Automated preference testing apparatus for rating palatability of foods

An electronic preference testing apparatus is described for measuring taste preference of rodents and other small animals with solid or liquid foods. The apparatus is designed on the principle of the two-choice, preference technique. It operates photoelectrically with a sequence of presentations so that whenever a subject eats from a compartmentalized food tray, a standard and a test food are each briefly sampled alone before both foods are presented together (in alternate positions) for preference determination. Preferences are automatically recorded on digital counters. The apparatus is built in two modules (a preference tester and the master control) connected by multiconductor cable. The modular design provides portability and isolation of the animals from the major noise-producing components. Diagrams of the apparatus are given, and test results from a trial that evaluated positional bias and a sucrose-concentration preference experiment are presented to demonstrate its application in research.     

Two apparatus assemblies for the study of real movement

Two forms of apparatus are described for the study of real movement. The first is characterized as a hydraulic system and is used where the S’s rate of movement threshold is to be deter-mined. The basis of the apparatus is a hydraulic cylinder with a piston rod carrying a crosspiece with a visual stimulus attached. The piston-crosspiece assembly is raised,by charging the apparatus with oil, which is then discharged back into a reservoir through a finely tapered adjustable needle valve. Velocity of motion may be regulated by varying the needle valve opening or a mass placed on the piston. The second apparatus is useful for determining the displacement threshold, the minimal distance through which a change of stimulus from one position to another can be perceived. The apparatus consists of a cathode ray display of a linear change of voltage from one value to another. Both total displacement and rate of displacement are adjustable. The S views the cathode ray trace through an optical system designed to minimize perception of extraneous motion.     

An integrated circuit photocell detector and sequencer

A simple, inexpensive, and reliable apparatus for photocell detection and amplification is described. The sensitivity, voltage and current amplification, and speed of this apparatus, make it well suited to application in latency measurement in animal mazes. The apparatus can be used in any sort of application where a resistive type of transducer is needed to trigger some other event at higher voltage and current levels than can be done directly by the transducer alone.     

A technique for making realistic three-dimensional images of objects

Two 151.8-cm-diam semicircular parabolic mirrors of optical quality are the essential components of an apparatus that creates highly realistic three-dimensional images of objects. The apparatus is being used to explore the relationship between vision and touch in infancy by creating a discrepancy between what is seen (a tangible-looking object) and what is felt. Previous attempts to study intersensory coordination in this manner have failed due to lack of realistic images. Other uses for the apparatus include the creation of illusory surfaces to study the development of expectations about the tangible surface properties of visible objects.     

Tracks and affordances: The sources of a physical ontology

How is meaning assigned to those terms in a theory which are remote from direct observational instantiation? Models and analogies play a role, but close examination of theories in high energy physics shows that the design of experimental apparatus also influences the interpretation of such terms. Certain apparatus favours certain kinds of effects, and this affects the way mathematical theories are interpreted. In particular track producing apparatus becomes involved with theories in which photonic terms are picked out in the theory. A further conceptual constraint is thus introduced. It is argued that this situation favours the interpretation of dispositional properties as affordances rather than as simple dispositions.     

Behavioral engineering: the use of response priming to improve prescribed self-medication

A major problem in outpatient treatment has been the extreme irregularity with which patients use medication prescribed for them. As a new approach to resolving this problem, a portable operant apparatus was developed based on response priming and escape reinforcement. The apparatus sounded a tone at the time that a pill was to be taken. When the user turned a knob to terminate the tone, the apparatus delivered the pill into the user's hand. The apparatus was evaluated with six normal adults using a medically inert pill. A greater proportion of the pills were taken by each subject when using the special apparatus as compared with the use of a portable alarm timer or the usual wristwatch. These results demonstrate a new approach for increasing the regularity of self-administration of medicines.     

Imitation in young children: when who gets copied is more important than what gets copied

Unlike other animals, human children will copy all of an adult's goal-directed actions, including ones that are clearly unnecessary for achieving the demonstrated goal. Here we highlight how social affiliation is key to this species-specific behavior. Preschoolers watched 2 adults retrieve a toy from a novel apparatus. One adult included irrelevant actions in her demonstration; the other only used actions causally related to opening the apparatus. After both adults took turns demonstrating, 1 left the test room, and the remaining adult gave the apparatus to the child. Children reproduced the irrelevant actions only when given the apparatus by the adult who had demonstrated them, even though the departed adult's actions emphasized how unnecessary these redundant actions were. Our results highlight the specialized skills for participating in cultural groups that have evolved in humans and provide insight into why finding such high fidelity copying in other animals has proven elusive.     

An automated sound-localization chamber

A completely automated free-field sound-localization apparatus is described along with a behavioral technique that provides several advantages over previously available methods. With the apparatus, the ability to localize the source of a sound has been tested in a wide variety of mammals including cats, rats, squirrel monkeys, hedgehogs, and tree shews.     

A system for behavioral evaluation of the visual capacities of cats

An automated testing apparatus for evaluating the visual capacities of cats is described. It features ease of training, reliability, and flexibility in the type of stimuli that can be presented. For presentation of complex visual stimuli, a closed circuit television display system has been devised that is compatible with the behavioral testing apparatus.     

Conditional and unconditional components of post-shock freezing

Rats received shocks in one apparatus, and post-shock “freezing” was then assessed in that apparatus or in a different one. The assessment of freezing was made immediately after shock or after a 24-hour delay. Post-shock freezing was reduced when the animals were tested in a different apparatus from that in which shocks had been administered. No reduction in freezing was caused by the 24-hour delay. All the post-shock freezing was therefore attributable to contextual cues and to generalization between contexts. This pattern of results suggests that post-shock freezing is entirely produced by conditioned fear elicited by cues associated with shock and that no part of post-shock freezing is an unconditional response (UR) directly elicited by shock.     

The effects of preexposure to a learning apparatus

ICR mice were given exposure to a one-way shuttle apparatus until locomotor activity had been habituated. When compared with nonexposed animals, the exposed animals displayed superior shuttle avoidance learning. Animals exposed to both the apparatus and the CS did not differ from the nonexposed group. It was concluded that preexposure to the learning apparatus facilitated acquisition, while preexposure to the apparatus in the presence of the CS did not. The relationship between this effect and habituation was considered.     

Behavioral engineering: two apparatuses for toilet training retarded children

Daytime incontinence is a major problem for retarded children. A training procedure for eliminating this problem should be facilitated by an apparatus that provided the trainer with an immediate signal when the child voided so that the trainer could react immediately. Two apparatuses were developed for this purpose: a toilet-chair apparatus to signal proper toileting and a portable pants-alarm apparatus to signal wetting of the pants. A reprimand was given when pants wetting occurred whereas positive reinforcement was given for proper toileting. Results with four profoundly retarded children indicated the reliability of the apparatuses in practice and the effectiveness of a toilet training program that used the two apparatuses.     

A new method for studying problem solving and tool use in stingrays (Potamotrygon castexi)

Testing the cognitive abilities of cartilaginous fishes is important in understanding the evolutionary origins of cognitive functions in higher vertebrates. We used five South American fresh water stingrays (Potamotrygon castexi) in a learning and problem-solving task. A tube test apparatus was developed to provide a simple but sophisticated procedure for testing cognitive abilities of aquatic animals. All five subjects quickly learned to use water as a tool to extract food from the testing apparatus. The experimental protocol, which gave the animals the opportunity of correcting a wrong visual cue decision, resulted in four out of five subjects correcting an error rather than making an initial right choice. One of five subjects reached 100% correct trials in the visual discrimination task. The ability to use water as an agent to extract food from the testing apparatus is a first indication of tool use in batoid fishes. Performance in the instrumental task of retrieving food from a novel testing apparatus and the rapid learning in the subsequent discrimination/error correction task shows that cartilaginous fish can be used to study the origins of cognitive functions in the vertebrate lineage.     

Nuclear family apparatus

The nuclear family apparatus was designed to provide a living arrangement that included fathers as well as other family members. Accordingly, it required generous dimensions so as not to cramp the males and durable materials that could withstand their strength. The apparatus described in this paper is relatively large, strong, easy to keep clean, and safe in its construction. It provides quarters for four rhesus monkey families—the parents and their offspring. Parents are confined to living cages at the rear and ends, but their young may divide their time between living cages and large play areas equipped with motor apparatus.     

Das Unbewusste

In this paper I want to explore whether it is possible to establish a correlation between different levels of pathology and the distortions of some unconscious functions necessary for good mental functioning. My hypothesis is that mental health depends on the possibility to use an apparatus that allows us to contain and keep our emotions alive as well as to give meaning to them. This apparatus functions all the time, beyond individual consciousness. Some patients have this apparatus or have at least the potential to develop it whereas others, such as borderline and psychotic patients seem to be lacking it completely, hence the difficulty of analyzing these kinds of patients.     

Degeneracy of the local structure renormalizing infinite time and space

A model for a system consisting of elements which detect the measurement apparatus of other elements is proposed. By any apparatus one can observe locally, however it can refer to non‐local property because apparatus itself is indefinite. In taking this aspect into consideration, I formulate expressions for a local interaction referring to non‐local property. This formalization can satisfy the aspect of what is called, internal measurement. This system shows teleological global motion toward criticality which is relevant to the degeneracy of a specific element featuring D ? Hom(Z), E) by which infinite time and space are renormalized.     

Blood pressure and pulse wave velocity measurement for operant conditioning of autonomic responding

Presently available procedures for measuring blood pressure are not completely satisfactory for Es wishing to investigate the operant conditioning of cardiovascular activity. A system is described for measuring a correlate of the blood pressure information obtained with conventional sphygmomanometric systems. The procedure involves the measurement of speed of propagation through the arterial system of the pressure pulse from the heart’s contraction. This speed, the pulse wave velocity, is closely related to cuff-derived blood pressure. Many of the problems present with current sphygmomanometric systems are absent with this apparatus and procedure. The apparatus can be assembled from common instruments or constructed from integrated circuits. Data collected with the apparatus confirm earlier studies which indicate that pulse wave velocity is correlated with sphygmomanometrically measured blood pressure and is a valuable cardiovascular response measure.     

A new horizontal eye movement calibration method: Subject-controlled “smooth pursuit” and “zero drift”

A subject-controlled smooth pursuit method of calibration of eye movement apparatus is proposed for the horizontal axis which is more rapid, requires no interpolation and no linearity assumption, and is as accurate as the fixation point method usually used. The zero drift method of verification proposed then permits accuracy to be estimated in a way that distinguishes apparatus errors from fixation errors. This is only possible in the fixation point method by asking the subject to make repeated long fixations.