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V J POLIDORA

Publications and source records attributed to V J POLIDORA.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1963

A sequential response method of studing complex behavior in animals and its application to the measurement of drug effects.

A behavioral testing method was demonstrated to be applicable to the study of detrimental drug effects on complex behavior in rats. The method required the subject (S) to respond in a certain sequence to four identical response sites spaced 90 degrees apart within a cylindrical test compartment. After each S was shaped to perform its one particular sequence within this quadrilaterally symmetrical environment, and its performance was brought to a stable level, drug effects were then studied on a battery of such Ss whose sequential response habits were representative of a continuum of sequence complexity. Experiments with a drug which induces hallucinatory and confusional states in man showed that the method yields in the rat quantitative measures of detrimental behavioral effects in terms of dose-response and dose-time relationships in addition to providing an estimate of the interactive effect between drug dose and behavioral complexity. It was found that for a given magnitude of behavioral detriment, drug dose and behavioral complexity of sequence were inversely related. That is, a S required to perform a simple sequence needed a larger drug dose to interfere with its habit a unit amount that did a S with a more complex one; or, expressed another way, a given drug dose had a greater behavioral effect the more complex the sequence. Finally, an empirical ranking of response sequences along a functional behavioral complexity dimension was presented.

Animals↗
PubMed1963

PUNCHED CARD PROGRAMMING AND RECORDING TECHNIQUES EMPLOYED IN THE AUTOMATION OF THE WATA.

A system of punched card programming and recording of primate discrimination learning experiments is described to illustrate the application of these techniques to the automation of the discrete trial learning situation, allowing for punched card recording and subsequent digital computer data analyses without intermediate data reduction. The system was also designed to control several potential sources of variability inherent in the conventional WGTA testing mode, including 1) the subject's (S's) motivation to test on each trial, 2) S's attention to the stimuli, and 3) the rate of trial presentation so as to be more under S's control. Reliable techniques of punched card programming and recording are detailed.

Animals↗