Abstract
Pigeons working in a Skinner box developed different rates of pecking depending on the schedule of reward.
When every 50th peck was rewarded (FR5O) the rate of response was high and constant.
When the first peck after an interval of fifteen minutes was rewarded (15'FI) the average rate of pecking was low and there was a steady increase in rate through the interval.
Pecking of the birds on 15'FI was markedly reduced by doses of pentobarbital which had no effect, or caused an increase in rate of pecking of the same birds working on FR5O. This differential sensitivity to depression by pentobarbital of performance on different schedules shows that by use of these techniques a behavioral effect of a drug can be detected and measured under circumstances when the drug does not affect the physical ability of the pigeon to execute a peck.
Footnotes
- Received December 4, 1954.
- © 1955, by The Williams & Wilkins Company
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