Preference for saccharin-sweetened alcohol relative to isocaloric sucrose |
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Authors: | Gene M Heyman |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA, US |
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Abstract: | This experiment tested the reinforcing efficacy of a saccharin-sweetened alcohol solution relative to an isocaloric sucrose
drink in rats. One dipper served 10% alcohol plus 0.25% saccharin, and a second, concurrently available, dipper served 14.2%
sucrose. During the course of the experiment, access to the two drinks was challenged by increasing the schedule requirement
(variable-interval) that determined when a lever press would operate the dipper. There were two main findings. First, the
rats continued to consume significant amounts of alcohol despite access to the isocaloric sucrose solution. Second, schedule-requirement
increases that decreased sucrose-reinforced responding failed to decrease saccharin-sweetened alcohol reinforced responding.
These results extend and replicate earlier findings from studies in which alcohol was mixed with sucrose, and the alcohol
mixtures held a caloric advantage over the competing sucrose solutions. The experiment also included controls for differences
in baseline response rates and for the influence of saccharin on preference. In the baseline response-rate control conditions,
the two reinforcers were 10% sucrose and a mixture of 10% sucrose-plus-quinine. The results showed that the persistence of
sweetened-alcohol reinforced responding could not be explained by differences in baseline response rates or the reinforcing
properties of saccharin. Rather, the findings were consistent with the idea that the rats were defending baseline levels of
alcohol-plus-saccharin consumption.
Received: 15 June 1996 / Final version: 13 August 1996 |
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Keywords: | Alcohol self-administration Choice Animal model Behavioral economics Substitutability Ethanol Sucrose Quinine Variable-interval schedule Lever press Rats |
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