The effects of cocaine on behavior maintained by timeout from avoidance.
Cocaine turns timeout from avoidance into a high-value reinforcer while leaving the avoidance itself almost untouched.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Scientists gave rats cocaine. Then they watched how fast the rats pressed a lever.
Each press gave the rat a short break from an annoying noise. This break is called timeout from avoidance.
What they found
Cocaine made the rats press much faster for the timeout. Higher doses made them press even faster.
The same cocaine barely changed the rats’ noise-avoidance behavior. Timeout and avoidance did not move together.
How this fits with other research
Elsmore et al. (1994) saw cocaine slow both food and avoidance presses. The new study shows the slowdown disappears when the only payoff is timeout.
Davison et al. (1991) found d-amphetamine boosts timeout presses while morphine cuts them. Cocaine now joins the boost team, proving the effect is not just one drug.
Mann et al. (1971) and SIDMAN (1962) first showed timeout itself can reinforce behavior. The current work adds that cocaine magnifies that reinforcer without touching the avoidance it escapes.
Why it matters
If you run avoidance or escape programs, remember that stimulant side effects can supercharge the value of breaks. A child who gets timeout for non-compliance might work harder to reach that break when stimulant medication is active. Monitor response rates and adjust the schedule so the break does not become the new goal.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Track how fast your client earns timeout; if rates jump after med changes, thin the schedule.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Rats were trained on concurrent schedules under which responses on one lever postponed shock (avoidance) and responses on the other lever produced brief (2-min) periods of signaled timeout from avoidance. For 6 rats, timeout from avoidance was programmed on a variable-interval 45-s schedule that generally resulted in rates that were lower than those on the avoidance lever. For another 6 rats, timeout was arranged on a variable-ratio 15 schedule that produced higher baseline rates. Cocaine (3 to 40 mg/kg) produced large, dose-dependent increases in behavior maintained by timeout in both groups of rats. Avoidance responding was also generally increased by cocaine, but the increases were of lesser magnitude. Increases in response rates were seen across a broad range of doses on behavior maintained by either interval or ratio schedules, an outcome that was unexpected on the basis of most studies of cocaine on food-maintained behavior. These results were similar to those of previous studies of the effects of amphetamine on behavior maintained by timeout from avoidance and suggest that stimulant drugs affect behavior maintained under a shock-postponement schedule differently than they affect behavior maintained by timeout from avoidance.
Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior, 1995 · doi:10.1901/jeab.1995.63-19