An apparatus for behavioral and physiological study of aversive conditioning in cats and kittens

An apparatus for aversive conditioning of adult cats and kittens is described. Animals are held by a cloth harness and head restraint device in a metal frame with a movable treadmill floor. They are supported in a natural standing position, with freedom to flex and move each leg and to walk or run on the treadmill. Various transducers record respiration, EKG, vocalization, leg flexion, and locomotion on the treadmill.     

Reciprocal cooperation in dyads

This study investigated the conditions that promote long-term social exchange when the immediate payoff for social participation is equal to or less than for individual responding. The 10 subjects, from a special education unit and ranging between 10 and 16 years of age, comprised five dyads to participate in daily 20-min sessions. During the first experiment, the subjects sat beside each other and in front of an automated apparatus which automatically distributed points (representing money) to self, to partner, or to the group. During baseline conditions, the subjects could earn reinforcers from all three modes. During the dependency conditions, which alternated between subjects at 3-day intervals, one subject could earn reinforcers from all three modes while a partner could earn reinforcers only from the mode requiring subject's assistance. Four of the five dyads increased their levels of cooperative responding during the several reversals in which first one and then the other subject was dependent upon the partner for reinforcement. This pattern maintained when the method of distributing reinforcers was changed to a manual procedure requiring the experimenter to record point distributions by transferring beads on an abacus. This suggested that the distribution modes rather than the experimental apparatus were important in promoting the cooperative pattern. In the second experiment all subjects continued to cooperate with partner, even when they could have earned more by working alone. Eventually a value for the self mode was reached where the subjects discontinued their cooperation to work for self.     

Cyclopean stimulation can influence sensations of self-motion in normal and stereoblind subjects

Subjects experienced an illusion of self-motion when viewing the randomly patterned inner surface of a cylinder rotating about their main body axis. This sensation of rotation in a direction opposite to the direction of cylinder rotation is known as circular vection. An experiment was conducted to ascertain if the production of circular vection involved a binocular process in the visual system. Using dichoptic strobe illumination, stimuli were created that were identical monocularly but different binocularly. Groups of normal and stereoblind subjects were tested. The presence of purely binocular (cyclopean) stimulation increased the reported magnitude of vection for both groups. We conclude that a binocular process is involved in the production of circular vection and that this process retains its binocularity in stereoblind subjects.