A cellular analogue of operant conditioning.

Using the hippocampal-slice preparation, we attempted to model operant conditioning in vitro by reinforcing pyramidal cell bursting responses with local micropressure applications of transmitters and drugs. The same injections were administered independently of bursting to provide a "noncontingent" control for direct pharmacological stimulation or facilitation of firing. The results suggested that the bursting responses of individual CA1 pyramidal neurons may be reinforced in a dose-related manner by response-contingent (but not noncontingent) injections of dopamine and the selective dopamine D2 agonist, N-0923. N-0924, a stereoisomer of N-0923 that is largely devoid of D2-agonist activity, failed to reinforce CA1 bursting. Burst-contingent injections of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate also failed to reinforce CA1 bursting; indeed, the glutamate applications (whether contingent or random) reduced the likelihood of bursts while increasing the frequency of solitary spikes. Reinforcement delays exceeding 200 ms largely eliminated the reinforcing efficacy of the D2 agonist N-0437 in CA1 operant conditioning. The results are consistent with the suggestion that the behaviorally reinforcing effects of dopaminergic agents can be modeled in vitro in the hippocampal-slice preparation.     

Functional analysis and operant treatment of food guarding in a pet dog

The present study extended functional analysis (FA) methodology to human-directed resource guarding in a dog in an in-home setting. The subject underwent four conditions including control, attention, escape, and tangible, arranged in a modified FA. The results indicated multiply controlled resource guarding (i.e., escape, attention, and tangible functions). The experimenter then conducted a treatment evaluation involving three function-based treatments in a concurrent multiple baseline design. Resource guarding decreased to zero levels in treatments for each maintaining contingency. Treatment effects were maintained when the subject was tested with an owner, with an untrained handler, a highly preferred treat, in an untrained setting, as well as after 2 weeks in the absence of training. Behavior analytic techniques may hold promise for lasting behavior change for resource guarding in domestic dogs, and should be examined in other populations and with other canine problem behavior.     

A zero-bounded model of operant demand

Contemporary approaches for evaluating the demand for reinforcers use either the Exponential or the Exponentiated model of operant demand, both derived from the framework of Hursh and Silberberg (2008). This report summarizes the strengths and complications of this framework and proposes a novel implementation. This novel implementation incorporates earlier strengths and resolves existing shortcomings that are due to the use of a logarithmic scale for consumption. The Inverse Hyperbolic Sine (IHS) transformation is reviewed and evaluated as a replacement for the logarithmic scale in models of operant demand. Modeling consumption in the “log₁₀-like” IHS scale reflects relative changes in consumption (as with a log scale) and accommodates a true zero bound (i.e., zero consumption values). The presence of a zero bound obviates the need for a separate span parameter (i.e., k) and the span of the model may be more simply defined by maximum demand at zero price (i.e., Q₀). Further, this reformulated model serves to decouple the exponential rate constant (i.e., α) from variations in span, thus normalizing the rate constant to the span of consumption in IHS units and permitting comparisons when spans vary. This model, called the Zero-bounded Exponential (ZBE), is evaluated using simulated and real-world data. The direct reinstatement ZBE model showed strong correspondence with empirical indicators of demand and with a normalization of α (ZBEn) across empirical data that varied in reinforcing efficacy (dose, time to onset of peak effects). Future directions in demand curve analysis are discussed with recommendations for additional replication and exploration of scales beyond the logarithm when accommodating zero consumption data.     

Suggested Greek translations of expressions in the experimental analysis of behavior

Greek-English and English-Greek translations of expressions in the experimental analysis of behavior are presented. Included is a short discussion of some of the problems which arose, partly because of the mentalistic nature of Greek science.     

The Brest Bible and other Polish translations of the Bible in the poetical works of Erazm Otwinowski

Abstract

Polish antitrinitarians of the sixteenth century (also known as Polish Brethren and later as Socinians) rejected some of the most fundamental dogmatic beliefs of traditional Christianity. However, while their Church emerged as the result of a split in the Reformed Church, they still used the Brest Bible to read not only the Old Testament (the antitrinitarian translation of Szymon Budny was controversial and rarely accepted by the Brethren), but also the New Testament. This situation is discussed here using the example of Erazm Otwinowski, a major antitrinitarian poet. His two major poetical works are based on various biblical passages. In his Parables of Our Lord Jesus Christ there is considerable evidence that he used both the Brest Bible and the first edition of the New Testament translated by his antitrinitarian friend, Marcin Czechowic. However, it is also possible that he used Jakub Wujek's Catholic version, even if strongly contested in Czechowic's polemical works.     

Stimulus control of respondent and operant key pecking: A single key procedure

Pigeons' responses to a uniformly illuminated response key were either reinforced on a variable-interval one-minute schedule of reinforcement or extinguished for one-minute periods. When 1.5 second signals were presented at the beginning of each component, so as to differentially predict reinforcement, the pigeons pecked at the signals, at rates higher than rates during the remainder of the component. When the brief signals were not differentially predictive of reinforcement, pecking in their presence decreased to near zero levels. Similar results were obtained with signals based upon colors and upon line orientations. Changes in rates of (unreinforced) pecking occurred during the signal whether pigeons responded differentially during the remainder of the component or not. Experiment II demonstrated that the presence of the signal correlated with extinction was not necessary for pecking to develop at the signal which preceded the component in which responding was intermittently reinforced. The experiments demonstrated a clear dissociation of respondent control from operant control of a response. In addition, operant behavior was shown to be relatively insensitive to differing rates of reinforcement, as compared to the sensitivity of respondent behavior to differing rates of reinforcement produced by the very same operant behavior.     

Connectionist models of conditioning: A tutorial

Models containing networks of neuron-like units have become increasingly prominent in the study of both cognitive psychology and artificial intelligence. This article describes the basic features of connectionist models and provides an illustrative application to compound-stimulus effects in respondent conditioning. Connectionist models designed specifically for operant conditioning are not yet widely available, but some current learning algorithms for machine learning indicate that such models are feasible. Conversely, designers for machine learning appear to have recognized the value of behavioral principles in producing adaptive behavior in their creations.     

A combination of Raspberry Pi and SoftEther VPN for controlling research devices via the Internet

Remote control over devices for experiments may increase the efficiency of operant research and expand the area where behavior can be studied. This article introduces a combination of Raspberry Pi^® (Pi) and SoftEther VPN^® that allows for such remote control via the Internet. The Pi is a small Linux computer with a great degree of flexibility for customization. Test results indicate that a Pi‐based interface meets the requirement for conducting operant research. SoftEther VPN^® allows for establishing an extensive private network on the Internet using a single private Wi‐Fi router. Step‐by‐step instructions are provided in the present article for setting up the Pi along with SoftEther VPN^®. Their potential for improving the way of conducting research is discussed.     

Time horizons in rats: the effect of operant control of access to future food.

The primary goal of this experiment was to determine whether the addition of an operant requirement for access to a less costly (continuous reinforcement) patch of future food increased the time horizon over which that future patch decreased intake in a currently available depleting (progressive-ratio) patch. Three groups of 4 rats were tested. Each member of the earned-time group was required to cumulate a fixed-time outside the progressive-ratio patch to obtain access to food in the less costly patch; the fixed-time requirement ranged from 2 to 64 min. Rats in the matched-time group received response-independent access to less costly food at the average delay shown by the earned-time group. Rats in the matched-time no-food group were removed from the chamber at the same average delay without receiving access to less costly food. Two of the earned-time rats showed an increased time horizon relative to that shown by the matched-time rats (approaching 40 min for 1 rat). The other 2 earned-time rats markedly increased instrumental responding but showed suppression of intake only when food was less than 20 min away. The matched-time group showed less suppression of intake over a similar range of delay intervals. Surprisingly, the matched-time no-food animals also showed suppression of intake concentrated at the end of the session, possibly reflecting the receipt of their entire daily ration 30 min after the session. The potential importance of time horizons to the foraging process is clear, but experimenters are still working out paradigms for investigation of these horizons.     

Swedish translations of the Suicide Probability Scale, Perceived Social Support from Friends and Family Scales, and the Scale for Interpersonal Behavior: A reliability analysis

The Suicide Probability Scale (SPS), the Perceived Social Support (PSS) from Friends (PSS-Fr) and Family (PSS-Fa) scales, and the Scale for Interpersonal Behavior (SIB) were translated into Swedish and their reliability was estimated in a university student sample. The reliability coefficients indicated that both subscales and the total scales of the SPS, PSS, and SIB possess highly adequate reliabilities. The intercorrelations among the subscales and between the subscales and the total scales were found to be highly significant. The results of the study supported the use of SPS, PSS-Fr and PSS-Fa, and the SIB as reliable methods for assessing suicide risk, perceived social support from friends and family, and assertive behavior.     

How translations of Freud’s writings have influenced French psychoanalytic thinking1

Translations of Freud ’s writings have had a lasting influence on psychoanalytic thinking in France. They have, all the same, given rise to some conceptual distortions as regards the ego and the id, the ideal ego and the ego ideal, and splitting. Lacan’s ‘return to Freud ’ certainly reawakened interest in Freud ’s writings; however, by focusing mainly on Freud ’s early work, Lacan’s personal reading played down the importance of the texts Freud wrote after his metapsychological papers of 1915. The fact that there is no French edition of Freud ’s complete works makes it difficult for French psychoanalysts to put them in a proper context with respect to his developments as a whole. The Oeuvres Complètes [Complete Works] edition may well turn out to be the equivalent of the Standard Edition, but it is as yet far from complete – and, since the vocabulary employed is far removed from everyday language, those volumes already in print tend to make the general public less likely to read Freud. In this paper, the author evokes certain questions that go beyond the French example, such as the impact that translations have within other psychoanalytic contexts. Now that English has become more or less the lingua franca for communication between psychoanalysts, we have to face up to new challenges if we are to avoid a twofold risk: that of mere standardization, as well as that of a ‘Babelization’ of psychoanalysis.     

A functional approach for research on cognitive control: Analysing cognitive control tasks and their effects in terms of operant conditioning

Cognitive control is an important mental ability that is examined using a multitude of cognitive control tasks and effects. The present paper presents the first steps in the elaboration of a functional approach, which aims to uncover the communalities and differences between different cognitive control tasks and their effects. Based on the idea that responses in cognitive control tasks qualify as operant behaviour, we propose to reinterpret cognitive control tasks in terms of operant contingencies and cognitive control effects as instances of moderated stimulus control. We illustrate how our approach can be used to uncover communalities between topographically different cognitive control tasks and can lead to novel questions about the processes underlying cognitive control.     

Transfer of conditioned fear and avoidance: Concurrent measurement of arousal and operant responding

A reversal design was employed for the analysis of transfer of fear and avoidance through equivalence classes. Two 5-member equivalence classes (A1-B1-C1-D1-E1 and A2-B2-C2-D2-E2) were established. Then B1 and C1 were paired with shock (CS+) and served as S^Ds in avoidance training (B2 and C2 were trained as CS-/S^∆s for avoidance). Further avoidance training followed with D1 and E1 (as S^Ds) and D2 and E2 (as S^∆s), with the first presentation of each of these stimuli serving as the first transfer test. Afterwards, aversive conditioning contingencies were reversed: B2 and D2 were paired with shock and trained as S^Ds for avoidance, B1 and D1 were presented without shock (CS-/S^∆s). Transfer was tested again with C1, E1, C2 and E2. This reversal was implemented to allow for the within-subject replication of transfer effects upon changes in the function of only a subset of each class's elements. Avoidance (key presses) and conditioned fear (skin conductance and heart rate) were simultaneously measured. Results show a clear transfer effect for avoidance, with between- and within-subject replications. For physiological measures, transfer effects in the first test could only be imputed on the basis of group-based inferential statistical analysis. Evidence for between-subject replication was weaker, with only a limited proportion of participants meeting the individual criterion for transfer.     

A comparison of operant licking and lever pressing in the rat

Two groups of rats were trained on a signaled, free-operant, avoidance procedure to lick or to lever press in order to avoid shock while water-deprived or satiated and, in the case of licking, while ingesting deionized water, isotonic saline, or 10% sucrose. The most effective avoidance licking occurred while the rats were water-deprived and ingesting 10% sucrose. Water deprivation level had no effect on lever pressing for shock avoidance. Two other groups of rats were operantly conditioned to lick or to lever press for food pellets while waterdeprived or satiated and, in the case of licking, while ingesting deionized water or 10% sucrose. The most effective licking for food reinforcement occurred while the rats were water-deprived and ingesting 10% sucrose. Water deprivation level had no effect on lever pressing for food reinforcement. The data indicated that effective operant licking must be supported by factors related to water regulation and taste palatability.     

Benefits to the Spanish research community of regional content expansion in Web of Science

The regional content expansion of Thomson Reuters (formerly ISI) Web of Science added approximately 1,600 journals to the database with a regional as opposed to international focus. Web of Science coverage has grown to reflect the changing nature of global research publication trends and the additional regional journals provide greater visibility to high quality local studies beyond their traditional boundaries. The cited references indexed from the regional journals represent the influence of those journals on both the global and local research communities. This study analyses the impact of adding Spanish regional journals to Web of Science on the publication and citation patterns of Spanish research. The findings demonstrate a recent increase in research output from Spain and this is explained by more Spanish research being produced rather than due to the indexing of more Spanish journals; indeed it is shown that the majority of Spanish research is not published in Spanish journals. An analysis of Spanish journal citations uncovers a Spanish regional citation network previously undetected and serves as valuable information for evaluators of Spanish journals.     

In vitro reinforcement of hippocampal bursting: a search for Skinner's atoms of behavior.

A novel "in vitro reinforcement" paradigm was used to investigate Skinner's (1953) hypotheses (a) that operant behavior is made up of infinitesimal "response elements" or "behavioral atoms" and (b) that these very small units, and not whole responses, are the functional units of reinforcement. Our tests are based on the assumption that behavioral atoms may plausibly be represented at the neural level by individual cellular responses. As a first approach, we attempted to reinforce the bursting responses of hippocampal units in a highly reduced brain-slice preparation with local micropressure applications of behaviorally reinforcing dopaminergic drugs. The same injections were administered independently of bursting to provide a "noncontingent" control for nonspecific stimulation or facilitation of firing. It was found that the bursting responses of individual CA1 pyramidal neurons may be progressively facilitated in a dose-related manner by response-contingent (but not noncontingent) injections of dopamine itself, the dopamine D1-preferring agonist SKF 82958, the D3-preferring agonist quinpirole, and the D2-like selective agonist (+)-4-propyl-9 hydroxynapthoxazine. These findings support the conclusion that unit bursting responses can be reinforced in vitro in hippocampal slices, and they further suggest that the same dopamine receptor subtypes are involved in both cellular and behavioral operant conditioning. The results thus provide indirect support for Skinner's atoms-of-behavior hypothesis.