Lever Press Conditioning
Objective: To determine whether intra-accumbens amphetamine enhances the conditioned incentive salience of sucrose reward by potentiating cue-elicited instrumental performance in the absence of reinforcement
This is a Lever Press Conditioning protocol using rat as the model organism. The procedure involves 5 procedural steps, 3 equipment items, 3 materials. Extracted from a 2000 paper published in Journal of Neuroscience.
Model and subjects
rat • not specified • unknown • not specified • not specified
Study window
Estimated timing pending
Core workflow
Instrumental lever press training • Pavlovian cue conditioning • Microinjection administration
Primary readouts
- Cue-elicited increase in sucrose-associated lever pressing
- Instrumental responding rate during test sessions
- Positive hedonic reaction patterns to sucrose (taste reactivity)
- Differential effects of amphetamine on 'wanting' versus 'liking' of sucrose
Key equipment and reagents
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Protocol Steps
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Instrumental lever press training
Rats were trained to press one of two levers to obtain sucrose pellets
Note: Initial conditioning phase to establish lever-pressing behavior
View evidence from paper
“Rats were first trained to press one of two levers to obtain sucrose pellets”
Pavlovian cue conditioning
Rats were separately conditioned to associate a 30 second light cue with free sucrose pellets
Note: Conducted separately from instrumental training to establish cue-reward association
View evidence from paper
“They were separately conditioned to associate a Pavlovian cue (30 sec light) with free sucrose pellets”
Microinjection administration
Rats received bilateral microinjection of either vehicle or amphetamine at doses of 0.0, 2.0, 10.0, or 20.0 µg/0.5 µl into the nucleus accumbens shell
Note: Bilateral injections into accumbens shell; multiple dose conditions tested
View evidence from paper
“rats received bilateral microinjection of intra-accumbens vehicle or amphetamine (0.0, 2.0, 10.0, or 20.0 µg/0.5 µl)”
Test session - lever pressing without reinforcement
Lever pressing was tested in the absence of any reinforcement contingency while the Pavlovian cue was freely presented at intervals throughout the session
Note: No sucrose or cue-based reinforcement provided during test; cue presented at intervals
View evidence from paper
“lever pressing was tested in the absence of any reinforcement contingency, while the Pavlovian cue alone was freely presented at intervals throughout the session”
Taste reactivity measurement
Hedonic impact of sucrose was measured using taste reactivity to assess positive hedonic reaction patterns elicited by sucrose
Note: Used to measure sucrose 'liking' independent of 'wanting'
View evidence from paper
“Using the taste reactivity measure of hedonic impact, it was shown that intra-accumbens amphetamine failed to increase positive hedonic reaction patterns elicited by sucrose”