Technologies to reliably transduce the topographical details of pigeons’ pecks

Pigeons’ pecking has long been a subject of interest in behavioral research, with the response typically being viewed as unitary. Recent experiments done with computer-controlled devices have revealed that this response is at least bipartite in character, with beak opening and response location (head transport) as its components. In addition, experimental work has demonstrated that these response components may be separately influenced and controlled by respondent and operant conditioning procedures. The detailed topographic analysis and technology that have emerged may provide a background for similar work with other behavioral systems.     

Using tutoring systems to study learning: An application of HyperCard

HyperCard was used to develop a simplified tutoring system whose principles were based on a learning theory, and a genetics tutoring system was evaluated experimentally. Learning was studied by examining immediate versus delayed feedback after an error was made. Such tutoring systems aid in psychological studies of learning, because experimental variables can be easily manipulated. HyperCard provides a good vehicle for tutoring system development, since it requires no extensive programming skills.     

Visually controlled matching of pattern movement

Utrecht Biophysics Research Institute, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands Subjects were asked to match the speeds of two moving random-dot patterns seen through circular apertures. The speed of one pattern that moved horizontally toward the right of a computer screen changed continuously. The speed of this pattern represented the target. It was to be matched with the speed of the second pattern, which moved in the opposite direction. The subject controlled the speed of the second pattern by means of an isometric joystick. The distance between the apertures on the screen as well as the subject’s distance from the screen served as experimental parameters. In this way, the effects of both spatialand temporal transients of pattern speed on human tracking performance were studied. To avoid anticipation by the subject, the amplitude and the frequency of the target pattern speed changed pseudorandomly. The accuracy with which the subject performed the matching task was influenced by the mean pattern speed and the parameters of the visual field. Within lower velocity ranges, the subject’s sensitivity to the instantaneous speed differences varied according to Weber’s law. The cross-correlation of the velocity time courses decreased when the mean speed of the target pattern was increased. Two stimulus parameters had a strong influence on the modulation of the correlation value: (1) the angular size of the stimulus on the retina and (2) the retinal eccentricity of the stimulus.     

ACTH 4-9 analog can retard spatial alternation learning in brain damaged and normal rats

Thirty adult male hooded rats (Long-Evans strain) were assigned randomly to one of three lesion groups (n = 10) and prepared with medial frontal, posterior parietal, or sham neocortical injuries. Following a recovery interval of 10-12 days, access to water was limited to 30 min per day and the rats were shaped to traverse a T-maze for a reward of sweetened water. After a pretraining criterion was attained, osmotic minipumps (Alzet 2002) were installed subcutaneously. The minipumps delivered chronically for the next 14 to 15 days either 0 or 1.2 micrograms of ACTH 4-9 dissolved in bacteriostatic saline per day while the rats were trained on a reinforced spatial alternation task. Analysis of the number of errors made to a criterion of at least 80% correct alternations in two consecutive training sessions, or a ceiling of 62 errors (attained by two rats with parietal lesions), revealed that learning was impaired in the rats with parietal injuries. Contrary to our hypothesis, animals receiving ACTH 4-9 committed more errors than their counterparts receiving only saline.     

Context effects in stroop-like word and picture processing

Presents a series of 6 experiments in which Stroop-like effects were generated by modally pure color-color, picture-picture, and word-word stimuli instead of the usual modally mixed color-word or picture-word stimuli. Naming, reading, and categorization tasks were applied. The Stroop inhibition was preserved with these stimuli but unexpectedly showed a semantic gradient only in the naming and not in the reading task. Word categorizing was slower and more interference prone than picture categorizing. These and other results can be captured by a model with two main assumptions: (a) semantic memory and the lexicon are separate, and (b) words have privileged access to the lexicon, whereas pictures and colors have privileged access to the semantic network. Such a model is developed and put to an initial test.     

Video-task assessment of learning and memory in macaques (Macaca mulatta): effects of stimulus movement on performance

Effects of stimulus movement on learning, transfer, matching, and short-term memory performance were assessed with 2 monkeys using a video-task paradigm in which the animals responded to computer-generated images by manipulating a joystick. Performance on tests of learning set, transfer index, matching to sample, and delayed matching to sample in the video-task paradigm was comparable to that obtained in previous investigations using the Wisconsin General Testing Apparatus. Additionally, learning, transfer, and matching were reliably and significantly better when the stimuli or discriminanda moved than when the stimuli were stationary. External manipulations such as stimulus movement may increase attention to the demands of a task, which in turn should increase the efficiency of learning. These findings have implications for the investigation of learning in other populations, as well as for the application of the video-task paradigm to comparative study.     

Attenuation of amphetamine-stereotypy by mesostriatal dopamine depletion enhances plasma corticosterone: implications for stereotypy as a coping response

The relationship between amphetamine-induced stereotyped behavior and a neuroendocrine index of arousal, plasma corticosterone (CCS), was investigated. 6-Hydroxydopamine lesions of the caudate-putamen, which produced dopamine depletions of 60%, blocked stereotypy and prolonged the elevation in corticosterone associated with d-amphetamine treatment (5 mg/kg). Similar dopamine depleting lesions of the nucleus accumbens, which attenuated the locomotor, but not the stereotypic, response to AMPH did not have this effect on CCS. This pattern of results supports the hypothesis that stereotypy has a coping function which may serve to alter arousal and further suggests important differences between the nigrostriatal and mesolimbic dopamine projections in modulating the responsiveness of the neuroendocrine system. These results have implications for understanding the function of behavioral stereotypies common to a number of psychopathological conditions, including schizophrenia and childhood autism.     

Effects of attentional focusing on pain perception

Two experiments were conducted to examine the hypothesized differential effectiveness of two attentional focusing strategies in pain perception. In the first experiment, subjects (72 male college students) rated their levels of pain after being exposed to either low- or high-intensity pressure stimulation for 75 s. Subjects were instructed to use either an external or internal focus of attention during the pain induction. Results revealed that external focusing was more effective for coping than internal focusing across both levels of stimulus intensity. The second experiment was a replication of the first, and featured bolstered internal focusing and stimulus intensity manipulations. Results showed that high-intensity stimulation produced higher pain ratings than did low-intensity stimulation for subjects in the internal focusing conditions, but not for those in the external focusing conditions. The findings support the power of distraction strategies for dealing with short-term pain with a rapid onset. Theoretical implications are discussed.The authors thank Darwyn E. Linder and Daniel M. Landers for their help in development of this research. The authors are also indebted to Sarah Colley, Jona Davis, Nanci Neuberger, and Rebecca Roberts for their assistance in data collection.     

Aversiveness of denatonium saccharide and quinine in grasshopper mice Onychomys leukogaster

The responses toward denatonium saccharide and quinine by three rodent species differ from those exhibited by humans. This study measured the relative aversiveness of these two compounds in grasshopper mice (Onychomys leucogaster) to determine if this species responded similarly to or differently from these other rodents. In a choice test, the mice clearly preferred quinine over denatonium saccharide at concentrations of 1/10,000 and 1/50,000, but only marginally preferred quinine at a concentration of 1/1000. When denatonium or quinine was paired with toxicosis, both suppressed drinking at concentrations from 1/10,000 to 1/50,000, but only denatonium suppressed drinking at 1/100,000. Neither compound suppressed drinking at 1 part in million. Grasshopper mice perceived denatonium saccharide as more aversive than quinine in both experiments. Such a response resembled the behavior of humans more than that of the other three rodents previously tested.     

Smoking, body weight, and their effects on smoking behavior: a comprehensive review of the literature

This article provides a comprehensive review of the research on smoking and body weight. The relationships between smoking and body weight are evaluated in 70 cross-sectional and longitudinal investigations. The mechanisms responsible for differences in body weight are discussed, the weight-related issues that promote smoking behavior are reviewed, methods for reducing postcessation weight gain are summarized, and future research directions are proposed. A proposed working research model for studying the relationship between smoking, energy balance, and weight gain is offered. It is concluded that smoking and body weight relationships are closely related and pose significant challenges for smoking researchers.