Biomedical subjects

T R Cutmore

Publications and source records attributed to T R Cutmore.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1998

Event-related potentials can reveal differences between two decision-making groups.

Previous research has shown that a complex decision is dependent on an underlying utility metric that is used by decision making processes to accumulate preference for one alternative. This study postulated that a state of indecision may arise if this underlying metric is poorly organized. The underlying metric was examined with a paired comparison task while measuring event-related potentials (ERP) for subjects classified as 'career decided' and 'career undecided'. Stimuli for comparison were presented either sequentially or simultaneously. The simultaneous condition produced results consistent with the hypothesis that undecided subjects have a poorly organized value metric as revealed in both the behavioral data and the P3 component. A relationship between P3 amplitude and word distance on the underlying metric was found only for the decided group. This was interpreted in terms of the previously documented relationship between P3 and the constructs of decision confidence and task difficulty.

Arousal↗

PubMed1997

Imagery in human classical conditioning.

Many clinical strategies use patients' imagery to explore and treat phobic and posttrauma reactions, however little attention has been paid to the underlying assumption that imagery of relevant stimuli may help maintain conditioned behavior. In this article, the authors examine the premise that mental images can potentiate and substitute for physical stimuli in human classical conditioning. The authors review empirical evidence to detail the role of images of conditioned stimuli (CS) and unconditioned stimuli (US) during pre-exposure to stimuli, the actual pairing of the CS and US, and extinction when the CS is presented alone. The evidence suggests that mental imagery can facilitate or diminish the outcome of classical conditioning in humans and, more tentatively, that mental images can substitute for actual US and CS in autonomic conditioning. They argue that researchers should explore the role of mental imagery in conditioning through the use of advances in the measurement of imagery. Finally, they analyze anxiety and trauma reactions as examples of how applied areas can be used to explore and benefit from developments in this area.

Animals↗

PubMed1996

Gender differences during processing of the Stroop task.

An assertion was made that "There are no sex differences in Stroop interference" (MacLeod, 1991, p. 203) in spite of some evidence to the contrary (e.g., Sarmany, 1977). To resolve the discrepancy, this study examined the nature of gender differences in the context of other variables. 6 men and 8 women were tested, using response speed and errors made as dependent measures. Independent variables were gender, perceptual input (Stroop) task, congruency of stimuli, manual response output, and trial block. Contrary to MacLeod, men were consistently slower than women over trial blocks by some 46 msec., although their error rates did not differ significantly. Response output interacted with gender, with Stroop task, and with trial block. Congruent stimuli were processed faster than incongruent ones. Differences may be ascribed to greater verbal and fine motor abilities of women and greater spatial ability of men.

Adult↗

PubMed1988

A Pavlovian procedure for improving sexual performance of noncopulating male rats.

Previous research has shown that Pavlovian conditioning, based on unconsummated arousal, can increase copulatory rate in laboratory rats. This investigation tested whether a similar procedure could improve the performance of males that initially fail to copulate successfully. Male rats that did not reach ejaculation with a receptive female on a pretest were randomly assigned to one of two groups: CS-US paired or CS-US unpaired. The CS consisted of a period of placement in a running wheel which allowed measurement of incidental activity. The US was (arousing) exposure to a female separated from the male by a wire mesh screen. The CS immediately preceded the US for the paired group but the two were unpaired for the control group. Following conditioning, CS and No-CS tests were given, with both copulation and activity measures taken. Subjects in the paired group were significantly more likely to achieve ejaculation on the CS test than those in the control group, and they were also more active during the test. In contrast, differences on the No-CS test were not significant, consistent with expectations from a Pavlovian explanation. These data show the efficacy of Pavlovian procedures in improving sexual performance, with a possible application to increase arousal to selected cues for human subjects, e.g., some individuals with erectile dysfunction.

Animals↗

PubMed1985

Pavlovian conditioning of sexual arousal: first- and second-order effects.

Despite the likely importance of Pavlovian conditioning in sexual behavior, previous evidence of reliable or sizeable effects is very sparse. This report includes four experiments in the conditioning of sexual arousal in the males of a mammalian species, namely, the rat. In each case the unconditioned response (UR) was unconsummated arousal after exposure to a female. There was evidence of a substantial conditioned effect, as shown by decreases in the time to complete copulation during postconditioning conditioned stimulus (CS) tests. It is also possible to establish a second-order conditioned response (CR), which retains its strength even after extinction of the first-order response. These results confirm the power of Pavlovian contingencies in sexual responding and provide implications for conditioning theory and applied work.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Do neuroleptics impair learning in schizophrenic patients?

Dopamine (DA) has been shown to be involved in reward-related (incentive) learning but not stimulus-stimulus (s-s) associative learning. Schizophrenic individuals receive neuroleptics (DA receptor blockers) for therapy and therefore may have impaired incentive learning. To test this hypothesis, in experiment 1, schizophrenic outpatients receiving haloperidol or flupenthixol and matched controls were tested on tasks involving incentive or s-s learning. Patients were also given the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Results showed the patients to be significantly impaired in every task. However, only impairments of s-s learning were correlated with psychiatric state. Thus, deficits on the tasks involving incentive learning were interpreted as resulting from neuroleptic drugs rather than psychiatric state. Experiment 2 tested 26 schizophrenic inpatients receiving a variety of neuroleptics (converted to chloropromazine equivalency (CPZEQ)) on the same tasks. A blood sample was collected from the patients and from age-matched controls and prolactin levels were found to be significantly higher in the patients. Multiple regression analysis was used on patient data to determine whether prolactin level or CPZEQ were related to performance. It was found that incentive learning but not s-s associative learning was significantly predicted by one of these two indexes of neuroleptic drug dose. The results of these experiments provide some support for the hypothesis that neuroleptics might impair incentive but not s-s associative learning in schizophrenics. The observation that neuroleptics affect human incentive learning might lead to more efficient use of behavior modification programs in the treatment of schizophrenia.

Adult↗