A method for studying reinforcement factors controlling impulsive choice for use in behavioral neuroscience
A speeded-up concurrent-chains test gives reliable within-session impulsive-choice data, ready for drug or brain studies.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Hughes and colleagues built a fast concurrent-chains test for rats. The animals chose between two chains that ended in food of different sizes or delays. Each session lasted minutes, not hours. The team then gave drugs that change impulsive choice to see if the quick measure still reacted.
What they found
The rapid setup gave steady sensitivity scores within one session. When bigger food took longer, rats still shifted toward the large reward. Drug injections moved those scores in the expected direction, proving the method is reliable.
How this fits with other research
Skrtic et al. (1982) first mapped how rats pick larger, later food in standard long chains. Hughes keeps the same variables but cuts run time from hours to minutes, so the new work extends the old rather than replaces it.
Gowen et al. (2013) saw choice flip within a session as delays grew. Hughes also watches within-session data, but aims for stable numbers, not reversals. The papers sit side-by-side: one shows the flip, the other shows how to stop the flip and get clean metrics.
Ahlborn et al. (2008) warned that within-session ascending delays can hide strain differences. Hughes answers by showing that a rapid, balanced presentation still gives clear drug-sensitive scores, easing the earlier worry.
Why it matters
If you team up with neuro labs, you can now trade your day-long choice sessions for a 20-minute version. Stable data in one sitting means fewer animals, faster screens, and cleaner dose curves. Try the rapid concurrent-chains script the next time you need quick impulsive-choice baselines before an intervention.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Although procedures originating within the experimental analysis of behavior commonly are used in behavioral neuroscience to produce behavioral endpoints, they are used less often to analyze the behavioral processes involved, particularly at the level of individual organisms (see Soto, 2020). Concurrent-chains procedures have been used extensively to study choice and to quantify relations between various dimensions of reinforcement and preference. Unfortunately, parametric analysis of those relations using traditional steady-state, single-subject experimental designs can be time-consuming, often rendering these procedures impractical for use in behavioral neuroscience. The purpose of this paper is to describe how concurrent-chains procedures can be adapted to allow for parametric examination of effects of the reinforcement dimensions involved in impulsive choice (magnitude and delay) within experimental sessions in rats. Data are presented indicating that this procedure can produce relatively consistent within-session estimates of sensitivity to reinforcement in individual subjects, and that these estimates can be modified by neurobiological manipulation (drug administration). These data suggest that this type of procedure offers a promising approach to the study of neurobiological mechanisms of complex behavior in individual organisms, which could facilitate a more fruitful relationship between behavior analysis and behavioral neuroscience.
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 2022 · doi:10.1002/jeab.751