Rats given daily mescaline (4 or 10 mg/kg) showed no impairment in adapting their behavior when the schedule of food reinforcement changed from a fixed ratio to a fixed interval. However, in a reversal test where the rewarded lever was switched, chronic administration of 4 mg/kg/day made rats completely unable to switch to the newly reinforced lever. A higher dose of 9 mg/kg/day had an excitatory effect, causing rats to make more reinforced responses than unreinforced ones during the second and third reversals, exceeding the control group's performance.
Chronic oral administration of mescaline at 30 mg/kg/day in rats accelerated the spontaneous decay of a conditioned reflex (memory decay) during a period without daily training in a staircase maze, with results statistically significant only at this dose. In a T maze with two lateral alleys closed by swinging doors, the same dose increased the time rats spent opening the first door. When doors were latched, mescaline also increased door-opening time. Mescaline increased food consumption, with the increase at 30 mg/kg/day being statistically significant.