Environmental specificity of tolerance

In this article we summarize research which demonstrates that the display of tolerance is often more pronounced in the usual drug-administration environment than in an alternative environment. This environmental specificity of tolerance is consistent with a Parlovian conditioning model which suggests that tolerance is partially mediated bydrug-compensatory conditional responses elicited by the usual drug-administration environment. On the basis of this model, the administration of a drug in the absence of cues previously associated with drug administration leads to a less tolerant response through the absence of the compensators anticipators responses that contribute to tolerance.