Central vs peripheral anticholinergic effects on repeated acquisition of behavioral chains.

Monkeys that were required to repeatedly learn new sequences of responses to obtain food were injected with 0.2 mg/kg of atropine sulfate or methylatropine nitrate. Effects lasted 8 to 12 hr following injection. Both drugs decreased the rate at which the animals worked, but only atropine sulfate increased the number of attempts required to solve the problem and decreased overall accuracy, suggesting a peripheral mode of action for rate-decreasing effects, and a central mode of action for effects of atropine on qualitative aspects of performance.