Concurrent phencyclidine and saccharin access: presentation of an alternative reinforcer reduces drug intake.
A powerful, immediately available alternative reinforcer can steal response strength from drug taking or other problem behaviors.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Monkeys could press one lever to give themselves the drug PCP. They could also press a second lever to get sweet saccharin water.
The researchers made the saccharin stronger and sweeter across sessions. They watched how drug taking changed when the good drink got better.
What they found
When the sweet drink became tastier, monkeys took far fewer drug hits. The better the alternative, the less they used PCP.
Strong saccharin acted like a competing magnet for their lever pressing.
How this fits with other research
Derenne et al. (2002) saw the same tug-of-war. Rats paused longer before pressing a lever when saccharin was richer, showing the alternative reinforcer was pulling responses away.
Rooker et al. (2022) moved the idea into a clinic. Dense food reinforcement for a simple task slashed treatment-resistant self-injury in nine children, proving the competition effect works with humans and a different problem behavior.
Galuska et al. (2017) added a twist. They first gave rats rich food, then cut it to lean. That negative shift made the rats gulp more sucrose, again showing that reinforcer value is relative and changeable.
Why it matters
You can shrink a harmful behavior by making a safe behavior pay better. Pick a reinforcer the client already loves, deliver it thick and fast for an easy response, and watch the problem drop. No extra punishment needed.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Six monkeys self-administered orally delivered phencyclidine ("angel dust") and saccharin under concurrent fixed-ratio 16 schedules during daily three-hour sessions. Liquid deliveries were contingent upon lip-contact responses on solenoid-operated drinking spouts. Three saccharin concentrations (0.003%, 0.03% and 0.3%, wt/vol) were tested in a nonsystematic order. For each saccharin concentration, the following series of phencyclidine concentrations (mg/ml) was presented: 0.25, 0.5, 1, 0.25 (retest), 0.125, 0.0625, 0.0312, 0.25 (retest) and 0 (water with stimuli signaling phencyclidine). As the saccharin concentration increased, the number of drug deliveries decreased, and the peaks of the concentration-response functions were shifted to the right. The lowest saccharin concentration (0.003%, wt/vol) maintained responding in excess of phencyclidine levels in only one monkey. The two higher saccharin concentrations maintained behavior far in excess of phencyclidine, but saccharin deliveries decreased in some monkeys as phencyclidine concentration and intake (mg/kg) increased. The time course and patterns of phencyclidine-reinforced responding were also altered when saccharin was concurrently available. The results are discussed in terms of strategies to reduce drug-reinforced behavior, preference between different reinforcers, and measures of reinforcing efficacy.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 1985 · doi:10.1901/jeab.1985.43-131