Lecture Notes for Dr. Troisi


I Dr. Troisi's Guest Lecture


	A) Similarities between Learning Behavior and Drug Use
		1) Learning - formation of associations
		2) Interoceptive conditioning - takes place inside the body
			Naturally occurring receptors in brain for many psyo-active drugs 
		3) provide models for studying drug treatment
		4) Drugs that are most often abused are used for treatment of anxiety, depression or 
			pain managment
	B) Operant Conditioning Model
		1) 3 components
			Stimulus or cue in the environment - S^D
			Response - R
			Reinforcer - S^r+
			Stimulus stimulates Response that is Reinforced by the reinforcer
			S^D: R --- S^r+
		2) Drug user example: crack house with getting high,  
				crack house (S^D ) has nothing  do with smoking crack (R) and reinforced with 
				the euphoria of getting high (S^r+)
	C) Application to Therapy
		1) Extinction - no reinforcement of conditioned stimuli
			don't administer drugs after exposing patients to the stimuli that
			preceded the euphoria of getting high
	D) Troisi research



		1) Can drug state be used to predict food
		2) 2 lever Experiment - rats are subjects in learning experiment
			right and left levers for bar pressing in an operant chamber

					Experiment 1 S^D: R --- S^r+

Stimulus - S^D	Response - R	Reinforcer - S^r+
alcohol	bar press left lever	receives food - food reward, excitatory relationship is learned
nicotine	bar press right lever	no food reward - inhibitory relationship is learned


Results - rats learn that alcohol predicts food

						Experiment 2 - Reciprocal of Experiment 1  S^D: R --- S^r+

Stimulus - S^D	Response - R	Reinforcer - S^r+
alcohol	bar press left lever	no food reward - inhibitory relationship is learned
nicotine	bar press right lever	receives food - food reward, excitatory relationship is learned

Results - rats learn that nicotine predicts food

					Extinction for Experiment 1 S^D: R --- S^r+

Stimulus - S^D	Response - R	Reinforcer - S^r+
alcohol	bar press left lever	no food reward - inhibitory relationship is learned
nicotine	bar press right lever	no food reward - inhibitory relationship is learned

Results - rats learn that alcohol no longer predicts food and will not bar press for food

						Extinction for Experiment 2 - Reciprocal of Experiment 1  S^D: R --- S^r+

Stimulus - S^D	Response - R	Reinforcer - S^r+
alcohol	bar press left lever	no food reward - inhibitory relationship is learned
nicotine	bar press right lever	no food reward - inhibitory relationship is learned

Results - rats learn that nicotine no longer predicts food and will not bar press for food

		3) Similar results with single lever experiment design

						Experiment 3  S^D: R --- S^r+

Stimulus - S^D	Response - R	Reinforcer - S^r+
alcohol	bar press single lever	receives food - food reward, excitatory relationship is learned

						Experiment 4  S^D: R --- S^r+

Stimulus - S^D	Response - R	Reinforcer - S^r+
nicotine	bar press single lever	no food reward - inhibitory relationship is learned

		4) Spontaneous recovery - rats will re-learn the relationship very easily if exposed to food

		Experiment 1,3 - alcohol paired with food

				Experiment 2,4 - nicotine paired with food

				Similar results for alcoholics and heroine addicts that experience spontaneous 
				recovery and relapse

	E) Pavlovian Model
		1) Drugs predict sex - Quail experiments and Pavlovian Conditioning
			Male is given either cocaine or saline solution
			Cocaine results in presentation of female
			Saline leads to no presentation of female

								Experiment 5  S^D: Presentation --- S^r+

Stimulus - S^D	Presentation	Reinforcer - S^r+
cocaine	receptive female	opportunity to copulate - excitatory relationship is learned

								Experiment 6  S^D: Presentation --- S^r+

Stimulus - S^D	Presentation	Reinforcer - S^r+
saline	no birds	no reward - inhibitory relationship is learned

Results - Quail learn the relationships: drugs - cocaine leads to sex, saline - nothing

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Copyright © 2001 Jay Pitocchelli. All rights reserved. The contents of this page are the intellectual property of Dr. Jay Pitocchelli for distribution to students enrolled in General Biology BI 01 at Saint Anselm College. These pages may not be copied, photocopied, reproduced, translated, or published in any electronic or machine-readable form in whole or in part without prior written approval of Jay Pitocchelli. Students enrolled in General Biology BI 01 at Saint Anselm College have permission to print this material for their lecture notes. The images linked to this web page are the sole property of Addison Wesley Longman Publishers™.