Differential control over drug-seeking behavior by drug-associated conditioned reinforcers and discriminative stimuli predictive of drug availability

Conditioned stimuli (CSs) can control behavior either by activating responses when presented noncontingently or through their ability to maintain responding when presented contingently, that is, as conditioned reinforcers. In the present study, the extent to which drug-seeking behavior could be subject to these different types of stimulus control was studied by presenting to rats CSs that were either paired with each drug infusion or presented as discriminative stimuli (DSs) signaling the availability of drug. It was found that stimuli paired with either cocaine or heroin infusions increased drug seeking when presented contingent on responding, but not when presented noncontingently. By contrast, DSs that signaled cocaine availability increased drug seeking when presented either noncontingently or contingently. These results suggest that drug-seeking behavior can be influenced differentially by CSs and that conditioned reinforcers are especially important for maintaining prolonged sequences of drug-seeking behavior.