Time Outs Research Articles

Le time-out ou « mise à l’écart temporaire » : un éclairage scientifique pour un débat sociétal

Over the past year, several controversial articles have been written in the press and scientific journals about the benefits and harms of time-out (TO). The aim of this article is to review the scientific literature outlining the conclusions of meta-analyses carried out on parenting programs including TO, and on the TO procedure itself. Then, we describe the characteristics of the TO to understand how parents/educators use it and to assess its efficiency. The results show that the TO is not an isolated educational strategy but is included in a more comprehensive process with a before (establishment of the educational framework, rules to be followed) and an after (debriefing, explanations of inappropriate behavior) called time-in. Thus, it is difficult to assess the effectiveness of a TO without considering a wider temporality, including time-in. Moreover, the age of the child, the TO's duration and any behavioral or mental problems in the dyad child/parent are important factors that highlight the plurality of the TO. Further scientific research is necessary to assess its effectiveness considering the epidemiological characteristics of each protagonist. We need to look more closely at which TO is the best for which child and by which parent.

Generation time-out grows up: young adults' reports about childhood time-out use and their mental health, attachment, and emotion regulation.

Time-out (TO) is a widely utilised parental discipline technique with a strong evidence-base that nonetheless has attracted controversy regarding potential adverse effects on mental health in developing children. Associations between TO implementation and mental health outcomes have rarely been investigated, especially through the eyes of children who grew up experiencing TO. This study recruited 407 university students (Study 1) and a community sample of 535 young adults (Study 2); both samples aged 18-30 years. Young adults were surveyed on their retrospective reports of childhood TO experience, childhood experiences of adversity, perceived parenting style and parental attachment, and their current mental health outcomes (attachment style, emotion regulation and mental health). In Study 1, 334 (82.1%) young adults reported experiencing TO in childhood, but with widely varied implementation that differed considerably from its evidence-based ideal. Reports of more TO appropriate implementation were associated with less avoidant attachment, better mental health, and emotion regulation, over and above the effects associated with authoritative parenting and secure attachment in childhood. While exposure to childhood adversity was associated with poorer adulthood outcomes, TO implementation did not moderate the association. Study 2 replicated most findings from Study 1, except that appropriate TO implementation displayed a positive association with mental health and no associations with anxious and avoidant attachment and emotion regulation. These findings suggest the safety of TO use with young children, including those who experienced childhood adversity, and highlight the importance of disseminating sufficient parenting information on TO in the community.

Standardization and Visualization of the Surgical Time-Out.

The time-out (TO) can prevent adverse events but is subject to TO engagement. We hypothesize transforming the TO to an auditable, active process will improve compliance and engagement. The passive nature of the current TO was identified as a potential safety issue on staff patient safety culture surveys. Subsequently, the Time Out Engagement and Standardization quality improvement initiative was developed and included a whiteboard checklist to be used in the operating room. As a baseline, 11 TOs were audited concerning engagement and content. Key stakeholders were engaged to determine potential interventions. A TO consisting of 15 elements using a TO whiteboard checklist with role-specific objectives was developed. Plan, Do, Study, Act cycles commenced. After implementation, 17 TOs were audited based on engagement and content. Before intervention, engagement varied with nurse participating in 100% compared with anesthesia provider or surgeon participating in 18%. No TO included all 15 elements and only 13% of elements included in all TOs. After implementation of Time Out Engagement and Standardization, anesthesia and surgeon who participated increased to 100% and 76.5%, respectively (P < 0.0001, P = 0.006). The 15 standardized elements of the TO were discussed in 90% of cases. Overall, preintervention 88 elements (57.1%) were completed across all TOs, while postintervention 243 elements (98.8%) were completed (P < 0.001). We identified a need for increased engagement of the TO based on staff concerns, which were verified through auditing. Implementation of a team-driven intervention and 3 rapid Plan, Do, Study, Act cycles led to measurable improvement of the surgical TO.

MP06-12 STANDARDIZATION AND VISUALIZATION OF THE SURGICAL TIME OUT ACROSS SURGICAL SUBSPECIALTIES

You have accessJournal of UrologyCME1 Apr 2023MP06-12 STANDARDIZATION AND VISUALIZATION OF THE SURGICAL TIME OUT ACROSS SURGICAL SUBSPECIALTIES Brittany Levy, Sherry Lantz, Wesley Wilt, and Andrew Harris Brittany LevyBrittany Levy More articles by this author , Sherry LantzSherry Lantz More articles by this author , Wesley WiltWesley Wilt More articles by this author , and Andrew HarrisAndrew Harris More articles by this author View All Author Informationhttps://doi.org/10.1097/JU.0000000000003217.12AboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints ShareFacebookLinked InTwitterEmail Abstract INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: The timeout (TO) can prevent adverse events but is subject to TO engagement. We hypothesize transforming the TO to an auditable, active process will improve compliance and engagement. METHODS: The passive nature of the current TO was identified as a potential safety issue on staff patient safety culture surveys. Subsequently, the Time Out Engagement and Standardization (TOES) quality improvement initiative was developed. 11 TOs were audited concerning engagement and content. Leadership and frontline stakeholders were engaged as members of the TOES team to determine potential interventions. A TO consisting of 15 elements utilizing a TO whiteboard with role specific objectives was developed. Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycles commenced. Following implementation, 17 TOs in urology, general surgery, and vascular surgery were audited based on engagement and content. RESULTS: Engagement varied with nurse participating in 100% compared to anesthesia provider or surgeon participating in 18%. No TO included all 15 elements and only 13% of elements were standardized across TOs. Overall, 40% of the elements were discussed in 80% of TOs. Post-implementation of TOES, nursing, anesthesia, and surgeon participated in 100% of TOs. The 15 standardized elements of the TO were discussed 90% of the time. Voice of the customer audits revealed widespread acceptance of the active TO. Within the robotic OR, urologists noted a particular improvement in preoperative planning communication across the surgical team. CONCLUSIONS: We identified a need for increased engagement of the TO based on staff concerns which were verified through auditing. Implementation of a team driven intervention and rapid PDSA cycles led to measurable improvement of the surgical TO. Source of Funding: None © 2023 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 209Issue Supplement 4April 2023Page: e57 Advertisement Copyright & Permissions© 2023 by American Urological Association Education and Research, Inc.MetricsAuthor Information Brittany Levy More articles by this author Sherry Lantz More articles by this author Wesley Wilt More articles by this author Andrew Harris More articles by this author Expand All Advertisement PDF downloadLoading ...

Toward evidence-informed child rearing: Measurement of time-out implementation in a community sample.

Time-out (TO) is a widely used parental discipline strategy with strong research support in programmes that promote positive child development. Concerns have been raised, however, regarding adverse impact on child mental health (CMH) in part driven by evidence of widespread variability in appropriate implementation. There are no existing measures of TO. We present the first measure of procedural implementation of TO in a community sample of parents of children aged 6-8years. A nationally representative sample (N = 474) of parents completed a survey on the implementation of TO, parent-child relationships, and emotional and behavioural difficulties. The scale of TO use was used to test the convergent validity between TO implementation and parenting practices/family adjustment and CMH. Consistent with international research, >70% of parents have used TO with their children. There was high variability in the levels of appropriate implementation of TO. Scale reliability (Cronbach's alpha) was acceptable and tests of convergent validity indicated that as expected, less appropriate implementation of TO was associated with worse CMH and poorer parenting and family adjustment. The current findings suggest that the scale is a psychometrically sound instrument for measuring the appropriate procedural implementation of TO with young children.

An Updated Account on Parents' Use of and Attitudes Towards Time-Out.

Time-out (TO) is a well-established technique for effectively managing childhood conduct problems, yet there is increasing controversy around its use. Using a mixed-methods approach, we investigated the impact of recent criticisms against TO on parents’ use of and attitudes towards it. A community sample of parents (N = 297, Mage = 37.14) completed an online survey (Study 1) to investigate use of and acceptability of TO. Results showed that 57.91% of parents reported using TO, slightly lower than past estimates. Perceived effectiveness and trust in clinicians predicted TO acceptability. To thoroughly examine negative attitudes towards TO, parents who did not use TO (N = 17, Mage = 38.29) participated in individual interviews (Study 2). Amongst other findings, Study 2 found that parents view TO as punitive and contrary to their value of connection. We discuss implications for parenting interventions, dissemination of parenting information, and future research.

Recommendations for standardizing the time-out process.

Recommendations for standardizing the time-out process.

Receptor Mechanisms in Nicotinic Enhancement of Opioid Antinociception

The use of prescription opioids for pain management can be limited by their adverse behavioral effects, which usually are not measured in the initial preclinical assessment of established or novel candidate analgesics. Recently, we have developed a protocol for concurrently assessing the antinociceptive effects of drugs (an indicator of analgesic promise) and their ability to decrease rates of operant behavior (an indicator of unwanted behavioral effects). Under these procedures, nicotine has been shown to augment the antinociceptive, but not the rate‐decreasing, effects of opioid analgesics with an inverse relationship to efficacy at the m‐opioid receptor‐ e.g., nicotine‐induced enhancement of nalbuphine&gt;oxycodone&gt;fentanyl. The present study was designed to further elucidate nicotinic‐opioid interactions by exploring the role of nicotinic receptor efficacy in the nicotinic augmentation of opioid antinociception. Male squirrel monkeys (n=4) lever‐pressed under a fixed ratio (FR) 10 schedule of 20% (v/v) condensed milk reinforcement. A 30‐s timeout (TO) period followed either the completion of the FR 10 or the elapse of 20‐s (limited hold (LH) 20). During the 30‐s TO, the distal portion of the monkey’s tail was immersed in 35, 50, 52, or 55°C water, and the latency to remove the tail was recorded. Dose response functions for tail‐withdrawal latency and decreases in response rate were generated for the high efficacy m‐opioid agonist fentanyl and the low efficacy m‐agonist nalbuphine alone and in the presence of nicotinic agonists reported to have high or intermediate efficacy‐‐epibatidine (0.00056 mg/kg) or varenicline (0.032 mg/kg), respectively. Fentanyl dose‐dependently increased tail‐withdrawal latencies at all water temperatures and, concomitantly, decreased rates of responding. Nalbuphine did not significantly decrease response rate, and increased tail‐withdrawal latencies at 50 and 52°C, but not at 55°C. Neither epibatidine nor varenicline significantly modified the rate decreasing effects of any of the opioids or the antinociceptive effects of fentanyl. However, the antinociceptive potency of nalbuphine was markedly enhanced by epibatidine (up to ~70‐fold) and only slightly increased by varenicline. The present results add to previous findings with nicotine, showing that nicotinic enhancement of opioid antinociception is inversely related to m‐opioid efficacy. They also extend those findings to suggest that such adjuvant effects are more robustly produced by nicotinic full agonists (nicotine, epibatidine) than a partial agonist (varenicline). In conjunction with previous reports, these findings support the idea that nicotinic agonists may be clinically useful as adjuvants for opioid analgesia.Support or Funding InformationDA035857 and Harvard Medical School Livingston Fellowship

Comparative analysis of cumulative distribution function for TCP congestion window size and triple‐duplicate period

SummaryVarious version of Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) congestion window model are available in the literature. TCP congestion control is handled in two phases: (a) slow start and (b) congestion avoidance. This paper deals with congestion avoidance phase that is based on additive increase multiplicative decrease (AIMD) mechanism in which window size either increase by one or cuts to half of the previous window size. For distribution of window sizes, a model developed by Yan et al has been presented for two loss indications: (a) triple duplicate (TD) and (b) time‐outs (TOs) only while it does not deal with the window size limitation. It does not allow to cap over the TCP congestion window size if the buffer size is restricted to a fixed value though window size could not move beyond that. The unconstrained window size moves on in the presence of low loss probability. In this paper, we propose a model for the case where the window size is bounded by a maximum value that makes applicable to window size limitation as well. Further, the work has been extended to develop a new model that obtains a cumulative distribution function for TD periods (TDPs). The proposed model is validated on ns‐2, and we conclude that observed results for distribution function are very closed to our proposed model.

TCP-ACC: performance and analysis of an active congestion control algorithm for heterogeneous networks

Transmission control protocol (TCP) is a reliable transport layer protocol widely used in the Internet over decades. However, the performances of existing TCP congestion control algorithms degrade severely in modern heterogeneous networks with random packet losses, packet reordering and congestion. In this paper, we propose a novel TCP algorithm named TCP-ACC to handle all three challenges mentioned above. It integrates 1) a real-time reorder metric for calculating the probabilities of unnecessary Fast Retransmit (FRetran) and Timeouts (TO), 2) an improved RTT estimation algorithm giving more weights to packets that are sent (as opposed to received) more recently, and 3) an improved congestion control mechanism based on packet loss and reorder rate measurements. Theoretical analysis demonstrates the equilibrium throughput of TCP-ACC is much higher than traditional TCP, while maintaining good fairness with regard to other TCP algorithms in ideal network conditions. Extensive experimental results using both network emulators and real network show that the algorithm achieves significant throughput improvement in heterogeneous networks as compared with other state-of-the-art algorithms.

A Survey of Parents' Perceptions and Use of Time-out Compared to Empirical Evidence

ObjectiveTo assess parents' perceptions and use of time-out (TO) in contrast to empirical indications and examine the relationship between reported implementation procedures and perceived effectiveness. MethodsWe surveyed parents of preschool and school-age children (n = 401, aged 15 months to 10 years) at well-child visits with regard to their awareness, perception, and usage of TO. Parents were specifically surveyed regarding TO components that have been empirically evaluated or pertain directly to its underlying behavioral principles. Descriptive analyses, group comparisons, and correlational analyses were used to characterize responses and evaluate the relationship between TO administration variation and perceived effectiveness. ResultsMost parents (76.8%) reported using TO in response to misbehavior, but a large majority of these parents (84.9%) reported implementing TO in a manner counter to empirical evidence. Parents who endorsed TO as effective varied significantly from those who did not on key implementation components (eg, use of a single warning). Further, several reported implementation practices were correlated with perceived effectiveness and challenging child behavior. For example, requiring a child to be calm before ending TO was positively correlated with perceived effectiveness. ConclusionsThese results cement TO as a widely disseminated practice but cast doubt on the fidelity with which it is typically implemented. Better methods of educating parents on evidence-based discipline are needed.

Individual differences in the reinforcing and punishing effects of nicotine in rhesus monkeys.

The relatively weak reinforcing effects of nicotine in experimental studies have been attributed to possible aversive effects or the need to space nicotine administrations over time to expose reinforcing effects. This study was designed to determine if the response-maintaining effects of nicotine are increased when availability is spaced through time, and whether nicotine is an effective punisher of remifentanil-maintained responding. Compared to a cocaine reference dose, nicotine dose and timeout (TO) value were varied in eight rhesus monkeys responding for intravenous (i.v.) nicotine on varying fixed-ratio (FR) schedules of reinforcement.The aversive effects of nicotine were evaluated in four animals choosing between a standard dose of remifentanil alone or in combination with one of several doses of nicotine. In three of eight self-administration monkeys, 0.01mg/kg/inj nicotine did not maintain responding at any FR value. In the other five animals, nicotine-maintained response rates increased with either FR or TO values to a certain point, and then slowed. Maximum nicotine-maintained response rates were much slower than those maintained by cocaine, and demand for nicotine was less than demand for cocaine. Nicotine was an effective punisher of remifentanil-maintained responding at doses ranging from 0.01 to 0.3mg/kg/inj. Lower punishing dose seemed to be related to the absence of reinforcing effects within subject. There are an order of magnitude individual differences in sensitivity to both the reinforcing and punishing effects of nicotine, and this drug may be unique in being a weak positive reinforcer in small doses and aversive in large doses.

ALLOCATION OF BEHAVIOR IN A SIMPLE DISCRIMINATION TASK

Eight rats responded for food in a discrete-trial discrimination procedure (Go/No-go discrimination task). The subjects' head entries to the feeder were reinforced whenever the discriminative stimuli ('Go' signal) were illuminated. Two lights located at opposite sides of the experimental chamber served as discriminative stimuli, and the 'No-go' component was signaled by a time-out (TO) of variable durations. The subjects' global responding in the discrimination task were described at different levels of analysis, as well as the distribution of other behaviors during the 'No-go' periods. Each of eight subjects learned to differentially respond to stimuli, showing short latencies from the S+ onset; nevertheless, commission errors differed among subjects. The video-recording analysis revealed that the time-allocation of other behaviors diverged among subjects. Specifically, the subjects with numerous commission errors engaged less time in alternative activities (i.e. nosing the floor) than did the subjects with less commission errors. Findings suggest that in a simple discrimination task, the allocation of activities are relevant to a comprehensive understanding of stimulus control and relative phenomena such as behavioral contrast.

Internet guidance on time out: inaccuracies, omissions, and what to tell parents instead.

Pediatricians are frequently asked to address parents' behavioral concerns. Time out (TO) is one of the few discipline strategies with empirical support and is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. However, correctly performed, TO can be a complex procedure requiring training difficult to provide in clinic due to time and cost constraints. The Internet may be a resource for parents to supplement information provided by pediatricians. The present study included evaluation of information on TO contained in websites frequently accessed by parents. It was hypothesized that significant differences exist between the empirically supported parameters of TO and website-based information. Predefined search terms were entered into commonly used search engines. The information contained in each webpage (n = 102) was evaluated for completeness and accuracy based on research on TO. Data were also collected on the consistency of information about TO on the Internet. None of the pages reviewed included accurate information about all empirically supported TO parameters. Only 1 parameter was accurately recommended by a majority of webpages. Inconsistent information was found within 29% of the pages. The use of TO to decrease problem behavior was inaccurately portrayed as possibly or wholly ineffective on 30% of webpages. A parent searching for information about TO on the Internet will find largely incomplete, inaccurate, and inconsistent information. Since nonadherence to any 1 parameter will decrease the efficacy of TO, it is not recommended that pediatricians suggest the Internet as a resource for supplemental information on TO. Alternative recommendations for pediatricians are provided.

Time-out with Parents: A Descriptive Analysis of 30 Years of Research

The current data-based review encompasses 30 years of research involving parental use of time-out (TO). Although extensively researched for decades, parental usage of TO continues to vary widely across a number of procedural variables. As such, the current review provides descriptive data for 40 articles published between 1977 and 2007 along both participant-related and TO procedural variables. Although results indicate wide parental usage of TO as a behavior management strategy, the application of specific procedural variables remains diverse and often unable to be ascertained. Based on current data, the review also includes specific practitioner recommendations and cautions in easily accessible bulleted form related to parental use of TO.

Cognitive impulsivity in animal models: Role of response time and reinforcing rate in delay intolerance with two-choice operant tasks

Impulsivity, a key symptom of ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder), is also common in obsessive-compulsive and addictive disorders. There is rising interest in animal models of inhibitory-control impairment. Adolescent rats were tested daily in the intolerance-to-delay (ID) task (session 25 min, timeout 20 s), involving choice between either immediate small amount of food (SS), or larger amount of food after a delay (LL). The mixed 5-HT(1A/7) agonist (8-OH-DPAT, 0 or 0.060 mg/kg i.p.) was administered acutely just before the last three sessions at highest delays. In addition to the classical choice parameter (percent LL preference), the spontaneous waiting (termed response time, RT) occurring between end of a timeout (TO) and next nose-poke was calculated. The pace between consecutive reinforcer deliveries is given by the mean inter-trial interval (mITI, i.e. TO + RT). Hence, the impact of any given delay may be proportional to this pace and be expressed as delay-equivalent odds, i.e. the extent by which delays are multiples of the mITI. Data revealed that RT/mITI increased sharply from around 15 s/35 s to around 30 s/50 s when imposed delay changed from 30 s to 45 s (i.e. odds from 0.91 to 1.06). This suggests that rats adopted a strategy allowing them to keep in pace with perceived reinforcing rate. The increasing delay constraint directly influenced the length of rats' spontaneous waiting (RT) before next decision. For higher delays, with odds >1, rats shifted to a clear-cut SS preference, which is devoid of any exogenous temporal constraint. A challenge with 8-OH-DPAT (0 or 0.060 mg/kg i.p.) decreased impulsive choice but also increased RT. Thus, tapping onto 5-HT(1A/7) receptors slightly enhanced RT/mITI values, possibly reflecting ability of rats to cope with slower reinforcing rates and/or with delay-cancelled reward paces. In summary, delay-induced states of aversion may arise from the innate tendency to rely on a regular rate of reinforcement. Conversely, a drug-enhanced capacity to cope with delay may involve an internal ability to adjust expectancy about such a reinforcing rate.

Effect of time-out duration on the reinforcing strength of cocaine assessed under a progressive-ratio schedule in rhesus monkeys

Progressive-ratio (PR) schedules of reinforcement have provided valuable information regarding the reinforcing strength of cocaine and the underlying neurobiological mechanisms. Parametric manipulations, such as altering time-out (TO) values, can affect the shape of the cocaine dose-response curve. Earlier studies have used PR schedules with widely varying parameters, thus complicating comparisons across experiments. This study evaluated the reinforcing strength of cocaine (0.005-0.9 mg/kg) as a function of post-reinforcement TO duration (5, 10, 30, or 60 min) under a PR schedule in rhesus monkeys. Daily sessions ended when 2 h elapsed without an injection; the breakpoint value was defined as the total number of injections. When the TO was 10 min, the relationship between cocaine dose and the number of injections received (i.e. BP) was characterized by an inverted U-shaped curve in all monkeys. Increasing the TO to 30 min resulted in a rightward shift of the ascending limb of the dose-response curve, but did not affect self-administration of higher doses. The number of injections received of a low cocaine dose was not further increased when the TO was shortened to 5 min, nor did increasing the TO to 60 min alter self-administration of the highest tested dose. These results suggest that drug accumulation plays a role in determining the reinforcing strength of low and intermediate cocaine doses under PR schedules. However, the reinforcing strength of higher cocaine doses was unaffected by manipulating TO, suggesting that the BP value is a useful measure of reinforcing strength.

DISCRIMINATED TIMEOUT AVOIDANCE IN PIGEONS: THE ROLES OF ADDED STIMULI

Two experiments examined pigeons' postponement of a signaled extinction period, or timeout (TO), from an ongoing schedule of response-dependent food delivery. A concurrent-operant procedure was used in which responses on one (food) key produced food according to a variable-interval schedule and responses on a second (postponement) key delayed the next scheduled TO according to a response-TO (R-TO) interval. A series of response-independent stimulus changes on the food key temporally partitioned the R-TO into three equal segments (S1, S2, and S3). Postponement responses, in addition to postponing TO, also reinstated S1, the stimulus correlated with the greatest temporal distance from TO. In Experiment 1, the R-TO interval was manipulated systematically across blocks of sessions (conditions) at a given ratio of R-TO:TO duration. This R-TO:TO ratio was manipulated across blocks of conditions (phases). Postponement response rates varied inversely with R-TO interval in each phase. Changes in the R-TO:TO ratio did not produce consistent differences except at the 1:10 ratio for some pigeons, where it disrupted postponement responding in some conditions. Most of the postponement responses occurred in the presence of S2 and S3, the stimuli most proximal to TO, whereas most of the food-key responses occurred in S1. In Experiment 2, the R-TO contingencies were systematically manipulated in the presence of the time-correlated stimuli. In one set of conditions, the R-TO contingencies were made either ineffective or less effective in the presence of one or more stimuli. Postponement responses typically shifted to stimuli in the presence of which responses were relatively more effective. Postponement responses decreased markedly when the added stimuli were removed, and then recovered when the stimuli were reinstated. Results from both experiments indicate that the added stimuli in a discriminated TO-avoidance procedure serve predominately discriminative functions, delineating periods during which behavior is maximally effective. The results parallel those obtained in shock-avoidance procedures, providing further evidence that TO functions as an aversive stimulus.

Drop policy to enhance TCP performance in OBS networks

In optical burst-switched (OBS) networks, the loss of burst containing a number of IP packets occurs mostly due to contention rather than congestion so that a TO (Time Out) event will trigger unnecessary TCP congestion control resulting in significant throughput degradation (X. Yu, et al., 2004). Therefore, in this letter, we propose a drop policy (DP) with burst retransmission where a new concept of retransmission-count for bursts is introduced to mitigate unnecessary TCP congestion control. The analytical and simulation results show that the TCP throughput is improved by our proposed DP with burst retransmission.

Selective antagonism at dopamine D3 receptors attenuates cocaine-seeking behaviour in the rat

Dopamine (DA) D3 receptors have been suggested to play a role in mechanisms underlying the ability of drug-associated cues to induce drug-seeking behaviour. The present study investigated whether SB-277011-A, a selective DA D3 receptor antagonist, modulates reinstatement of cocaine-seeking behaviour induced by cocaine-associated stimuli. The study also explored whether or not this modulation is generable to seeking behaviours associated with a nutritive reinforcer such as sucrose. Separate groups of rats were trained to associate discriminative stimuli (SD) with the availability of cocaine or sucrose pellets vs. non-reward under a FR1 schedule of reinforcement. Each reinforced response was followed by a response-cue signalling a 20-s time-out (TO). After the self-administration training criterion was met, rats underwent extinction during which cocaine, sucrose pellets and SDs were withheld. Reinstatement tests, separated by 3 d during which rates of responding under extinction conditions remained at the criterion, were performed by presenting SDs non-contingently together with the contingent presentation of response-cues signalling a 20-s TO. Within- and between-subjects experimental designs revealed that 10 and 30 mg/kg SB-277011-A attenuated reinstatement of cocaine-seeking. SB-277011-A (10 mg/kg) did not modify conditioned reinstatement triggered by sucrose pellet-associated cues. These results, provided they can be extrapolated to abstinent human addicts, suggest the potential therapeutic use of selective DA D3 receptor antagonists for the prevention of cue-controlled cocaine-seeking and relapse.