An assessment of factors contributing to instrumental performance for sexual reward in the rat

The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. B, Comparative and Physiological Psychology
James C Woodson, B Balleine

Abstract

Male and female rats were gonadectomized, implanted in adulthood with capsules containing either testosterone propionate (TP) or cholesterol, and were trained to lever press for access to an oestrous female. When lever press performance was tested in extinction, only the male rats implanted with TP displayed significantly higher levels of responding than controls, demonstrating that lever pressing for oestrous females as a reward is sexually dimorphic. Ejaculation patterns from a separate assessment of these rats' copulatory ability were significantly correlated with their instrumental performance. In a second experiment, "masculinized" females exposed to TP postnatally and given TP implants responded in extinction at mean levels equivalent to those exhibited by adult males that were either intact or castrated with androgen replacement. These data suggest that organizational steroid exposure perinatally affects the actual reward value assigned to oestrous females in adulthood, in combination with consummatory sexual experience.

References

Aug 1, 1969·Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology·F A BeachR K Orndoff
Feb 1, 1959·Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology·F A BEACH, H FOWLER
Feb 1, 1951·Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology·F D SHEFFIELDR BACKER

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Citations

Aug 27, 2010·Journal of Child Language·Yi Ting Huang, Jesse Snedeker
Jun 19, 2013·Journal of Child Language·Carla Contemori, Theodoros Marinis
Feb 14, 2007·Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology·Stuart T LeonardPeter J Winsauer
Sep 25, 2009·Neuropsychopharmacology : Official Publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology·Bernard W Balleine, John P O'Doherty
Jan 1, 2012·Socioaffective Neuroscience & Psychology·James C Woodson

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