Behavioral pharmacology, Operant conditioning Operant conditioning techniques are utilized to model the variables that contribute to the local control of response characteristics. On-line manipulation of response criteria allows experimental control of local reinforcement parameters independent of changes in molar ones. Both appetitive and aversive control techniques are employed. In addition to being used as performance models, these procedures are also employed as behavorial baselines from which to study the effects of pharmacological interventions. These procedures not only allow characterization of a drug's behavioral effects, they can also elucidate any environmental modulation of a drug's effects as a function of changes in either local or overall reinforcement parameters.
Current emphasis is on acutely delivered serotonergic compounds, both agonists and antagonists.
Some work also attempts to examine the environmental modulation of tolerance development as a function of drug-induced reinforcement loss. You may use the following form to add this opportunity to your database or check all the opportunities you have saved in your database. To do that, you need to provide the correct username and password first.