Self-Administration of Abused Substances: Methods for Study, 20

Human drug self-administration methods in residential settings have been developed, and research has examined a range of variables which systematically influence the drug taking behavior. Confidence in the results with these methods is increased by the demonstration of two types of generality: across species and across drug. Across species generality is demonstrated by the fact that similar effects on drug taking are obtained in human and infrahuman experiments when the same variables are manipulated (including: type of drug; dose of drug; response requirement to obtain drug; punishment of drug self-administration; and drug preloads). Across drug generality is demonstrated in human research by the fact that manipulation of major variables (including dose of drug; response requirement to obtain drug; and minimum interingestion interval) produces similar effects on the self-administration of different drugs (e.g., ethanol, diazepam and pentobarbital). Across drug generality is also demonstrated by the finding that the selfadministration of different drugs produces similar effects on the social behavior of the drug user. Demonstration of across species and across drug generality suggests that common processes may underlie various aspects of drug self-administration, and supports the supposition of a generalized behavioral phenomenon of substance self-administration.