Modulation of the behavioral effects of anticonvulsant drugs by an external discriminative stimulus in the pigeon.

The effects of the anticonvulsant drugs valproic acid, phenytoin, phenobarbital and diazepam were examined in pigeons performing under a fixed-consecutive-number schedule with and without an added external discriminative stimulus. Under these schedules, a reinforced response run consisted of responding between eight and 12 times on one response key (work key) and then responding once on a second response key (reinforced key). For one group of pigeons, an external discriminative stimulus signaled completion of the response requirement on the work key, whereas no stimulus change was programmed for the other group. Phenobarbital (5-60 mg/kg) and diazepam (0.5-6 mg/kg) produced large decreases in reinforced response runs (accuracy) and rates of responding. The magnitude of these accuracy- and rate-decreasing effects was larger in the group without the external discriminative stimulus. Under both schedules, these drugs produced pronounced increases in the probability of switching to the reinforcement key before completion of the minimal response requirement on the work key. Valproic acid (20-160 mg/kg) and phenytoin (1.25-10 mg/kg) also decreased both accuracy and rates of responding. Although the accuracy-decreasing effects of these drugs were relatively small in magnitude, they were consistently larger in the group without the external discriminative stimulus. These data suggest that the addition of an external discriminative stimulus attenuates the disruptive behavioral effects of anticonvulsant drugs.