Resumo

MAYORGA, Paola; MEDINA, Iván Felipe  e  ALEEN ERAZO, Leydy. Choice and substitution of stimuli between alcohol and food in rats: relationship between the increase in the cost of an alternative and the change in the choice. Suma Psicol. [online]. 2008, vol.15, n.2, pp. 317-335. ISSN 0121-4381.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of changes in the cost of alternatives on the choice between saccharin and alcohol and to establish whether the rats substitute goods such as alcohol (which is initially free access and then restricted) by saccharine (which is constantly restricted). The study was conducted in three stages: (1) shaping of the operant response, (2) baseline or free access to goods and (3) restriction: whereas the access to alcohol was initially free and then restricted, the access to saccharin was constantly restricted. As expected, as the price for ethanol was increased to a fixed ratio 5 (RF5), rats substituted ethanol by saccharine, even when there was a greater alcohol consumption during the initial phases. Such behavior is in agreement with behavioral economics concepts on choice behavior as a function of the costs of the alternatives.

Palavras-chave : Substitution; Choice; Cost.