The spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) as an animal model of childhood hyperactivity (ADHD): changed reactivity to reinforcers and to psychomotor stimulants

Abstract

Childhood hyperactivity (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD) is a behavior disorder affecting 2-6% of grade-school children. The main symptoms are attention problems and hyperkinesis. The disorder is commonly treated with psychomotor stimulants, usually methylphenidate hydrochloride (ritalin) or d-amphetamine. Neither the cause of the disorder nor the basis of the effectiveness of the drug treatment is well understood. Differences in reinforcement processes have been implicated as part of the underlying problem. The main purpose of the present research was to investigate reinforcement processes and motor characteristics with and without stimulant medication in SHR, as an animal model of ADHD, and WKY controls, its normoactive progenitor strain. SHR behavior turned out to be more sensitive to immediate reinforcement and proportionately less sensitive to delayed reinforcement when compared to the behavior of WKY, as demonstrated by systematic changes in rates of responding throughout fixed-interval schedules of reinforcement of bar-presses by water. The psychomotor stimulants weakened the control by immediate reinforcers and strengthened the control by delayed reinforcers, with the effect of the drugs being more pronounced in WKY than in SHR. The results are consistent with clinical observations that ADHD children are less willing than others to accept "delayed gratification" and that methylphenidate increases the control of delayed reward over their behavior.