Retention of orienting reaction habituation in patients with epileptogenic cerebral tumors

An electrographic study on habituation of the somatic (EMG), autonomic (finger plethysmogram, galvanic skin reaction, respiration, pulse) and EEG (acoustic evoked potential and EEG-blocking reaction) components of the orienting reaction elicited by a repetitive auditory stimulus during successive (weekly) sessions was performed in 41 patients with epileptogenic cerebral tumors (ECT) and in 128 control subjects. The study evidenced significant retention disturbances of orienting reaction habituation (i.e., of learning), the “saving” of stimulations, achieved from one session to the other to obtain the habituation criterion, being lesser in ECT patients than in control subjects. The severity of habituation retention disturbances depended on the tumor site and size, as well as on the electro-clinical form and frequency of seizures. Thus, the most marked habituation retention disturbances were found in patients with temporal or predominantly temporal epileptogenic tumors, in cases with large hemispheric epileptogenic tumors (over 6 cm), in patients with generalized or generalized plus partial seizures, as well as in those with frequent (daily) seizures.     

Retention of orienting reaction habituation in chronic alcoholics

A polygraphic study on resistance to habituation of the somatic (EMG), autonomic (finger plethysmogram, galvanic skin reaction, respiration) and EEG (acoustic-evoked potential and EEG-blocking reaction) components of the orienting reaction, elicited by a repetitive auditory stimulus during successive (weekly) sessions was performed in 67 chronic alcoholics and in 70 matched normal subjects (control group). The study showed significant retention disturbances of orienting reaction habituation (i.e., of learning), or the “saving” of stimulations, achieved from one session to the other to obtain the habituation criterion, the savings being less in alcoholics than in control subjects. The severity of habituation retention disturbances depended on patients’ ages, types of alcoholism, alcohol consumption intensity and chronicity, as well as the type of resting EEG.     

Habituation of orienting reaction in night terrors

A polygraphic study on resistance to habituation of the somatic (EMG), autonomic (finger vasoconstriction, galvanic skin reaction, respiration, pulse) and EEG (acoustic-evoked potential, EEG-blocking reaction) components of the orienting reaction elicited by a repetitive auditory stimulus was performed in 36 patients with night terrors and in 72 matched subjects in two control groups. The study evidenced a significantly higher resistance to habituation of the orienting reaction in patients with night terrors than in normal subjects (control group I) but significantly lower than in patients with symptomatic epilepsy (control group II). The severity of these habituation disturbances in patients with night terrors depended on the patients’ age, the history of nocturnal events and their clinical form, as well as on the etiology of episodes. The habituation changes found in patients with night terrors may be ascribed to the nervous disorders of functional and/or organic nature which generated also the night terrors episodes.     

Orienting reaction habituation in chronic alcoholics

A polygraphic study on resistance to habituation of the somatic (EMG), autonomic (finger plethysmogram, galvanic skin reaction, respiration) and EEG (acoustic-evoked potential and EEG-blocking reaction) components of the orienting reaction elicited by a repetitive auditory stimulus was performed in 67 chronic alcoholics and in 70 matched normal subjects (control group). The study showed a significantly lower resistance to habituation of the orienting reaction in alcoholics than in normal control subjects. The severity of this habituation disturbance depended on the patients’ age, type of alcoholism, alcohol consumption intensity and chronicity, as well as the type of resting EEG.     

Orienting reaction in patients with multiple sclerosis

A polygraphic study of the somatic (EMG), autonomic (finger plethysmogram, galvanic skin reaction, respiration, pulse, and EEG (acoustic-evoked potential and EEG-blocking reaction) components of the orienting reaction elicited by an auditory stimulus was performed in 71 patients with multiple sclerosis and in 74 matched normal subjects (control group). The study showed a significantly less intense orienting reaction in patients with multiple sclerosis than in control normal subjects. The severity of this responsiveness disturbance depended on the patients’ age at symptom onset, major symptom types on admission, and the relapse frequency. The orienting reaction changes found in patients with multiple sclerosis may be ascribed to the diffuse demyelinating lesions in the nervous system of these patients, which generate, apart from the so polymorphous clinical manifestations of this disease, also important responsiveness disturbances.     

Sex and menstrual cycle differences in the habituation and spontaneous recovery of the electrodermal orienting reaction

Sex and menstrual cycle differences have been widely observed in electrodermal activity. The aim of this study was to investigate these differences in the electrodermal orienting reaction employing a habituation-spontaneous recovery procedure. According to previous research it was predicted that men and preovulatory women should show higher electrodermal responses, higher skin conductance levels, and slower habituation rates. Thirty-two subjects (16 males and 16 females) were presented with two series of tones, 10 in the first series and eight in the second, with a 4-min rest period between the two series. Half of the subjects received the same 5-sec tone (80 dB, 1000 Hz) in each presentation while the other half received 80-dB, 5-sec tones which varied randomly in frequency (100, 500, 1000 Hz). Women were divided into two groups; preovulatory (n = 7) and postovulatory (n = 8) according to their answers to a retrospective questionnaire. The mean response amplitude was higher in the group of males, who habituated later than females. Postovulatory women showed lower orienting reactions in the first series, and habituated faster than did preovulatory women in the two series. There were neither significant differences between males and females, nor between preovulatory and postovulatory women in tonic conductance levels. These results support the existence of greater electrodermal reactivity in males and in preovulatory women.     

A new group-training procedure for habituation demonstrates that presynaptic glutamate release contributes to long-term memory in Caenorhabditis elegans

In the experiments reported here we have developed a new group-training protocol for assessing long-term memory for habituation in Caenorhabditis elegans. We have replicated all of the major findings of the original single-worm protocol using the new protocol: (1) distributed training produced long-term retention of training, massed training did not; (2) distributed training at long interstimulus intervals (ISIs) produced long-term retention, short ISIs did not; and (3) long-term memory for distributed training is protein synthesis-dependent as it could be blocked by heat shock during the inter-block interval. In addition, we have shown that long-term memory for habituation is graded, depending on the number of blocks of stimuli in training. The inter-block interval must be >40 min for long-term retention of training to occur. Finally, we have tested long-term memory for habituation training in a strain of worms with a mutation in a vesicular glutamate transporter in the sensory neurons that transduce tap (eat-4). The results from these eat-4 worms indicate that glutamate release from the sensory neurons has an important role in the formation of long-term memory for habituation.     

Olfaction as a model system for the neurobiology of mammalian short-term habituation

Olfaction represents an ideal model system for the study of mammalian habituation given that it is an anatomically relatively simple system with strong reciprocal connections to the limbic system, driving both reflexive and non-reflexive (motivated) behaviors that are easily quantifiable. Data are reviewed here demonstrating short-term habituation of the odor-evoked heart-rate orienting reflex described according to the criteria for habituation outlined by Thompson and Spencer [Thompson, R. F., & Spencer, W. A. (1966). Habituation: A model phenomenon for the study of neuronal substrates of behavior. Psychological Reviews, 73(1), 16–43]. A necessary and sufficient mechanism of short-term habituation is then described, which involves a metabotropic glutamate receptor mediated depression of afferent input to the piriform (primary olfactory) cortex. Finally, evidence for, and a mechanisms of, dishabituation of the orienting reflex and cortical adaptation are described.     

Orienting responses to pleasant stimuli when expecting pleasant or unpleasant events

The aim was to investigate further the effect of more vigorous orienting to stimuli denoting common fears than to neutral stimuli in subjects threatened with shock. In two experiments, orienting responses (ORs) to pleasant and to neutral words were compared. In Experiment I, the subjects were expecting shock and, in Experiment II, pleasant music. In neither experiment were there differences either in the magnitudes or in the habituation rates of the electrodermal ORs. For clarification, there should be control both of the subjective salience of the stimuli and also of the level of expectation.     

Effects of monotonous stimulation on cortical alertness in fast and slow habituation groups

The present study investigated cortical alertness in Ss displaying fast and slow habituation of the evoked skin conductance response (SCR). From Sokolov's statement (Perception and the conditioned reflex, 1963, Pergamon) that the final stage of habituation is sleep, it was predicted that during monotonous stimulation, Ss displaying rapid habituation of the evoked SCR would show a more rapid decline in cortical alertness than Ss displaying slow habituation. Quantified EEG and electrodermal measures of cortical alertness were obtained from fast and slow habituation groups tested under conditions of either repetitive auditory stimulation or reduced sensory input. The results indicated that 8–13 Hz EEG abundance declined more rapidly in fast than in the slow habituation groups under both conditions of monotonous stimulation. No differences were obtained for the lower EEG frequencies (4–8 and 2–4 Hz) or for tonic electrodermal measures.     

Effects of unilateral hippocampus-amygdala-partial temporal lobe resection on auditory EEG/MEG responses: a case study

Auditory orienting and discrimination were studied with combined multi-channel EEG and MEG recordings in a patient with unilateral amygdala-hippocampus-partial temporal lobe resection of the right hemisphere. The results revealed abnormalities of habituation in alerting- and orienting-related responses, and discrimination-related responses, elicited by auditory stimulation contralateral to the resected cerebral hemisphere. These results give support to the notions about the role of the amygdala and hippocampus in alerting and orienting, respectively, and of the temporal cortex in auditory discrimination.     

Contextual control of long-term habituation in rats

This study examined contextual control of long-term habituation and whether such effects are dependent on the habituating response system. Habituation of the acoustic startle response transferred from the home cage to the testing context, whereas habituation of lick suppression was context specific (Experiments 1 and 2). Contextual control of habituation was demonstrated between 2 experimental contexts for lick suppression to a tone (Experiment 3) and bar-press suppression to a light (Experiment 4). Experiment 5 extinguished habituation of lick suppression and the orienting response to a tone with 27 exposures to the habituation context. Context specificity of both responses also was found. Previous failures to demonstrate contextual control of habituation may be due to the choice of response system and to less sensitive procedures to detect response recovery. The habituation mechanism for startle is independent from the process or processes that underlie habituation in other response systems, but the nature of these mechanisms is not yet known.     

Orienting responses to pleasant stimuli when expecting pleasant or unpleasant events

The aim was to investigate further the effect of more vigorous orienting to stimuli denoting common fears than to neutral stimuli in subjects threatened with shock. In two experiments, orienting responses (ORs) to pleasant and to neutral words were compared. In Experiment I, the subjects were expecting shock and, in Experiment II, pleasant music. In neither experiment were there differences either in the magnitudes or in the habituation rates of the electrodermal ORs. For clarification, there should be control both of the subjective salience of the stimuli and also of the level of expectation.     

Orienting reaction,organizing for action,and emotional processes

In the first half of the sixties, general notions were formulated concerning the functional role of the orienting reaction (OR) in adaptive activity, its elicitation and habituation. These notions included the following: a) The OR is elicited only by significant changes in a situation. This implies that OR elicitation is preceded by brain processes (usually unconscious) pertaining to the evaluation of the significance of changes according to an existing hierarchy of motivations, attitudes, and goals. Therefore, the OR is of an active (vs. reactive) nature, i.e., is inevitably determined by internal factors of brain activity. b) The OR is not a unitary reaction, but a complex polyfunctional activity, different aspects of which are reflected in different OR components which can be modified rather independently. c) The OR represents the processes of organizing new (non-standard) actions: sensory, motor, or intellectual. OR habituation is a manifestation of attenuation of the active control of an action, and an increase in its automation. Thus, the emphasis in understanding the OR has shifted from a predominantly “sensualistic” platform to a predominantly “actualistic” one. In recent experiments, the role of emotional processes in the elicitation and habituation of components of the OR has been analyzed. Complex relations between the GSR and anxiety were found in a study of patients with acute alcohol withdrawal syndrome treated with different psychopharmacological agents. The study of auditory evoked potential habituation in depressive patients has shown the emotional state influence on sensory aspects of the OR with the participation of the OR brain mechanisms in perceptual defense. The possible significance of some new ideas from the field of non-linear dynamics for perspectives on future investigations of the OR are discussed.     

Cardiac orienting responses of 6- and 16-week-old infants

Since previous data suggested that the magnitude of orienting evidenced by cardiac deceleration increased over the first 16 weeks of life, 6- and 16-week-old infants were compared on various characteristics of orienting: habituation, dishabituation, and magnitude of deceleration to stimulus offset as well as to stimulus onset. Neither the change in stimulus following habituation trials nor the stimulus offset produced a large enough response to confidently evaluate age differences suggested by the data. Stimulus onset elicited a pronounced deceleration which for the two age groups was of equivalent magnitude on initial trials and declined similarly with stimulus repetition. It was suggested that similarity of the two age groups on these parameters was due to control of state within a narrow alert range, and that, in general, younger infants are less likely than older infants to show orienting when conditions for orienting are marginal.     

On the Nature of Cognitive Control and Endogenous Orienting: A Response to Chica and Bartolomeo (2010)

Chica and Bartolemeo (Unconscious strategies? Commentary on Risko and Stolz (2010): The proportion valid effect in covert orienting: Strategic control or implicit learning? Consciousness and Cognition, 19, 443–444.) agree that our results (Risko, E. F., & Stolz, J. A. (2010). The proportion valid effect in covert orienting: Strategic control or implicit learning? Consciousness and Cognition, 19, 432–442.) are consistent with an implicit learning account of the proportion valid effect. Nevertheless, they raise two general issues (1) that an explicit strategy might be operative in other contexts and (2) that orienting in response to implicit knowledge is endogenous. In our response, we address each of these issues and further discuss the concepts of endogenous orienting and cognitive control.     

Cortical evoked potentials as indicators of auditory-visual cross-modal association in young adults

Auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) were studied from scalp locations Cz and Oz on 37 adults aged 20–22 years during sensori-sensorial association of a weak sound (S) and a strong flash of light (L). After sound alone repetition (habituation), S-L association modified AEP: first, it caused a generalized orienting response expressed as increasing of Cz and Oz amplitude AEPs. Then, this pattern gave way to an activation limited to the Oz lead: the increase of amplitude was then concomitant with shortened latencies when compared to sound-alone-habituated responses. Inter-individual differences were observed since these occipital modifications were recorded only on 26 subjects. The other 11 subjects did not exhibit any occipital modifications following S-L association. For them, the main modification was a strong decrease of Cz AEP induced by S-L association. These two groups also differed in their capacity to ignore irrelevent stimuli which is higher in the first group (AEP amplitude habituation with sound-alone repetition) than in the second one (no AEP habituation).     

Change in the event-related skin conductivity: an indicator of the immediate importance of elaborate information processing?]

In recent psychophysiological conceptualizations of the orienting response (OR) within the framework of information processing, the OR is increasingly considered a "call for processing resources", something which is especially inferred from variations in the event-related skin conductance response (SCR). The present study, therefore, was concerned with certain implications arising from this framework or perspective, particularly in regard to the question of whether stimuli eliciting skin conductance responses obligatorily receive/evoke processing priority or not. In order to examine whether these electrodermal responses denote a capturing of attention or merely a call for processing resources, short (1 s) pure sine tones of 65 dB with sudden onset (commonly used as orienting stimuli) were inserted in a reaction time paradigm with an additional memory load. This demand was primarily given because memory processes play a key role in theories of orienting and habituation. The task was run under two different conditions of complexity, factorially combined with a novelty variation of the added auditory stimuli. The results revealed a substantial deterioration of task performance subsequent to the occurrence of the tones, which, however, was dependent on task complexity and on novelty of the tones. The task impairment is particularly remarkable as subjects were asked to avoid distractions by paying attention to the task and as the tones were introduced as subsidiary and task-irrelevant. Together with the missing effects of task complexity on phasic and tonic electrodermal activity, results suggest that information-processing conceptualizations of the OR can only be a meaningful heuristic contribution to theoretical developments about human orienting and its habituation if the setting of processing priority, its conditions, as well as its implications are adequately taken into account. In addition, it seems to be promising to consider the strength of the SCR as an index of urgency of elaborate, attention-demanding processing and not as a peripheral physiological manifestation of the OR, or, respectively, of a call for unspecific processing resources. Such a view would also do justice to the aspect of prioritization. The sufficient conditions for an OR's occurrence could, in this context, be equated with, among others, some of those which activate a mechanism subserving selective attention and, as a possible result, which lead to further and more elaborate processing of potentially important information.     

Working memory capacity modulates habituation rate: Evidence from a cross-modal auditory distraction paradigm

Habituation of the orienting response is a pivotal part of selective attention, and previous research has related working memory capacity (WMC) to attention control. Against this background, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether individual differences in WMC contribute to habituation rate. The participants categorized visual targets across six blocks of trials. Each target was preceded either by a standard sound or, on rare trials, by a deviant. The magnitude of the deviation effect (i.e., prolonged response time when the deviant was presented) was relatively large in the beginning but attenuated toward the end. There was no relationship between WMC and the deviation effect at the beginning, but there was at the end, and greater WMC was associated with greater habituation. These results indicate that high memory ability increases habituation rate, and they support theories proposing a role for cognitive control in habituation and in some forms of auditory distraction.     

Specifying levels of processing

This study examines the nature of stimulus processing under semantic and nonsemantic orienting instructions. Two experiments are reported in which subjects were presented with a series of trials each beginning with the presentation of a “decision word” about which they made either a semantic or non-semantic orienting decision. This decision was followed by a word in coloured ink whose colour subjects were required to name as quickly as possible. On half the trails the coloured word was the primary associate of the decision word whilst on the other half the two words were normatively unrelated. On completion of the experiments the subjects were given an unexpected free recall test. The semantic orienting condition led to longer colour naming latencies on associate trials whilst no such difference was found in the non-semantic condition. The semantic condition also produced higher levels of incidental recall although paradoxically an analysis of associative clustering in recall failed to show any difference between the two orienting conditions. The results are interpreted as support for the “Levels of Processing” approach to memory since they provide an index of processing depth which is independent of retention performance.