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Biomedical subjects

D L Grimsley

Publications and source records attributed to D L Grimsley.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

The neurophysiological aspects of Pavlov's theory of higher nervous activity: in honor of the 150th anniversary of Pavlov's birth.

Whereas Ivan P. Pavlov (1849-1936) is well-known for his work on classical conditioning, his contribution to neuroscience, particularly his interest in the function of neural centers in the central nervous system, is not as widely known. During the last three decades of his life, Pavlov explored cortical processes by salivary reflex conditioning, a method he used to develop his theory of higher nervous activity. This theory outlined the function of the brain in higher organisms in their interaction with the changing environmental contingencies. As early as 1908, Pavlov outlined a neurophysiological theory as the physiological basis of his theory of higher nervous activity. He maintained that the neural processes of excitation and inhibition irradiate and concentrate among the cortical neural centers. Most of all, he emphasized the plasticity of the cortex in higher organisms' in the Darwinian struggle for existence.

Brain↗
PubMed1996

Bilateral skin temperature, handedness, and the biofeedback control of skin temperature.

There are differences in physiological variables when they are recorded from the left and right side of the body simultaneously. In some cases, handedness has been found to have a significant relationship to bilateral differences. The present study examined the relationship between handedness and baseline heart rate and skin temperature, as well as bilateral differences in skin temperature during visual and auditory biofeedback. Subjects were 32 college females, 24 right-handed and 8 left-handed. Recordings of heart rate and skin temperature from both the dominant and the nondominant hand were made during baseline and during the 10-min experimental session while subjects attempted to warm their dominant hand. Both groups showed significantly increased skin temperature during the experimental session. No prominent bilateral differences in skin temperature were found. These results do not support bilateral differences as a generalizable construct.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Digital skin temperature and biofeedback.

The present study simultaneously compared the skin temperature of the index and the little fingers during hand warming using biofeedback. There was a 5-min. baseline recording followed by a 10-min. session during which subjects attempted to increase skin temperature using the index finger with biofeedback in the form of lights and sound. Analysis showed no significant differences between the temperatures of the index and of the little fingers, but there was a significant increase in temperature during the session for both sites.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Nicotine effects on biofeedback training.

Biofeedback involving hand warming has become a frequently used procedure in health and stress management programs. The present research examined the effects of smoking on the ability to learn temperature control during biofeedback training. Three groups of female college students were compared: groups of smokers who smoked prior to the biofeedback session were compared to smokers who did not smoke and to nonsmokers. The results showed that the greatest increase in skin temperature was for nonsmokers, followed by smokers who did not smoke for at least 1 hr before the biofeedback session. The group of smokers who smoked just prior to the biofeedback were not able to increase their skin temperature. The basal skin temperature measured before treatment was higher for smokers than nonsmokers. The results are discussed in terms of the paradoxical physiological arousing effects and the self-reported tranquilizing effects of smoking.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of experience with salty food on salt selection in adrenalectomized rats.

Sodium-deficient rats will seek out NaCl in food or solution and regulate their salt need. The question of this study is the extent to which salt-seeking behavior can be modified by long-term exposure to a high NaCl diet. Four female rats were divided into two groups: (1) animals that were fed lab chow with extra NaCl added during breeding, gestation, and until the offspring were weaned, the Experienced group, and (2) animals that ate only plain lab chow until weaning, the Inexperienced group. Food preference was measured in the offspring at age 28-29 and 41-42 days and them about half of each group were adrenalectomized and half sham operated. All animals had access to both plain and NaCl-enriched food and saline for 10 days postoperatively. The saline solution was removed and intake measured for an additional 8 days. Early experience with the high NaCl diet resulted in greater consumption of the NaCl-enriched food preoperatively and altered the pattern of intake following the removal of the saline solution postoperatively. The results indicate that early exposure to a high salt diet can influence the rats' later salt-seeking behavior.

Adrenal Glands↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Pavlov's position on the effects of decortication on conditional reflexes.

This paper examined D. Joravsky's (1989) hypothesis that I.P. Pavlov dogmatically refused to acknowledge that classical conditioning can be mediated by subcortical regions of the large cerebral hemispheres. Decortication literature from 1901 to 1936 was reviewed. The early studies available to Pavlov, who died in 1936, showed that decortication does not allow the establishment of new or retaining of old conditional reflexes (CRs). G.P. Zelenyĭ's later experiments(1930) suggested that the establishment of primitive CRs in decorticated dogs was possible. Pavlov never denied this possibility but cautioned that Zelenyĭ's experiments could have been methodologically flawed. Although Joravsky's original hypothesis on Pavlov's position on the relation between decortication and the establishment of CRs is by and large accepted, it must be stressed that Pavlov's theory of higher nervous activity was primarily concerned with the function of the brain in the higher organism's struggle for existence. Within this context the cortical, rather than subcortical, processes play the decisive role in the organism's adaptation to the changing external environment.

Animals↗