Enhanced attention in rhesus monkeys as a common factor for the cognitive effects of drugs with abuse potential.

Rationale: One of the common neurochemical features of many drugs of abuse is their ability to directly or indirectly enhance dopaminergic activity in the brain, particularly within the ventral tegmental-nucleus accumbens pathway. Dopaminergic pathways in the frontal and limbic cortex also may be targets for these agents, where pharmacological effects could result in heightened attention and/or support self-administration behavior.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine whether drugs from differing pharmacological classes that exhibit abuse potential would share the ability to counter distractability in the delayed matching task.