Abstract
This study was designed to replicate the finding that individuals who choose to self-administer a drug in a laboratory-based drug choice procedure tend to experience stimulant-like subjective drug effects. We wished also to identify groups of subjects, differing on this variable, who would be studied further to define neurobiological correlates of drug choice. Of 29 subjects tested in a 9-session choice procedure (10 mg d-amphetamine vs. placebo), 11 chose the drug consistently, 11 chose placebo consistently, and 7 did not show any clear preference. ANOVA revealed significant Choice Group x Drug x Time interactions for the Addiction Research Center Inventory subscale PCAG (a measure of sedation), the Profile of Mood State (POMS) subscale Fatigued, and the Visual Analog Scale subscales Sedated and Stimulated. There was a trend toward a significant 3-way interaction for the POMS subscales Vigor and Arousal. These results are consistent with those of previous studies in that individuals who chose to self-administer d-amphetamine experienced stimulant-like drug effects, peaking at 3 hours, whereas individuals who chose to self-administer placebo experienced sedative rather than stimulant d-amphetamine effects. We are now testing the hypothesis that groups defined by their drug choice can be differentiated on the basis of their electrophysiological response to d-amphetamine.
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Gabbay, F., Johanson, CE. Individual Differences in the Reinforcing Effects of d-Amphetamine. Neuropsychopharmacol 11, 269 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.npp.1380150
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.npp.1380150