Self-stimulation of the brain used as a screening method for tranquilizing drugs
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Rats will perform lever-pressing at rates of several thousand responses per hour for days in order to obtain direct electrical stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus. Multiple studies have demonstrated that rats will perform reinforced behaviors at the exclusion of all other behaviors. Experiments have shown rats to forgo food to the point of starvation in order to work for brain stimulation or intravenous cocaine when both food and stimulation are offered concurrently for a limited time each day. Rats will even cross electrified grids to press a lever, and they are willing to withstand higher levels of shock to obtain electrical stimulation than to obtain food.[1] |
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"Self-stimulation of the brain used as a screening method for tranquilizing drugs" (1956) by Olds, J., Killam, K.F., & Bach-y-Rita, P.
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