THE EFFECTS OF MORPHINE ON THE PRODUCTION AND DISCRIMINATION OF INTERRESPONSE TIMES

Abstract

Recent experiments suggest that the effects of drugs of abuse on the discrimination of the passage of time may differ for experimenter-imposed and subject-produced events. The current experiment examined this suggestion by determining the effects of morphine on the discrimination of interresponse times (IRTs). Pigeons pecked a center key on a random-interval 20-s schedule of matching-to-sample trials. Once the interval had timed out, a choice trial randomly followed either a short (2- to 3-s) or long (6- to 9-s) IRT on the center key. Pecking the side key lit one color produced food after a short IRT, and pecking the side key lit the other color produced food after a long IRT. Two experimental phases differed in the functional role of the different key colors. Under control conditions, the IRT distributions had two modes, one at the lower bound of the short category and a smaller one at the lower bound of the long category. Pigeons accurately categorized the duration of the IRTs: One key color was pecked following short IRTs and the other key color was pecked following long IRTs. Morphine flattened the IRT distribution and reduced the accuracy of categorizing IRTs. Categorization of long IRTs was particularly disrupted. Morphine did not produce overestimation of time as assessed by the production or categorization of IRTs. These results are similar to those obtained previously for the effects of morphine on the discrimination of the duration of experimenter-imposed events.