A computer-supported method for analyzing behavioral observations: studies with stereotypy.

The present report describes an observational method for quantifying behavior including drug-induced stereotypy, and employs an electronic data-collecting device with microcomputer hardware and software support. This method generates interval scale data, thus permitting the application of powerful parametric statistics, and also allows examination of discrete response topographies. For example, the method permits parametric comparisons among drug doses, treatment groups, as well as over time. The effects of the atypical antipsychotic drug thioridazine on apomorphine-induced stereotypy were used to illustrate the utility of the method. Thioridazine was found, among other effects, to potentiate apomorphine-induced gnawing and licking, while blocking sniffing.