A response duration differentiation schedule, where rats depress a lever for between 1.0 and 1.3 s to obtain a food reward, provides a useful measure for detecting antidepressant activity. It is known that 5-hydroxytryptamineIA (S-HT1A) receptor agonists exhibit antidepressant-like activity in multiple animal models of depression, however, compounds selective for this receptor have not been tested in this model to date. Thus, the present study sought to determine the effect of the full 5-HT1A agonist, 8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino)tetralin (8-OH-DPAT) and the partial 5-HT1A agonist, buspirone, on responding in the response duration differentiation task. The effects of these drugs were compared to the effects of the non-specific serotonergic agonist, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD); the phenothiazine, chlorpromazine; the atypical antidepressant, trazodone; and the non-selective S-HT1A antagonists, propranolol and alprenolol. It was found that propranolol, trazodone, and both the full (8-OH-DPAT) and partial (buspirone) 5-HT1A agonists produced increases in the mean response duration, which is typical of antidepressant activity. By contrast, with the exception of propranolol, compounds lacking antidepressant efficacy (e.g. chlorpromazine, LSD and alprenolol), failed to produce increases in mean response durations. Further, the effects of 8-OH-DPAT were inhibited by pretreatment with the S-HT antagonist, (-)-alprenoIol (3.0 and 30.0mg/kg i.p.) The results of this study provide further support for the suggestion that S-HIM agonists may be useful for the treatment of clinical depression and that these effects are specifically mediated by 5-HT1A receptors. Behav Pharmacol 1998: 9:309–318 © 1998 Lippincott-Raven Publishers.