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Biomedical subjects

R G Finkbiner

Publications and source records attributed to R G Finkbiner.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Larger nondeclarative than declarative deficits in learning and memory in human aging.

This study used classical conditioning as a measure of nondeclarative learning and compared it with verbal learning as a declarative measure. Eighty participants were tested using 1 of 2 paradigms (400-ms and 750-ms delay) for eyeblink classical conditioning (EBCC) and the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT). Large age differences were observed in the nondeclarative EBCC task, even in the 750-ms paradigm, which is more optimal for older adults. Age differences in the nondeclarative EBCC task were larger in the 400-ms paradigm and equal in the 750-ms paradigm to the magnitude of age differences in the declarative CVLT task. Partial correlations (removing the variance that was due to age) showed no relation between performance on the nondeclarative and declarative tasks. The results contradict the common assumption that, in the same participants, nondeclarative learning and memory are more resistant to the effects of aging than are declarative learning and memory and suggest that nondeclarative learning and memory are not unitary.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Classical eyeblink conditioning in adulthood: effects of age and interstimulus interval on acquisition in the trace paradigm.

Effects of age and interstimulus interval (ISI) were examined in eyeblink classical conditioning with a trace paradigm. Sixty young adults were trained in Experiment 1 with 6 interstimulus intervals (ISIs): 400, 900, 1,200, 1,500, 1,800, and 2,100 ms. The purpose was to find an ISI value for humans that would result in nonoptimal acquisition. ISIs of 1,200 ms and longer were nonoptimal. Adults aged 17-81 years were trained in Experiment 2 with a nonoptimal 1,800-ms ISI in the trace paradigm. Young and middle-aged subjects demonstrated equivalent levels of acquisition, and only older subjects conditioned more poorly. Aging appears to affect conditioning in the long-ISI trace paradigm as well as in the short-ISI delay paradigm.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Eyeblink conditioning discriminates Alzheimer's patients from non-demented aged.

Classical conditioning of the eyeblink response in rabbits is a model system useful in research on the neurobiology of learning, memory and aging, and it has implications for Alzheimer's disease (AD). The hippocampus and cerebellum are brain structures of demonstrated involvement in eyeblink conditioning. AD profoundly impairs the septo-hippocampal cholinergic system; thus, AD patients should show greater impairment of eyeblink conditioning than non-demented, age-matched subjects. Twenty probable AD patients and 20 non-demented age-matched subjects were classically conditioned in the delay paradigm. While control subjects showed clear evidence of acquisition (31.54% conditioned responses [CRs]), probable AD patients showed significant impairment (10.77% CRs). Eyeblink classical conditioning may be useful for AD research and assessment.

Aged↗