Behavioral measurement of the neural refractory period and its application to intracranial self-stimulation.

Abstract

Rats were given intracranial stimuli consisting of brief pulse pairs repeating at 10-msec. intervals. As the interval between pulses in each pair was gradually increased, there appeared a sudden large increment in the behavioral effect being measured. This increment occurred at different pulse separations, depending on the behavioral effect tested. The results are taken to indicate that 2 pathways with differing neural refractory periods are excited in intracranial self-stimulation, the stimulation of one producing reinforcement (range 0.5-0.6 msec), and of the other, drive (range 0.8-1.1 msec).