the present study was to determine the economic relationship between heroin and social reinforcement in rats: are they substitutes, independents, or complements? In Experiment 1, one group of rats was given a budget of responses that they could allocate between heroin and social reinforcement offered at various combinations of prices. A second group chose between two levers that each resulted in social reinforcement at varying prices when pressed. There was no relationship between the relative allocation of responses between heroin and social reinforcement and changes in their relative prices, indicating that these reinforcers are best viewed as independents. In contrast, when choosing between two sources of social reinforcement, rats increased the allocation of behavior to the cheaper option, confirming that the method used here was sensitive to detecting substitution effects. In Experiment 2, the same method was used to compare one group that chose between heroin and social reinforcement with a second group that chose between cocaine and social reinforcement. The finding that heroin and social reinforcement were independents was replicated. Additionally, there was some evidence that cocaine and social reinforcement were substitutes, at least when the first few minutes of the session were excluded. These results add to our knowledge of how drug and nondrug reinforcers interact in choice situations in rats and may model factors that influence drug use in humans.
它们是替代品、独立物还是互补品？在实验 1 中，一组大鼠可以在不同价格的海洛因和社会强化物之间分配反应预算。第二组大鼠可以在两个杠杆之间进行选择，当按下时，每个杠杆都会以不同的价格提供社会强化物。海洛因和社会强化物之间反应分配的相对变化与它们相对价格的变化之间没有关系，这表明这些强化物最好被视为独立物。相比之下，当大鼠在两种社会强化物之间进行选择时，它们会增加对较便宜选项的行为分配，这证实了这里使用的方法对检测替代效应很敏感。在实验 2 中，使用相同的方法比较了一组大鼠在海洛因和社会强化物之间进行选择与另一组大鼠在可卡因和社会强化物之间进行选择的情况。结果复制了海洛因和社会强化物是独立物的发现。此外，有一些证据表明，可卡因和社会强化物至少在排除了会议的前几分钟后是替代品。这些结果增加了我们对大鼠在选择情境中药物和非药物强化物如何相互作用的了解，并且可能模拟了影响人类药物使用的因素。
