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Results for “Conditioning, Operant”

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PubMed1978

Compensation for work-related injuries and rehabilitation of patients with chronic pain.

A group of 61 patients with problems of chronic pain were managed though a rehabilitation program based on the principles of operant conditioning. Of these patients, 35 were receiving compensation for work-related accidents, and 26 were receiving no financial compensation for their chronic pain. Of the patients not receiving compensation, 69% (18) made significant increases in their functional performances, while only 43% (15) of the compensation group made similar increases.

Back Pain↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Spinal pain rehabilitation: inpatient and outpatient treatment results and development of predictors for outcome.

Multidisciplinary treatment outcomes with a 1-year follow-up is reported for 100 chronic low-back pain patients participating in inpatient rehabilitation and 100 patients participating in outpatient rehabilitation. Treatment for both groups of patients was based on principles of operant conditioning and consisted of increasing structured exercise activities and educational classes for instruction in techniques of pain management. Results are presented in terms of patient reports of decreased pain, increased activity, decreased medication, need for further treatment, and return to work. A method for predicting return to work was developed by way of a computerized discriminate analysis with the formulas presented for consideration by those interested in similar patient groups.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Constraints on decay of environmental sound memory in adult rats.

When adult rats are pretreated with a 48-h-long 'repetitive nonreinforced sound exposure', performance in two-sound discriminative operant conditioning transiently improves. We have already proven that this 'sound exposure-enhanced discrimination' is dependent upon enhancement of the perceptual capacity of the auditory cortex. This study investigated principles governing decay of sound exposure-enhanced discrimination decay. Sound exposure-enhanced discrimination disappeared within approximately 72 h if animals were deprived of environmental sounds after sound exposure, and that shortened to less than approximately 60 h if they were exposed to environmental sounds in the animal room. Sound-deprivation itself exerted no clear effects. These findings suggest that the memory of a passively exposed behaviorally irrelevant sound signal does not merely pass along the intrinsic lifetime but also gets deteriorated by other incoming signals.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Different parameters support generalization and discrimination learning in Drosophila at the flight simulator.

We have used a genetically tractable model system, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to study the interdependence between sensory processing and associative processing on learning performance. We investigated the influence of variations in the physical and predictive properties of color stimuli in several different operant-conditioning procedures on the subsequent learning performance. These procedures included context and stimulus generalization as well as color, compound, and conditional discrimination (colors and patterns). A surprisingly complex dependence of the learning performance on the colors' physical and predictive properties emerged, which was clarified by taking into account the fly-subjective perception of the color stimuli. Based on estimates of the stimuli's color and brightness values, we propose that the different tasks are supported by different parameters of the color stimuli; generalization occurs only if the chromaticity is sufficiently similar, whereas discrimination learning relies on brightness differences.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Context learning and the effect of context on memory retrieval in Lymnaea.

Aerial respiratory behavior in Lymnaea was operantly conditioned so that the animals perform aerial respiration significantly less often. Using the standard training procedure (pond water made hypoxic by bubbling N2 through it) both food-deprived and fed animals learned and exhibited long-term memory (LTM). However, food-deprived animals exhibited neither learning nor memory when trained under a condition in which the hypoxic pond water also contained a food odorant (carrot, the food-odorant procedure). Fed animals, however, learned and exhibited LTM with the food-odorant procedure. Thus, the presence of the food odorant per se did not prevent learning or the establishment of LTM. Further experimentation, however, revealed that the ability of the snails to have recall (i.e., memory) for the learned behavior was dependent on the context in which memory was tested. That is, if animals were trained with the food-odorant procedure they could only exhibit recall if tested in the food-odorant context and vice versa with the standard training procedure. Thus, although fed animals could learn and show LTM with either training and testing procedure, LTM could only be seen when they were tested in the context in which they were trained.

Air↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Long-term memory survives nerve injury and the subsequent regeneration process.

A three-neuron network (a central pattern generator [CPG]) is both sufficient and necessary to generate aerial respiratory behavior in the pond snail, Lymnaea stagnalis. Aerial respiratory behavior is abolished following a specific nerve crush that results in axotomy to one of the three CPG neurons, RPeD1. Functional regeneration of the crushed neurite occurs within 10 days, allowing aerial respiratory behavior to be restored. Functional regeneration does not occur if the connective is cut rather than crushed. In unaxotomized snails, aerial respiratory behavior can be operantly conditioned, and following memory consolidation, long-term memory (LTM) persists for at least 2 weeks. We used the Lymnaea model system to determine (1) If in naive animals axotomy and the subsequent regeneration result in a nervous system that is competent to mediate associative learning and LTM, and (2) if LTM survives RPeD1 axotomy and the subsequent regenerative process. We show here that (1) A regenerated nervous system is competent to mediate associative memory and LTM, and (2) LTM survives axotomy and the subsequent regenerative process.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Learning during stressful times.

Stressful life events can have profound effects on our cognitive and motor abilities, from those that could be construed as adaptive to those not so. In this review, I discuss the general notion that acute stressful experience necessarily impairs our abilities to learn and remember. The effects of stress on operant conditioning, that is, learned helplessness, as well as those on classical conditioning procedures are discussed in the context of performance and adaptation. Studies indicating sex differences in learning during stressful times are discussed, as are those attributing different responses to the existence of multiple memory systems and nonlinear relationships. The intent of this review is to highlight the apparent plasticity of the stress response, how it might have evolved to affect both performance and learning processes, and the potential problems with interpreting stress effects on learning as either good or bad. An appreciation for its plasticity may provide new avenues for investigating its underlying neuronal mechanisms.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1994

Opiate reinforcement processes: re-assembling multiple mechanisms.

Opiate reinforcement processes can be described within the context of operant conditioning theory. Both positive and negative reinforcing effects may motivate drug-taking behavior, although the strongest evidence attributes drug-taking to a simple positive reinforcement process. Empirical research has focused largely on a positive reinforcement mechanism involving the ventral tegmental dopamine system, but three additional reinforcement mechanisms can be argued on logical grounds. These other mechanisms involve neuroadaptive changes produced by chronic opiate administration and may contribute to the strong motivational impact of opiates following long-term drug use.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Motor learning changes GABAergic terminals on spinal motoneurons in normal rats.

The role of spinal cord plasticity in motor learning is largely unknown. This study explored the effects of H-reflex operant conditioning, a simple model of motor learning, on GABAergic input to spinal motoneurons in rats. Soleus motoneurons were labeled by retrograde transport of a fluorescent tracer and GABAergic terminals on them were identified by glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD)67 immunoreactivity. Three groups were studied: (i) rats in which down-conditioning had reduced the H-reflex (successful HRdown rats); (ii) rats in which down-conditioning had not reduced the H-reflex (unsuccessful HRdown rats) and (iii) unconditioned (naive) rats. The number, size and GAD density of GABAergic terminals, and their coverage of the motoneuron, were significantly greater in successful HRdown rats than in unsuccessful HRdown or naive rats. It is likely that these differences are due to modifications in terminals from spinal interneurons in lamina VI-VII and that the increased terminal number, size, GAD density and coverage in successful HRdown rats reflect and convey a corticospinal tract influence that changes motoneuron firing threshold and thereby decreases the H-reflex. GABAergic terminals in spinal cord change after spinal cord transection. The present results demonstrate that such spinal cord plasticity also occurs in intact rats in the course of motor learning and suggest that this plasticity contributes to skill acquisition.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2001

Suppression of ethanol responding by centrally administered CTOP and naltrindole in AA and Wistar rats.

BACKGROUND: Both mu- and delta-opioid receptors have been implicated in the reinforcing actions of ethanol. However, selective opioid receptor antagonists have not altered ethanol intake in all rodent strains consistently, which suggests that genotype may modulate their suppressive effects. Therefore, we tested the effects of the selective mu-antagonist D-Pen-Cys-Tyr-D-Trp-Orn-Thr-Pen-Thr-NH2 (CTOP) and the selective delta-antagonist naltrindole in both high-drinking AA (Alko, Alcohol) and heterogeneous Wistar rats. METHODS: AA and Wistar rats were trained to respond for ethanol (10% w/v) in a two-lever operant condition by using a saccharin fading procedure. After stable baseline responding was established, rats were implanted stereotaxically either with a guide cannula above the lateral ventricle or with bilateral cannulas above the nucleus accumbens, basolateral amygdala, or ventral tegmental area. After postoperative recovery, AA and Wistar animals were tested after intracerebroventricular microinjections of either CTOP (0-3 microg) or naltrindole (0-30 microg) or subcutaneous injections of naloxone (0-1 g/kg), which was used as a reference antagonist. Effects of intracerebral microinjections of CTOP and naltrindole (both 0-500 ng) were tested only in Wistar rats. RESULTS: Subcutaneous naloxone and intracerebroventricular CTOP and naltrindole suppressed ethanol self-administration in a similar manner in AA and Wistar rats. Cumulative response patterns indicated that naloxone and naltrindole had no effect on the initiation of responding but suppressed it later during the session, whereas CTOP also affected initiation. In Wistar rats, naltrindole microinjections into both the nucleus accumbens and basolateral amygdala decreased ethanol responding, whereas CTOP was effective only in the amygdala. Injections of these antagonists into the ventral tegmental area had little effect on ethanol intake. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirm previous results which showed that both mu- and delta-opioid receptors are involved in the regulation of ethanol self-administration and indicate that genetic differences between AA and Wistar rats produced by selection do not modify the effects of opioid antagonists. The nucleus accumbens and the basolateral amygdala may be important central sites for the mediation of their suppressive effects.

Alcohol Drinking↗

PubMed1976

A psychogeriatric assessment program. III. Clinical and experimental psychologic aspects.

Variables stemming from standard psychologic tests, psychophysiologic tests, and operant conditioning procedures were employed in assessing the status of 80 psychogeriatric patients with either organic brain syndromes or functional psychoses. Differences were observed in the responses between the two groups. In general, the performance of the patients with organic brain syndromes was more deviant than that of the patients with functional psychoses, and the performance of the hospitalized geriatric patients (regardless of diagnosis) was worse than that of the normal control groups.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Comparison of lidocaine 2% gel versus retrobulbar anaesthesia for implantation of Ahmed glaucoma drainage.

PURPOSE: To compare patient comfort and the efficacy of lidocaine 2% gel versus retrobulbar anaesthesia for Ahmed glaucoma implant surgery. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This prospective study included 32 eyes of 32 patients scheduled to undergo implantation of an Ahmed glaucoma drainage device for refractory glaucoma in one institution, randomized to receive either topical lidocaine 2% gel or retrobulbar anaesthesia. Sixteen eyes were randomized to each group. Patient assessment of pain was recorded during delivery of anaesthesia, during surgery and after surgery, using a visual analogue pain scale. The need for additional anaesthesia during tissue manipulation was recorded. Surgeon assessments of operative conditions, patient co-operation and intraoperative complications were also recorded. RESULTS: The patients in the retrobulbar group reported significantly more discomfort during administration of the anaesthetic agent than the patients in the topical anaesthesia group (p = 0.000). There was no significant difference in patient-reported pain scores intraoperatively (p = 0.317) or postoperatively (p = 0.875). Surgeon assessment showed similar levels of patient co-operation in both groups (p = 0.615). The overall operating conditions were overwhelmingly positive in each group (p = 0.186). The mean duration of surgery was significantly longer in the topical group compared with the retrobulbar group (p = 0.049). CONCLUSIONS: Lidocaine 2% gel is a safe alternative to retrobulbar anaesthesia for Ahmed drainage implant surgery and avoids the significantly greater pain associated with the administration of retrobulbar anaesthesia. It provides a reasonably safe and comfortable surgical environment and is well tolerated by patients.

Aged↗

PubMed1984

Timing, learning, and forgetting.

A computer-simulation model (AL) was developed for molecular and molar operant conditioning data. AL assumes a simple forgetting rule and all-or-nothing associations between memory representations of responses and reinforcers. AL describes acquisition and steady-state behavior in both concurrent interresponse time (IRT) schedules and in ordinary concurrent schedules. It describes functions relating the relative frequency of an IRT to IRT duration and to reinforcement frequency. AL accurately predicts for ordinary concurrent variable-interval schedules that the log ratio of responses to the two alternatives is a linear function of the log ratio of the reinforcers they deliver, and that the slope of this straight line approximates the degree of undermatching that characterizes the behavior of real animals. In addition, AL successfully describes the fact that in real data of Nevin, Heyman, and others, the probability of a changeover from one response to the other is roughly independent of the number of consecutive responses to the same alternative preceding the changeover. A previous version of AL assimilated data on temporal psychophysics, such as that animals bisect two temporal intervals at the geometric mean, and that the Weber fraction in DRL schedules is approximately constant. AL therefore describes transient and steady-state molecular and molar performances as well as data on temporal psychophysics.

Animals↗

PubMed1988

Detomidine: a preliminary analysis of its duration of action in the horse by variable interval responding.

Variable interval (VI) reinforcement scheduling is a specific type of operant conditioning that is sensitive to drug effects even when overt clinical signs of the drug have diminished. Six horses were conditioned to break a light beam with a head-bobbing movement and this behaviour was reinforced with a reward of clean oats (approximately 30 mg/reinforcement). Initial training procedures included familiarisation with the behavioural equipment and fixed-ratio reinforced scheduling. To establish baseline rates of behaviour, the horses were converted to a variable interval (60 secs) reinforcement schedule and kept on this schedule for the remainder of the study. A within subjects cross-over design was used with three treatments counterbalanced with the six horses. Detomidine (40 micrograms/kg bodyweight, xylazine (1.1 mg/kg bodyweight) and saline (10 ml) were administered intravenously on Monday mornings with VI responding rates measured during a routine 30 min session each day from Monday to Friday. Responses and reinforcements were recorded and dispensed by use of an electromechanical relay system wired to an electric eye, an automatic feeder and a programming and recording system. Xylazine produced a small decrease in responding rates at 1 h post dose, while detomidine treated horses showed a dramatic decrease in responding rates after 1 h and a lingering effect at 24 h. No long range effects were seen with either treatment and all horses returned to baseline responding rates by 48 h post dose.

Animals↗

PubMed1993

Stimulus features affecting psychophysical detection thresholds for electrical stimulation of the cochlea. II: Frequency and interpulse interval.

Psychophysical detection thresholds for electrical stimulation of the cochlea were measured in nonhuman primates (macaques) as part of a series of experiments exploring the stimulus features affecting detection. The monkeys were trained psychophysically using operant conditioning. One ear was treated with neomycin to destroy hair cells, and implanted with electrodes in the scala tympani and/or the cochlear wall. In experiment 1, detection thresholds were measured for trains of fixed-duration pulses and for sinusoids. For long-duration pulses (1 to 2 ms/phase), thresholds decreased as a function of frequency (pulse rate), reaching a minimum at a frequency between 125 and 210 pps, then increased as frequency was further increased. For shorter duration pulses, thresholds usually decreased monotonically as a function of frequency but sometimes showed a slight increase as a function of frequency near the highest frequencies tested. Typically slopes of the threshold versus frequency functions for fixed-duration pulses were equal to or less than slopes of threshold versus frequency functions for sinusoidal signals, where frequency and phase duration covaried. Additional observations on two of the cases were made in experiments 2 and 3. In experiment 2, thresholds for pairs of pulses were measured as a function of interpulse interval. Thresholds decreased as a function of interpulse interval up to intervals of 2 to 4 ms and then increased slightly. In experiment 3, thresholds were measured as a function of stimulus duration at two frequencies.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

PubMed1973

Objective assessment of hypnotically induced time distortion.

The objective precision of operant conditioning methodology validates the power of hypnosis to induce alterations in time perception. Personal tempo was systematically modified by instructions to trained hypnotic subjects, with significant behavioral effects observed on a variety of response rate measures.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Predictors of successful self control during brain-computer communication.

OBJECTIVES: Direct brain-computer communication uses self regulation of brain potentials to select letters, words, or symbols from a computer menu to re-establish communication in severely paralysed patients. However, not all healthy subjects, or all paralysed patients acquire the skill to self regulate their brain potentials, and predictors of successful learning have not been found yet. Predictors are particularly important, because only successful self regulation will in the end lead to efficient brain-computer communication. This study investigates the question whether initial performance in the self regulation of slow cortical potentials of the brain (SCPs) may be positively correlated to later performance and could thus be used as a predictor. METHODS: Five severely paralysed patients diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis were trained to produce SCP amplitudes of negative and positive polarity by means of visual feedback and operant conditioning strategies. Performance was measured as percentage of correct SCP amplitude shifts. To determine the relation between initial and later performance in SCP self regulation, Spearman's rank correlations were calculated between maximum and mean performance at the beginning of training (runs 1-30) and mean performance at two later time points (runs 64-93 and 162-191). RESULTS: Spearman's rank correlations revealed a significant relation between maximum and mean performance in runs 1-30 and mean performance in runs 64-93 (r= 0.9 and 1.0) and maximum and mean performance in runs 1-30 and mean performance in runs 162-191 (r=1.0 and 1.0). CONCLUSIONS: Initial performance in the self regulation of SCP is positively correlated with later performance in severely paralysed patients, and thus represents a useful predictor for efficient brain-computer communication.

Adult↗

PubMed1978

Measurement of diurnal core temperatures of rats in operant cages by AM telemetry.

A special AM telemetric system of recording core temperature was developed for rats working in individual, adjacent operant conditioning chambers within a sound-attenuated room. The system monitored core temperatures of each rat continuously and recorded them, in degrees Celsius, every 30 min so that diurnal patterns and fluctuations after saline or drug injections could be determined. Periodic comparisons showed close agreement with temperatures recorded by a rectal probe.

Animals↗