Effect of Schedule-Induced Behavior on Responses of Spontaneously Hypertensive and Wistar–Kyoto Rats in a Delay-Discounting Task: A Preliminary Report

Delay discounting is the loss of the subjective value of an outcome as the time to its delivery increases. It has been suggested that organisms can become more tolerant of this delay when engaging in schedule-induced behaviors. Schedule-induced behaviors are those that develop at a high rate during intermittent reinforcement schedules without the need of arranged contingency to the reinforcer, and they have been considered as a model of compulsivity. There is evidence that relates compulsivity to greater delay discounting. The rate of delay discounting represents how impulsive the subject is, as the rate of discounting increases the higher the impulsivity. Thus, the main purpose of this study was to undertake a preliminary evaluation of whether developing schedule-induced behaviors affects performance in a delay-discounting task, by comparing spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) and Wistar–Kyoto (WKY) rats. The rats were exposed to a task that consisted of presenting the subjects with two levers: one produced a small, immediate food reinforcer while the other one produced a larger, delayed reinforcer. During Condition A, the levers were presented, and a water bottle and a running wheel were available in the conditioning chambers; during Condition B, only the levers were presented. SHR and WKY rats developed schedule-induced behaviors during Condition A and showed no difference in discounting rates, contradicting previous reports. Lick allocation during response-reinforcer delays and the inter-trial interval (ITI) showed, respectively, pre- and post-food distributions. Discounting rates during Condition B (when rats could not engage in schedule-induced behaviors) did not reach statistical significance difference among strains of animals, although it was observed a tendency for WKY to behave more self-controlled. Likewise it was not found any effect of schedule-induced behavior on discounting rates, however, a tendency for WKY rats to behave more impulsive during access to drink and run seems to tentatively support the idea of schedule-induced behavior as a model of compulsivity in those rats, being impulsivity simply defined as an excess in behavior.