Compared the selective central and selective peripheral administration of anticholinesterases and cholinolytics using a go, no-go single-alternation situation. Ss were 127 naive male Sprague-Dawley rats. Both classes of drugs impaired the acquisition, maintenance, and extinction of single alternation when acting on the CNS. No significant effect was observed with drugs that do not pass the blood-brain barrier. The 2 classes of centrally active drugs were behaviorally antagonistic suggesting that both were acting at a common site in the CNS, possibly the hippocampus. (20 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)