ADJUNCTIVE BEHAVIOR AND SMOKING INDUCED BY A MAZE SOLVING SCHEDULE IN HUMANS

Adjunctive behavior was reported as occurring in a variety of species and was described primarily as a phenomenon of excessive drinking in the rat (schedule induced polydipsia). Human subjects (20) participated in an experiment where they were required to solve a maze under conditions of scheduled access (8 s maze drawing). Four subjects were tested with 8, 60, 120 and 300 s intervals, and 4 with FI 120 [fixed interval 120 s] on all test sessions. A comparison with baseline conditions, consisting of either listening to a tape recording or continuous problem solving, showed an increase in the amount of subjects'' motor activity under schedule conditions. There was a significant increase in movement scores with an increase in schedule length, but no increase with repeated scheduled trials of equal duration. The amount of smoking during test sessions was significantly greater than during smoking baseline sessions. Allowing the subject to smoke or not to smoke on maze schedule sessions made no difference to the movement scores. Of the subjects; 8 were also given instructions to keep still. These instructions had no effect in reducing the amount of activity. The scheduling of cognitive tasks can also lead to adjunctive behavior.