| Abstract: | 48 male Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to leverpress for food or saccharin reward, and then tested 4 successive times under conditions of normal reward, nonreward, or pretreatment with the dopamine receptor blocker, pimozide. Normally rewarded Ss progressively slowed responding within sessions (became satiated) with food reward but not with saccharin reward. Nonrewarded Ss and pimozide-treated Ss responded vigorously at the beginning of sessions, but slowed within sessions and showed reduced willingness to respond across sessions. Normal responding in the 1st session and in the early phases of later sessions rules out significant motor impairment. Pimozide appears to attenuate selectively the rewarding quality of food for hungry rats. (French summary) (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
