Association for Behavior Analysis International

The predictive validity of animal models of memory has been disappointing, suggesting a need for new approaches to development of drug treatments. Many of the traditional procedures derive from the cognitive neuroscience approach and pose interpretive difficulties from a stimulus control perspective. EAB-based techniques (e.g., delayed matching to sample) may not address the complexity of stimulus control necessary for translational significance, but can be adapted to do so. This tutorial will provide a brief overview of procedures used in the behavioral pharmacology of remembering and a consideration of their strengths and weaknesses. It also will provide a more detailed analysis of research using novel procedures that vary the number of stimuli to remember as well as the retention interval. For example, the odor span task can be described as an incrementing nonmatch to sample procedure in which the number of sample stimuli to remember increases on each trial. Early results have shown that NMDA-antagonists, but not other classes of compounds, produce selective impairments on performance in this procedure. Variations of these procedures will be described that develop stimulus control by specific combinations of stimulus properties (what stimulus, when it occurred, and where it was presented), making it possible to study drug effects on "episodic" stimulus control.