Lecture 4 material Behavioural pharmacology

What is behavioural pharmacology?

It is the study of the relationship between the pharmacological action of drugs and their effects on behaviour and psychological functions.

Why can you not just experiment using humans

Because there are severe ethical limitations and because of causality

What is the elevated plus maze?

Elevated plus maze is a test of anxiety.Rodents spend time in a bright light exposed to the maze arms and this time would be measured compared to them spending time in the dark.

What is the Morris water maze experiment

The Morris water maze experiment is a behavioural task used to assess spatial learning and memory in rodents. They would be placed in a pool of opaque water and be trained to find the hidden platform.

How do you compare drugs through relief of withdrawal symptoms

1. Start by causing physical dependence with one drug

2. After there is physical dependence stop using it and give another drug to see if it stops withdrawal symptoms

3. If it does that drug might lead to similar dependence

How do we examine the reinforcing/incentive properties of a drug

1. Conditioned place preference learning
2. Drug administration
3.Models of relapse

What is positive reinforcement for drugs?

Presentation increases the chance of preceding behaviour

What is negative reinforcement

Removal increases the probability of preceding behaviour

What is punishment?

Presentation decreases the chance of the behaviour

What is the conditioned place preference?

Conditioned place preference learning is when animals learn to like a specific place because they associate it with the effects of a drug. They get the drug in one place and a placebo in another. Eventually, they prefer the place where they got the real drug because they find it rewarding.

What are the advantages of conditioned place preference?

1. Fairly simple procedure
2. They are being tested in a non drug state.

What are disadvantages of conditioned place preference?

1. Not measuring the drug reward itself but rather the rewarding effects of secondary reward
2. Psychological and brain mechanisms are poorly understood

What is drug self adminstration?

It is a method where animals, typically rodents, are given the opportunity to administer drugs to themselves by pressing a lever or performing some other action.

What is a fixed ratio schedule?

Reinforcement after every n responses

What is FR1 ?

Reinforcement for every response

What is FR5 ?

Reinforcement for every 5 responses

What is Variable ratio?

Number of presses required is unpredicable but varies around a mean

What is fixed interval?

Fixed interval is when reinforcement is given for the first response or first lever press after fixed period time.

What is variable interval ?

Reinforcement given for the first response after a varying delay around a mean.

Hows the line for a fixed ratio schedule

Its steady

How is the line for a fixed interval schedule

It prodcues a more scalloped plot

What is ambiguous measure

Ambiguous measure is the need to know where you are on the dose response curve

What happens of you are on the descending part of the DR curve

It indicates increase in reinforcement

What happens if you are on the ascending part of the DR curve

May indicate decrease in reinforcement

What is the breakpoint?

The highest ratio obtained before giving up

What is the reinstatment model of drug relapse

Reinstatement model of drug relapse is when exposing animals or humans to a drug after they have stopped can make them want it more

How do you test for relapse

First, stop the behaviour. Then, introduce a stimulus and see if the behaviour starts again.

What are the stimuli that reinstate responding?

1. The drug itself
2. Drug cue
3. Drug context
4. Stress

What are the factors that affect drug administration?

1. Dose

2. Schedule of reinforcement,

3. Gender, stress