Integration of free pulses in electrical self-stimulation of the rat brain.

Frequency thresholds for electrical self-stimulation of the medial forebrain bundle were estimated in rats while low frequencies of pulses were applied continuously. When continuous pulses were delivered to the same electrode that received the 0.5-s trains of response-initiated stimulation, thresholds decreased by the free-pulse frequency (Experiment 1), consistently across current (Experiment 2). Estimates of the reward added by concurrent, response-contingent stimulation of the opposite electrode of a bilateral pair predicted the drop in threshold caused by the noncontingent pulses applied to the opposite hemisphere (Experiment 3), again, robustly across test current (Experiment 4). Continuous pulses restricted to times between self-initiated trains lost their effect (Experiment 5). The perception of reward was invariant despite changes in the overall activity of the self-stimulation substrate.