Dissecting the conditioned pecking response: an integrated system for the analysis of pecking response parameters.

The conventional pecking response key, although an excellent transducer of response rate, can provide minimal information on the topography, coordination, or localization of conditioned pecking. We describe the hardware and software components of a system that, in addition to recording response rates, permits simultaneous "on-line" monitoring of head acceleration, jaw movement, terminal peck location, and duration of pecking response. Head movements are monitored with a miniature accelerometer, jaw movements with a magnetosensitive transducer, and peck location with modified touch screen technology. Initial experiments with the system suggest that it will be useful in studies of response differentiation, acquisition and maintenance of complex discriminations, and interaction of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli in the control of pecking response probability and response topography.     

A TV monitored system for recording open-field activity in the rat

A system for monitoring and recording the movements of a rodent in an open field is described. A TV camera and a grid generator combine the animal’s position in the field with an overlaid 16 by 16 grid pattern. These are displayed on the TV monitor. The location of the animal is recorded with each sweep of the video raster. The movement of the animal is then plotted by a Rockwell microprocessor that prints out the animal’s location at set intervals.     

A portable four-channel cassette recording system for short-term electroencephalogram in the field

A portable four-channel electroencephalogram (EEG) cassette recording system has been designed which offers good performance, is simple to construct, and moderate in cost. The recorder is compatible with a commercially available, portable, battery-operated power source, and is therefore usable in the field where line power is unavailable. The system incorporates a small, lightweight, portable, battery-powered oscilloscope which provides monitoring and playback capability. While a few experimental portable EEG recorders have been reported in recent years with more channel capacity or perhaps lighter weight, the engineering details of these units are rarely published and, in any event, would require a substantial effort for most electronics support shops to reproduce. The recording system described here, however, should be within the capability of most electronics support groups to assemble in a very short time and provide good performance.     

An ERP investigation of location invariance in masked repetition priming

In an experiment combining masked repetition priming and the recording of event-related potentials (ERPs) the location of prime stimuli relative to centrally located target words was manipulated. Prime words could appear at the same location as targets or shifted one letter position to the right or to the left. Repetition priming effects (amplitude differences across the repeat vs. unrelated prime conditions) were found in a series of ERP components starting at around 100 msec posttarget onset. The earliest of these, the N/P150 component, was found to be sensitive to prime location. Repetition priming was only apparent with centrally located primes in this component. Repetition priming effects in later components (N250 and N400), on the other hand, were not affected by prime location. The results are interpreted in terms of location-specific letter detectors that map onto a higher level, location-invariant orthographic code for printed words.     

ENSEMBLE RECORDINGS IN AWAKE RATS: ACHIEVING BEHAVIORAL REGULARITY DURING MULTIMODAL STIMULUS PROCESSING AND DISCRIMINATIVE LEARNING

To meet an increasing need to examine the neurophysiological underpinnings of behavior in rats, we developed a behavioral system for studying sensory processing, attention and discrimination learning in rats while recording firing patterns of neurons in one or more brain areas of interest. Because neuronal activity is sensitive to variations in behavior which may confound the identification of neural correlates, a specific aim of the study was to allow rats to sample sensory stimuli under conditions of strong behavioral regularity. Our behavioral system allows multimodal stimulus presentation and is coupled to modules for delivering reinforcement, simultaneous monitoring of behavior and recording of ensembles of well isolated single neurons. Using training protocols for simple and compound discrimination, we validated the behavioral system with a group of 4 rats. Within these tasks, a majority of medial prefrontal neurons showed significant firing‐rate changes correlated to one or more trial events that could not be explained from significant variation in head position. Thus, ensemble recordings can be combined with discriminative learning tasks under conditions of strong behavioral regularity.     

Simplifying continuous monitoring of multiple-response/multiple-subject classroom interactions

In order to facilitate the field monitoring of three subjects interacting according to one or more of 18 response categories, a modified version of several available, but oftentimes mechanically incompatible, observational procedures was designed. Its continuous recording strategy, sectioned into one-minute observational units, enabled researchers to derive highly representative behavior samples, and when accompanied by the specially tailored coding form and recording apparatus, observers achieved over 90% agreement across all reliability sessions. This procedure provides applied researchers with a simple, highly reliable, and adaptable observation tool for continuously and simultaneously monitoring the behaviors of one or more subjects.     

Low-noise microvolt level calibrator for measurement of performance of biosignal recording systems

A calibrator, the noise level of which is below the noise level generated in the preamplifier system, was needed for testing and development of a multichannel recording system. A multichannel preamplifier head assembly was used for recording cortical, subcortical, and cerebellar slow potentials and multiunit activity in freely moving cats and restrained rabbits. An inexpensive, battery-powered, lownoise voltage signal generator for calibration of the preamplifiers is described. The circuit provides a square-wave output at a frequency of 10 or 1000 Hz, and the peak-to-peak (p-p) amplitude can be selected at 10, 100, or 1000µV. The measured output noise of the calibrator is below 2µV (p-p, 0.1–6000 Hz). The frequency and amplitude values can be easily adapted for different purposes by changing a few component values. An amplified (gain 1,000×) test output for direct oscilloscope monitoring is included in the calibrator circuit.     

A simple method for recording the path of a rat in an open field

A method for recording the path of a rat during exploration or during a search task in an open field is presented. Its principle relies on the monitoring of the center of gravity of the rat. The open field lies on three strain gauges, on which output signals are sampled at a certain frequency by a digital acquisition system while the rat is walking on the platform. The discrete path is reconstructed off line, and several representative parameters are calculated. Some illustrative results are given.     

A simple and inexpensive telemetry system for measuring deep body temperature in rodents

An easily constructed telemetry system for measuring deep body temperatures in rodents is described and data collected with the system is presented. The system allows continual monitoring of core temperature without interfering with concomitant behavioral or physiological measurements.     

Implications of the symbol figure representations: information from the direction and spatial location used by Japanese students

Meanings of physical distance, spatial location, and direction of symbolic figure in the Doll Location Test were investigated with 283 normal college students in Japan. They were asked to indicate eight symbolic figures of hypothetical people such as reliable father, unreliable mother on a recording sheet. The physical dyadic distance from the self, spatial location, and direction of symbolic figures were analyzed. Positive persons were placed twice as close as a negative person. Analysis of direction showed that more than 90% of the positive people were represented in either the same direction as or facing self, whereas a negative person was represented either in the opposite or in an unrelated direction from the self. Spatial location of the symbolic figures did not yield evaluative values.     

A computer system to assist in the evaluation of the EEGs of epileptic patients

The specific EEG manifestations of epilepsy, seizures, and interictal spikes and sharp waves occur at unpredictable times and at variable frequencies. To obtain an adequate diagnosis, it is often necessary to record the EEG for several hours or several days. A computer system was developed to perform data reduction and quantification by continuously monitoring seizures and automatically recognizing interictal spikes and sharp waves. The past 2 min of EEG are kept on the computer disk at every instant. When an epileptic seizure occurs or when a spike is detected, a sample of EEG, including a section preceding the event itself, is written on the EEG polygraph and on magnetic tape. A continuous recording is thus replaced by samples of varying lengths, containing only the important aspects of the EEG, reducing considerably the original data. After the monitoring session, the spatial and temporal distributions of the interictal activity are presented in a quantified form on the terminal. The seizures are recorded on digital tape and are available for several types of processing. The patient is also monitored by a video system; EEG and video are synchronized by a time-of-day clock to allow electroclinical correlations.     

Longitudinal improvement of self-regulation through practice: building self-control strength through repeated exercise.

This study examined the results of repeated exercises of self-control in relation to self-regulatory strength over time. A sample of 69 U.S. college students spent 2 weeks doing 1 of 3 self-control exercises: monitoring and improving posture, regulating mood, or monitoring and recording eating. Compared with a no-exercise control group, the participants who performed the self-control exercises showed significant improvement in self-regulatory capacity as measured by quitting faster on a hand-grip exercise task following a thought-suppression exercise.     

Precision teaching's unique legacy from B. F. Skinner

Precision Teaching's unique legacy from B. F. Skinner was the monitoring system of rate of response and the cumulative response recorder. This legacy is unique because the other instructional systems derived from Skinner's work do not use his monitoring method exclusively. Rate of response, cumulative recording and their extension to Precision Teaching's standard celeration charting are briefly described. In addition, Precision Teaching's nature, history, costs, distribution, inductive data-base, and academic base are briefly described. Skinner's legacy to education was a sound behavioral scientific base and his unique legacy to Precision Teaching was self-monitoring for real time decision making by learners and teachers.     

Modular interfaces for on-line applications

Analog signals, generated by BASIC R/T plot commands, are used to control a modular interface system. The interface system converts the analog signals to either BCD or decimal formulated pulses which are used to drive up to 10 relays. The system is coupled to a LAB 8/E minicomputer that permits precise timing of intersignal intervals as well as the simultaneous recording of many response variables.     

A microcomputer system for temperature biotelemetry

A microcomputer (Apple II) system for recording body temperature measured by a commercially made, implantable biotelemetry device (Mini-Mitter) is described. The system includes an inexpensive radio receiver interface circuit and software written in BASIC and 6502 assembly language. The utility of the system is illustrated in a study that shows that various handling procedures (including that normally involved in rectal temperature measurement) elevate body temperature in rats.     

Behavioral phenotyping in zebrafish: Comparison of three behavioral quantification methods

The zebrafish has been popular in developmental biology and genetics, but its brain function has rarely been studied. High-throughput screening of mutation or drug-induced changes in brain function requires simple and automatable behavioral tests. This article compares three behavioral quantification methods in four simple behavioral paradigms that test a range of characteristics of adult zebrafish, including novelty-induced responses, social behavior, aggression, and predator-model—induced responses. Two quantification methods, manual recording and computerized videotracking of location and activity, yielded very similar results, suggesting that automated videotracking reliably measures activity parameters and will allow high-throughput screening. However, observation-based event recording of posture patterns was found generally not to correlate with videotracking measures, suggesting that further refinement of automated behavior quantification may be considered.     

The compatibility of spatial and non-spatial relationships

This experiment reverses the procedure used by Hedge and Marsh (1975) who obtained two-choice RTs to a relevant stimulus attribute (colour) in the presence of an irrelevant attribute (location). On the basis of their finding that RT was faster when the colour and location of the correct response button were both the same, or both different from that of the stimulus, they concluded that performance is facilitated where the same logical process ‘same’ or ‘alternative’ can be applied to both attributes. The ‘Simon effect’ it was suggested may be explained by this process.Earlier work by the author had suggested performance is facilitated where the same recording rule applies to all the spatial relations in the task. Performing Hedge and Marsh's experiment with location as the relevant attribute failed to replicate their finding. This result limits the generality of their explanation to tasks where spatial relationships are the ‘irrelevant’ variable.     

Monitoring drinking: A method compatible with the recording of electrophysiological phenomenal

The Hill-Stellar method of monitoring drinking behavior has proven effective in many applications. Because of the introduction of electrical artifacts, however, it is incompatible with certain procedures for recording electrophysiological phenomena. An alternative method is described that avoids such artifacts but still permits the lick-by-lick monitoring of drinking behavior.