Date of Award

6-1996

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. Lisa Baker

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

The effects of differential outcomes on the speed of acquisition of a cocaine vs. saline discrimination were examined. Two groups of male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to discriminate 8.0 mg/kg cocaine from saline. The experimental group was exposed to differential outcomes, where correct responses following the different injections (discriminative stimuli) were correlated with a particular outcome (either sweetened condensed milk or tap water). The control group received either sweetened condensed milk or tap water at random following cocaine and saline injections. Acquisition of schedule control and three progressively difficult testing criteria were examined. The differential outcomes group came under schedule control and reached the three progressively difficult testing criteria in significantly fewer sessions than the control group.

Included in

Psychology Commons

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