Instrumental Devaluation Task
Objective: To examine whether amphetamine sensitization leads to a more rapid transition from goal-directed action to stimulus-response habits by testing rats' sensitivity to outcome devaluation after instrumental training
This is a Instrumental Devaluation Task protocol using rat as the model organism. The procedure involves 6 procedural steps, 1 equipment items, 2 materials. Extracted from a 2006 paper published in Journal of Neuroscience.
Model and subjects
rat • Not specified • unknown • Not specified • Not specified
Study window
~1 week study window
Core workflow
Amphetamine Sensitization (Experiment 1) • Instrumental Training • Outcome Devaluation
Primary readouts
- Lever pressing behavior during extinction test
- Sensitivity to outcome devaluation
- Persistence of responding despite changed reward value
- Reacquisition of aversion to reinforcer
Key equipment and reagents
Use this page as an execution guide, then fall back to the source paper whenever you need exact exclusions, dosing details, or assay-specific caveats.
Confirm first
- Verify the animal model, intervention setup, and collection timepoints against the source paper.
- Check that every direct vendor link matches the exact specification your lab plans to run.
Use the page like this
- Work through the protocol steps in order and use the inline vendor chips only when you need to source or verify an item.
- Jump to Experimental Context for readouts, data shape, and analysis flow before planning downstream analysis.
Protocol Steps
Start here. The step list is optimized for running the experiment, with direct vendor links available inline when you need to source a cited item.
Amphetamine Sensitization (Experiment 1)
Animals received amphetamine sensitization treatment for 7 days at 2 mg/kg/day before instrumental training began
Note: This is the pre-training sensitization condition in experiment 1
View evidence from paper
“Animals were either sensitized (7 d, 2 mg/kg/d) before training (experiment 1)”
Instrumental Training
Rats were trained to press a lever to obtain a reward
Note: Training occurred after sensitization in experiment 1, or without prior sensitization in control animals
View evidence from paper
“Rats were trained to press a lever for a reward (three sessions)”
Outcome Devaluation
The instrumental outcome (reward) was devalued to test goal sensitivity of the learned behavior
Note: This step tests whether animals' behavior is still goal-directed or has become habitual
View evidence from paper
“Rats were then given a test of goal sensitivity by devaluation of the instrumental outcome before testing in extinction”
Extinction Test
Testing of lever pressing behavior in extinction following outcome devaluation
Note: Selective sensitivity to devaluation indicates goal-directed behavior; persistence despite devaluation indicates habit-based responding
View evidence from paper
“Rats were then given a test of goal sensitivity by devaluation of the instrumental outcome before testing in extinction”
Reacquisition Test
Animals were tested for reacquisition of the instrumental response to confirm they had acquired an aversion to the reinforcer
Note: This confirmed that amphetamine-sensitized animals had learned the aversion but could not use outcome representations to guide behavior
View evidence from paper
“a reacquisition test confirmed that all of the animals had acquired an aversion to the reinforcer”
Amphetamine Sensitization (Experiment 2)
Animals received amphetamine sensitization treatment between the training and testing phases
Note: This is the post-training sensitization condition in experiment 2 to test whether timing of sensitization affects goal-directed behavior
View evidence from paper
“Animals were either sensitized (7 d, 2 mg/kg/d) before training (experiment 1) or sensitized between training and testing (experiment 2)”