The aversive stimulus properties of scopolamine

Type of content
Theses / Dissertations
Publisher's DOI/URI
Thesis discipline
Psychology
Degree name
Master of Arts
Publisher
University of Canterbury
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Language
English
Date
1979
Authors
MacMahon, Stephen William
Abstract

The objective of the experiments in this study was to investigate the proposed aversive stimulus properties of scopolamine hydrobromide (1.2 mg/kg I.P.) All research designs were based on the respondent condit­ ioning paradigm. In Experiment I, scopolamine was used as a (putative) aversive UCS in order to produce condit­ ioned suppression of licking to a light CS. No evidence of suppression was found.It was proposed that this may have been due to the inability of the UCS itself to suppress responding. In a second experiment, scopolamine injections were paired with one side of a shuttlebox, and saline injections were paired with the other side. Subsequent free choice tests yielded a constant prefer- ence for the saline associated side. In a further test where subjects were injected 20 minutes prior to confine­ ment, no avoidance of the scopolamine associated side was observed.These results suggest that the onset of scopolamine effect is aversive.

Description
Citation
Keywords
Aversive stimuli, Scopolamine
Ngā upoko tukutuku/Māori subject headings
ANZSRC fields of research
Rights
All Rights Reserved