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Alcohol Seeking Behavior: Goal-directed or Habitual? |
by Mehgan Teherani This study aims to determine behaviors associated with drugs of abuse, with a focus on alcohol. In animal models, operant conditioning has been used to study reward-seeking behavior. Ratio training schedules have been indicated to be good models for natural rewards, like sucrose, since natural rewards have an immediate rewarding effect of taste. However, random interval schedules are good models used for drugs of abuse since there is usually an uncertain time elapsed before the pharmacological feelings take effect. After a devaluation procedure, in which the reward is devalued, suppression of lever press rate will indicate goal-directed behavior, while continued lever pressing indicates habitual behavior. My study will use random interval training schedules to induce ethanol-seeking behavior, followed by devaluation. Type of behavior formed will be tested using an extinction test, in which no reward is received during a session, and lever presses are counted. Our experiment predicts drug-seeking behavior is habitual. |