Scopolamine effects on delayed spatial alternation in the rat

Rats were trained to press two levers in alternation on discrete trials spaced 10 sec apart. During the final sessions of alternation training, error responses per opportunity on the trials that followed reinforced trials (initial trials) did not differ from error responses per opportunity on repetitive (correction) trials (Experiment 1). Scopolamine did not increase the rats' tendency to perseverate: drug treatment did not cause the error responses per opportunity to increase over runs of consecutive error responses (Experiment 2). Scopolamine did not impair performance when alternation was controlled by visual stimuli present in the external environment at the time of the response (Experiment 3). The disruption in delayed alternation performance produced by scopolamine was attributed to effects on stimulus discrimination, resulting in impairment of control of responding by stimuli not present in the environment at the time of the response.