Hernandez-Mesa N, Mamedov Z, Bures J
Exp Brain Res. 1985;58(1):117-24. doi: 10.1007/BF00238959.
In an attempt to slow down the highly regular rate of licking by instrumental conditioning, 10 rats were trained to obtain their daily ration of water in an apparatus equipped with a retractable drinking spout. Termination of a photoelectrically monitored lick started a computer controlled delay during which the spout was made inaccesible. The subsequent return of the spout was either permanent or limited to a time window (D or W conditions). The cycle was reset by each lick. With stationary spout, the interlick intervals (ILIs) were around 210 +/- 16 ms (median and interquartile range). The spout return was gradually delayed during 22 sessions from 140 to 260 ms and limited to a 260-340 ms window during 11 sessions. A session consisted of 512 licks with stationary spout followed by 7 X 512 licks under D or W conditions. Two rats were able to smoothly adjust to the limited spout availability by increasing median ILI to 290 ms. Four rats generated bimodal ILI distributions indicating gradual reduction of tongue protrusion to an undetected lick followed by abrupt increase of lick amplitude. Three rats increased the median ILI to 260 ms and the interquartile range to 80-150 ms. The above changes of lick pattern allowed the rats to attain tongue-spout contact in 41 to 89% licks. It is concluded that the rats can substantially slow down their lick rate provided that they receive feedback information about the failure or success of each lick.
为了通过操作性条件反射减缓高度规律的舔舐速率，对10只大鼠进行训练，使其在配备可伸缩饮水嘴的装置中获取每日的饮水量。光电监测到的一次舔舐结束后，启动计算机控制的延迟，在此期间饮水嘴不可用。随后饮水嘴的再次出现可以是永久性的，也可以限制在一个时间窗口内（D或W条件）。每次舔舐都会重置这个循环。在饮水嘴固定的情况下，舔舐间隔（ILIs）约为210±16毫秒（中位数和四分位间距）。在22次实验中，饮水嘴出现的延迟从140毫秒逐渐增加到260毫秒，在11次实验中限制在260 - 340毫秒的窗口内。一次实验包括512次饮水嘴固定时的舔舐，随后是在D或W条件下的7×512次舔舐。两只大鼠能够通过将中位数ILIs增加到290毫秒，顺利适应有限的饮水嘴可用性。四只大鼠产生了双峰ILIs分布，表明舌伸出逐渐减少到未检测到的舔舐，随后舔舐幅度突然增加。三只大鼠将中位数ILIs增加到260毫秒，四分位间距增加到80 - 150毫秒。上述舔舐模式的变化使大鼠在41%至89%的舔舐中实现了舌与饮水嘴的接触。得出的结论是，只要大鼠接收到每次舔舐失败或成功的反馈信息，它们就能大幅降低舔舐速率。
