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H Condé

Publications and source records attributed to H Condé.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Scheduled-training of cats to a simple reaction time performance.

Cats were trained to release a lever at the onset of a sound, using a simple reaction time paradigm with different foreperiods. The training of the subjects was controlled by a PDP 8/L computer with a training schedule that avoided the problems of manual shaping except for the preliminary step, the lever press. This schedule successfully trained the cats in about 6 daily sessions up to the reaction time paradigm with a 3 sec criterion. In contrast, a programme designed to reduce the criterion value so as to induce the subjects to perform shorter latency movements failed because the cats learned to control it through an escape procedure.

Animals↗

Participation of the red nucleus in motor initiation: unit recording and cooling in cats.

Cats were trained to release (Go) or not to release (No-go) a lever after a brief auditory signal, depending on the presence of an additional tone (No-go cue). Unit recording and cooling were made in the red nucleus (RN) contralateral to the performing limb. Three major results were found: (1) in the Go condition, we observed phasic increases of rubral firing, with a constant latency after the auditory signal and with an amplitude correlated to the latency of motor triggering (i.e. reaction time, RT); the tonic activity preceding the auditory signal could also be correlated to the RTs for some units; (2) in the No-go condition, there was no phasic increase of rubral firing after the auditory signal; the tonic activity during the presentation of the No-go cue was markedly decreased compared to the Go trials; (3) cooling of the RN increased the RTs and could also block the motor triggering. These results suggest that the RN is involved in setting and triggering a conditioned motor response according to sensory cues.

Animals↗