Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Effects Of Caffeine In Operant Learning And Locomotor Activity, Daniel Kharlas

2015 Undergraduate Awards

Caffeine is widely considered to be a reinforcer in humans, but this effect is difficult to measure in non-human animals. This study extended the understanding of the effects of caffeine on reinforcement and locomotor activity by testing rat animal models. A group of 24 adult male Long Evans rats was split into three groups, caffeine (15mg/kg), Scopolamine (spatial learning inhibitor) or a NaCl control. Each drug was administered 15 min prior to behavioural testing. The rats were given one habituation session to familiarize with eating the reinforcing agent, one baseline session before testing and on test day were monitored for …