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Results for “Conditioning, Operant”

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PubMed1982

Sodium chloride detection threshold in the rat determined using a simple operant taste discrimination task.

A method for training rats to lick at high rates for a water reinforcer after presentation of one tastant and to inhibit or decrease response rate to avoid a time-out, punisher after presentation of another tastant is described and evaluated. The method produced rapid acquisition of simple discrimination and detection tasks, The absolute mean detection threshold for sodium chloride in three rats was 0.0038% (0.0031%-0.0043%. The operant conditioning technique is simple, efficient, and should prove useful for psychophysical and physiological studies of gustation.

Animals↗

PubMed1984

Effects of naloxone and buprenorphine on intravenous acetaldehyde self-injection in rats.

Rats can be induced to self-inject acetaldehyde under an appropriate operant conditioning schedule. The narcotic antagonist naloxone (30 mg/kg) is shown to produce a decrease in schedule-induced acetaldehyde self-injection, but was without effect on both barpress responding and spontaneous activity in rats tested individually for fine, gross and total activity. On the other hand buprenorphine (0.3 and 3 mg/kg), the mixed agonist-antagonist derived from the opium alkaloid thebaine, also produced a significant decrease in acetaldehyde self-injection. However, a significant effect of buprenorphine on barpressing in otherwise drug naive rats indicated that this finding should not be dissociated from a possible involvement of buprenorphine on motor responding. While the findings are consistent with the hypothesis of opiate involvement in acetaldehyde self-administration, caution must be exercised when drawing conclusions about the participation of endogenous opiates in acetaldehyde-mediated behavior.

Acetaldehyde↗

PubMed1986

Absolute and intensity-difference taste thresholds in the rat: evaluation of an automated multi-channel gustometer.

An operant conditioning procedure is described for assessing taste detection and discrimination in rats. Rats were trained to lick at a 10-barrel stimulus delivery tube for a 0.005-ml sample of a positive (S+) or negative (S-) stimulus and to switch to a water delivery tube after presentation of S+. The system is computer controlled and selection of stimuli can be made interactive with performance. After preliminary training, absolute and intensity-difference thresholds can be determined in 1-2 sessions. Mean absolute thresholds in 10 rats for NaCl, sodium-saccharin, and sucrose were 0.0049%, 0.0012%, and 0.035%, respectively. Intensity-difference thresholds (not reported previously in the rat) for NaCl and saccharin were 16.1% and 12.3%, respectively. With these procedures rats also rapidly acquired 2-tastant discriminations, including those involving taste mixtures.

Animals↗

PubMed1986

Modification of REM sleep behavior by REMs contingent auditory stimulation in man.

Following studies about supposed relationship between rapid eye movement sleep (REM sleep) and learning, a new approach, based on operant conditioning is introduced. We demonstrate that rapid eye movements (REMs) contingent auditory stimulation in man leads to some consistent (quantitative and qualitative) modifications of REM sleep behavior. Stimulating REMs in the frame of a continuous reinforcement schedule increases total REM sleep duration but decreases REMs density, and modifies hemispheric EEG symmetry. The contrasting effects of such sensory stimulations and results related to information processing hypothesis are discussed.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed1984

A simplified procedure for producing ethanol self-selection in rats.

Procedures almost exclusively involving the use of operant conditioning equipment have been successful in training rats to drink ethanol and establishing ethanol as a reinforcer. The present report describes a variation of this procedure which, in a relatively short period of time also establishes ethanol as a reinforcer, results in significant blood ethanol levels, but does not require extensive programming or recording equipment and is therefore more amenable to studies in which large numbers of animals are required.

Alcohol Drinking↗

PubMed1986

Oral ethanol reinforced behavior in inbred mice.

The use of genetically defined animals in many areas of alcohol research provides valuable information about the contribution of genetic factors to ethanol-related behaviors. Utilizing the principles of operant conditioning, we determined whether mice which are known for high ethanol preference, C57BL/6J males, would orally self-administer this substance. Strategies used with other species were successful in inducing pharmacologically significant blood alcohol levels and in establishing ethanol as a reinforcer in this mouse strain. Responding for and consumption of 8% (w/v) ethanol exceeded baseline levels of responding for water. This species and method may prove useful in determining the genetic relationship among various ethanol-related behaviors and their mechanisms of action and in studies of behavior reinforced by drugs.

Animals↗

PubMed1991

Effects of an extract of Ginkgo biloba on learning and memory in mice.

The effects of an extract of Ginkgo biloba (EGb 761) on acquisition, performance, and retention of mice in an appetitive operant conditioning were investigated. The animals were trained for 30 consecutive days to acquire a two-lever response sequence followed by food reward. EGb 761 was administered daily at a dose level of 100 mg/kg PO. Drug treatment started four and eight weeks before the training and was maintained until a retention test 10 weeks after it. The results indicated that EGb 761 facilitated memory processes. EGb 761 quickened the acquisition and improved the performance of the two-response sequence: The number of correct responses was increased and correct responses were performed more frequently in the most effective manner. Besides, incorrect responses were reduced sooner and faster and to a lower level in EGb 761-treated mice. With regard to the retention EGb 761 improved the retrieval of the learned response.

Animals↗

PubMed1984

Behavioral and psychological approaches to the assessment and treatment of chronic pain.

This article briefly reviews behavioral and psychologic methods currently used to assess chronic pain patients. Assessment techniques designed to measure pain report, overt behavior patterns, and psychologic functioning are described. A variety of behavioral treatment procedures for chronic pain are also discussed. Treatment techniques can be grouped into two major categories: operant conditioning methods, and self-management strategies. Critical needs for future research are briefly identified.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1990

Memory traces in spinal cord.

The complexity and inaccessibility of the vertebrate CNS impede the localization and description of memory traces and the definition of the processes that create them. Recent work has shown that the spinal stretch reflex (SSR), which is produced by a monosynaptic two-neuron pathway, can be operantly conditioned, and that memory traces responsible for this behavioral change reside in the spinal cord. The probable locations are the terminal of the Ia affernt neuron on the motoneuron and/or the motoneuron itself. Because it modifies a simple well-defined and accessible pathway, SSR conditioning may be a valuable experimental model for studying vertebrate memory.

Animals↗

PubMed1983

Functional dissociation between lateral and medial entorhinal cortex in memory processes in mice.

The effects of lesions of the medial or the lateral entorhinal cortex in mice were examined on acquisition, retention and extinction of an operant-conditioning task in a Skinner box. Compared with the control animals, lesions in the medial entorhinal had no behavioral effects whereas lesions in the lateral entorhinal enhanced retention and increased resistance to extinction but did not change acquisition of this task. These results suggest a functional dissociation between the two parts of the entorhinal cortex.

Animals↗

PubMed1985

Physostigmine reverses memory deficits produced by pretraining electrical stimulation of the dorsal hippocampus in mice.

The aim of the present experiments was to test the validity of the hypothesis that presynaptic cholinergic activity has a functional significance for memory formation. The results show that electrical stimulation of the dorsal hippocampus delivered before learning in BALB/c mice which induces a decrease of about 40% in hippocampal choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity at the time of learning results in deficits in retention scores in two appetitive learning tasks (operant conditioning in the Skinner box or a spatial memory task using a 4-hole board). In both behavioral tasks intraventricular injection of 1 microgram of physostigmine 20 min before the acquisition session reverses the disruptive effect of pretraining hippocampal stimulation. Our results seem to indicate that the memory deficits produced by pretraining electrical stimulation of the hippocampus result from both a decrease in ChAT activity and a corresponding reduction of acetylcholine availability in the hippocampal formation.

Acetylcholine↗

PubMed1984

EEG sensorimotor rhythm biofeedback training: some effects on the neurologic precursors of learning disabilities.

This study presents a clinical treatment regime for pathological interhemispheric dysfunction with respect to a population of learning disabled boys. The results obtained replicate and extend earlier findings with respect to operantly conditioned increases in amplitude of sensorimotor transactions and its positive effect on learning disability. Specifically, the biofeedback, and subsequent conditioning, of increased 14 Hz neural discharge patterns (sensorimotor rhythm-SMR) over the central Rolandic cortex, appeared to increase bilateral sensorimotor transactions resulting in substantive reduction/remediation in the learning disabilities of the recipients of such EEG biofeedback training.

Biofeedback, Psychology↗

PubMed1985

The response of a case of petit mal epilepsy to EEG sensorimotor rhythm biofeedback training.

A 14-year-old girl, with a long history of absence seizures, sudden rages, spatial disorientation, and academic difficulties received long-term (33 sessions) EEG sensorimotor rhythm biofeedback training. Operantly conditioned increases in the average amplitude of the 14 Hz neural discharge rhythm, over the central Rolandic cortex and cerebrolongitudinal fissure, resulted in a total cessation of her absence seizures; which had, prior to the EEG sensorimotor rhythm biofeedback training, occurred at the rate of 4-5 absences per hour. Concurrently, her sudden rages, spatial disorientation, and academic functioning all evidenced significant remediation.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1986

The role of primate putamen neurons in the association of sensory stimuli with movement.

Neuronal activity in the putamen of monkeys was recorded while they performed operantly conditioned body movements. Two categories of neurons were observed. Type I cells had tonic spontaneous discharges and responded to the sensory trigger stimuli for movements with excitation followed by inhibition or with only inhibition. These responses to the trigger stimuli disappeared when the conditioned movement was extinguished. Type II cells were characterized by phasic activity time-locked to the movement. Two subclasses of type II cells were observed. Type IIa cells exhibited phasic discharges before the first movement of a learned, repetitive sequence of arm or orofacial movements that were triggered by the sensory stimuli. Type IIb cells showed phasic activity modulation during each movement in one direction, either flexion or extension, in an unconditioned manner. Activity of the type IIa cells preceded the onset of EMG in prime mover muscles, while most type IIb cells were activated after the EMG had appeared. Thus, in both type I and type IIa cells the activity can be said to be behaviourally contingent. Type I cells show a movement contingent sensory response, and type IIa cells show movement-related activity that is contingent upon the triggering of the movement by a sensory stimulus.

Animals↗

PubMed1986

Action of a chronic administration of mescaline in dynamic behavioural situations.

The modifications of the rat behaviour caused by a chronic administration of mescaline were studied in two schedules of operant conditioning. In the "periodic conditioning" test, the schedule of reinforcement was changed from a fixed ratio to a fixed interval schedule. Mescaline (4 mg/kg/day and 10 mg/kg/day) caused no modification of the ability of the rat to adapt its behaviour to the new experimental situation. In the "reversal test" the contingency for food delivery was switched from one lever, where responses were previously reinforced to the other lever where responses had no programmed consequences. A chronic administration of mescaline (4 mg/kg/day) caused a total incapacity of the rat to switch to the lever which became reinforced in the reversal trial. A chronic administration of 9 mg/kg/day of mescaline had an excitatory effect and the number of reinforced responses in the II and III reversals exceeded the unreinforced responses in a measure greater than in the controls.

Animals↗

PubMed1987

Effects of chronic manipulations of dietary choline on dynamic behavioural situations.

1. The modifications in rat behaviour caused by chronic manipulations of dietary choline were studied in two schedules of operant conditioning. Adult rats were maintained on choline-deficient, low-choline and high-choline enriched diets. 2. In the "periodic conditioning" test, the schedule of reinforcement was changed from a fixed ratio to a fixed interval schedule. In the "reversal" test the contingency for food delivery was switched four times from one lever to the other in a two lever Skinner box. 3. In the "periodic conditioning" test, control and treated groups showed the same reduction of responses/reinforcement from the beginning to the end of trial. The time-course reduction of responses/reinforcement became significant in the high-choline (331 mg/kg/day) and deficient-choline groups earlier than in the low-choline (75 mg/kg/day) enriched and control groups. 4. In the "reversal" test, the low-choline (110 mg/kg/day) enriched diet improved the reinforced responses in the IV reversal; the high-choline (330 mg/kg/day) diet gave a significant impairment of the reinforced responses in the III and IV reversals. The deficient-choline diet caused a reduced number of the total responses and a worsening of the reinforced responses in the II, III and IV reversals.

Animals↗

PubMed1991

Dietary choline manipulations and behavioural modifications in rats in the early stages of aging.

1. Behavioural effects of chronic manipulations of dietary choline in rats in the early stages of aging are reported. Rats were maintained on choline-deficient, low-choline and high-choline enriched diets. Two schedules of operant conditioning, representing "learning'h situations, plus an open field session were studied. 2. In the "temporal discrimination" test, the low-choline enriched group performed significantly better than controls while the deficient-choline group worse. The high-choline enriched group performed better than controls only in the second part of the test (where there was a stabilisation in behaviour). 3. In the "extinction" trials the high-choline enriched group retarded, while deficient-choline accelerated the extinction. In the open field sessions only the deficient-choline group, for the number of squares crossed, significantly differed from controls. 4. These observations lead us to suggest a general depressive effect in the rats on a choline-deficient diet, whereas with dietary choline supplements the effects on "learning" situations can be variable depending, on a large measure, on the test chosen.

Aging↗

PubMed1979

Definitive disruption of spatial delayed alternation in rats after lesions in the ventral mesencephalic tegmentum.

Prefrontal system dysfunction are revealed in rats in delayed response tasks. In view of the anatomical projections existing from the ventral mesencephalic tegmentum to the prefrontal system we have done this research in order to determine whether cognitive processes are impaired after mesencephalic lesions. Rats learned spatial delayed alternation in a T-maze. After acquisition they were randomly divided in two groups; the experimental group received lesions in the ventral mesencephalic tegmentum at the level of the A10 cell bodies. These lesions induced definitive disruption of the retention of the delayed alternation and the rats were unable to relearn the task. However, these animals were able to perform normally in an operant conditioning with food reinforcement indicating the specificity of the deficit observed with respect to the delayed alteration task. The possible modulating role of dopaminergic A10 neurones is hypothetized.

Animals↗