Cogprints: No conditions. Results ordered -Date, Title. 2018-01-17T14:22:31ZEPrintshttp://cogprints.org/images/sitelogo.gifhttp://cogprints.org/2012-11-09T19:23:18Z2012-11-09T19:23:18Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/8015This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/80152012-11-09T19:23:18ZAn evolutionary behavioral model for decision makingFor autonomous agents the problem of deciding what to do next becomes increasingly complex when acting in unpredictable and dynamic environments pursuing multiple and possibly conflicting goals. One of the most relevant behavior-based model that tries to deal with this problem is the one proposed by Maes, the Bbehavior Network model. This model proposes a set of behaviors as purposive perception-action units which are linked in a nonhierarchical network, and whose behavior selection process is orchestrated by spreading activation dynamics. In spite of being an adaptive model (in the sense of self-regulating its own behavior selection process), and despite the fact that several extensions have been proposed in order to improve the original model adaptability, there is not a robust model yet that can self-modify adaptively both the topological structure and the functional purpose
of the network as a result of the interaction between the agent and its environment. Thus, this work proffers an innovative hybrid model driven by gene expression programming, which makes two main contributions: (1) given an initial set of meaningless and unconnected units, the evolutionary mechanism is able to build well-defined and robust behavior networks which are adapted and specialized to concrete internal agent's needs and goals; and (2)
the same evolutionary mechanism is able to assemble quite
complex structures such as deliberative plans (which operate in the long-term) and problem-solving strategies.Dr Oscar Javier Romero Lopezojrlopez@hotmail.com2011-12-16T00:08:51Z2011-12-16T00:08:51Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/7747This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/77472011-12-16T00:08:51ZA neuroeconomic theory of rational addiction and
nonlinear time-perception.Neuroeconomic conditions for “rational addiction” (Becker and Murphy, 1988) have
been unknown. This paper derived the conditions for “rational addiction” by utilizing a
nonlinear time-perception theory of “hyperbolic” discounting, which is mathematically
equivalent to the q-exponential intertemporal choice model based on Tsallis' statistics. It
is shown that (i) Arrow-Pratt measure for temporal cognition corresponds to the degree
of irrationality (i.e., Prelec’s “decreasing impatience” parameter of temporal
discounting) and (ii) rationality in addicts is controlled by a nondimensionalization
parameter of the logarithmic time-perception function. Furthermore, the present theory
illustrates the possibility that addictive drugs increase impulsivity via dopaminergic
neuroadaptation without increasing irrationality. Future directions in the application of
the model to studies in neuroeconomics are discussed.Ph.D Taiki Takahashi2011-12-16T00:09:00Z2011-12-16T00:09:00Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/7746This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/77462011-12-16T00:09:00ZNeuroeconomics of suicide.Suicidal behavior is a leading cause of injury and death worldwide. Suicide has been associated with psychiatric illnesses such as depression and schizophrenia, as well as economic uncertainty, and social/cultural factors. This study proposes a neuroeconomic framework of suicide. Neuroeconomic parameters (e.g., risk-attitude, probability weighting, time discounting in intertemporal choice, and loss aversion) are predicted to be related to suicidal behavior. Neurobiological and neuroendocrinological substrates such as serotonin, dopamine, cortisol (HPA axis), nitric oxide, serum cholesterol, epinephrine, norepinephrine, gonadal hormones (e.g., estradiol and progesterone), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in brain regions such as the orbitofrontal/dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and limbic regions (e.g., the amygdala) may supposedly be related to the neuroeconomic parameters modulating the risk of suicide. The present framework puts foundations for ―molecular neuroeconomics‖ of decision-making processes underlying suicidal behavior.Ph.D Taiki Takahashitaikitakahashi@gmail.com2011-12-16T00:08:33Z2011-12-16T00:08:33Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/7748This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/77482011-12-16T00:08:33ZToward molecular neuroeconomics of obesity.Because obesity is a risk factor for many serious illnesses such as diabetes, better
understandings of obesity and eating disorders have been attracting attention in
neurobiology, psychiatry, and neuroeconomics. This paper presents future study
directions by unifying (i) economic theory of addiction and obesity (Becker and Murphy,
1988; Levy 2002; Dragone 2009), and (ii) recent empirical findings in neuroeconomics
and neurobiology of obesity and addiction. It is suggested that neurobiological
substrates such as adiponectin, dopamine (D2 receptors), endocannabinoids, ghrelin,
leptin, nesfatin-1, norepinephrine, orexin, oxytocin, serotonin, vasopressin, CCK,
GLP-1, MCH, PYY, and stress hormones (e.g., CRF) in the brain (e.g., OFC, VTA,
NAcc, and the hypothalamus) may determine parameters in the economic theory of
obesity. Also, the importance of introducing time-inconsistent and
gain/loss-asymmetrical temporal discounting (intertemporal choice) models based on
Tsallis’ statistics and incorporating time-perception parameters into the neuroeconomic
theory is emphasized. Future directions in the application of the theory to studies in
neuroeconomics and neuropsychiatry of obesity at the molecular level, which may help
medical/psychopharmacological treatments of obesity (e.g., with sibutramine), are
discussed.Taiki Takahashitaikitakahashi@gmail.com2011-01-11T03:27:22Z2011-03-11T08:57:50Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/7168This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/71682011-01-11T03:27:22ZEye-contact and complex dynamic systems: an hypothesis on autism’s direct cause and a clinical study addressing prevention.
Estimates of autism’s incidence increased 5-10 fold in ten years, an increase which cannot be genetic. Though many mutations are associated with autism, no mutation seems directly to cause autism. We need to find the direct cause. Complexity science provides a new paradigm - confirmed in biology by extensive hard data. Both the body and the personality are complex dynamic systems which spontaneously self-organize from simple dynamic systems. Autism may therefore be caused by the failure of a simple dynamic system.
We know that infants who cannot track their mother’s face often become autistic, that eye-contact initiates intersubjectivity which is blocked in autism, and that the infant-mother pair seems designed to promote eye-contact, as does the eye’s appearance. This author earlier proposed that failure of eye-contact might directly cause autism and that early non-maternal childcare, including television/video, would therefore be statistically linked to autism.
Waldman et al. (2008; 2006) recently proved that autism is strongly linked to precipitation (indoor activity) and to the introduction of cable. The most plausible explanation? Early exposure to television/video is linked to autism. Furthermore a normal developmental cascade (blocked in autism) has been deciphered: (a) Infant-mother eye-contact triggers increased maternal attention. (b) Early maternal attention permanently increases not only baseline vasopressin but also that oxytocin release which is triggered by subsequent maternal attention. (c) Vasopressin and oxytocin promote face recognition, gazing-at-the-eyes, emotion recognition, and social bonding.
The eye-contact hypothesis suggests a clinical study addressing prevention: recruit prospective parents who agree to curtail television/video/computer/wi-fi in their families; measure autism’s incidence in their children.
Dr Maxson J. McDowellmaxmcdowell@jungny.com2010-10-18T11:00:45Z2011-03-11T08:57:45Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/7048This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/70482010-10-18T11:00:45ZOctologyThe manuscript describes a new sciencific discipline called Octology, which should unify morphogenetic linguistics and neurobiology to investigate the development of the words, cognition and behavior.Dr. Andrej Poleevandrejpoleev@yahoo.com2009-02-13T01:14:59Z2011-03-11T08:57:18Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6341This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/63412009-02-13T01:14:59ZThe biopsychology of maternal behavior in nonhuman mammals The term “maternal behavior,” when applied to nonhuman mammals, includes the behaviors exhibited in preparation for the arrival of newborn, in the care and protection of the newly arrived young, and in the weaning of those young, and represents a complex predictable pattern that is often regarded as a single, comprehensive, species-specific phenomenon. Although the delivering first-time mammalian mother is immediately and appropriately maternal, a maternal “virgin” with no prior exposure to young does not show immediate and appropriate behavior toward foster young. Nevertheless, the virgin female, and indeed the male, possess the neural circuitry that underlies the pattern referred to as maternal behavior, despite not exhibiting the pattern under normal circumstances. At parturition, or after extensive exposure to young, what emerges appears to be a single stereotyped maternal behavior pattern. However, it is actually a smoothly coordinated constellation of simpler actions with proximate causes that, when sequenced properly, have the appearance of a motivated, purposive, adaptive, pattern of caretaking. Over the past 50 years, much research has focused on finding the principal external and internal factors that convert the nonmaternal behavior patterns of the nonpregnant nullipara, the virgin, to the almost immediate and intense maternal behavior characteristic of the puerpera, the mother. This review is an attempt to summarize the many comprehensive, even encyclopedic, reviews of these factors, with an emphasis on brain mechanisms, and to highlight the gaps that remain in understanding the processes involved in the almost immediate onset of maternal caretaking behaviors observed in mammals at delivery. Where possible, the reader is directed to some of those excellent reviews.Dr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.edu2009-03-28T09:32:38Z2011-03-11T08:57:20Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6385This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/63852009-03-28T09:32:38ZIngestion of amniotic fluid enhances the facilitative effect of VTA morphine on the onset of maternal behavior in virgin ratsPrevious research has shown that injection of morphine into the ventral tegmental area(VTA) facilitates the onset of maternal behavior in virgin female rats, and injection of the opioid antagonist naltrexone into the VTA disrupts the onset of maternal behavior in parturient rats. Placentophagia – ingestion of placenta and amniotic fluid, usually at parturition – modifies central opioid processes. Ingestion of the active substance in placenta and amniotic fluid, Placental Opioid-Enhancing Factor (POEF), enhances the hypoalgesic effect of centrally administered morphine, and more specifically, enhances δ- and κ-opioid-receptor-
mediated hypoalgesia and attenuates μ-opioid-receptor-mediated hypoalgesia. POEF (in placenta or amniotic fluid) ingestion does not, by itself, produce hypoalgesia. In the
present study, we tested the hypothesis that ingestion of amniotic fluid enhances the facilitative effect of opioid activity (unilateral morphine injection) in the VTA on the rate of onset of maternal behavior. Virgin female Long-Evans rats were given one intra-VTA injection of morphine sulfate (0.0, 0.01, or 0.03 μg, in saline) and an orogastric infusion of 0.25 ml amniotic fluid or saline once each day of the first three days of the 10-day testing
period. Subjects were continuously exposed to foster pups that were replaced every 12 h; replacement of pups was followed by a 15-min observation period. Maternal behavior
latency was determined by the first of two consecutive tests wherein the subject displayed pup retrieval, pup licking in the nest, and crouching over all foster pups, during the 15-min observation. We confirmed the previous finding that the VTA injection, alone, of 0.03 μg morphine shortened the latency to show maternal behavior and that 0.0 μg and 0.01 μg morphine did not. Ingestion of amniotic fluid (and therefore POEF) facilitated the onset of
maternal behavior in rats receiving an intra-VTA microinjection of an otherwise subthreshold dose of morphine (0.01 μg).Anne Neumannaneumann@buffalo.eduRobert F. Hoeyrhoey@buffalo.eduLindsey B. Daiglerldaigler@buffalo.eduDr. Alexis C. Thompsonathompso@ria.buffalo.eduDr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.edu2007-05-08Z2011-03-11T08:56:50Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/5542This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/55422007-05-08ZComputational Experiments with the Fuzzy Love and Romance
The paper report some experiments on the issue of human mating games and sexual preferences in the perspective of population and some macro-social realms. The notions of love, romance, fidelity, and sexual attractiveness are those comprising the theory to human intra-species evolution but yet still rare to be employed to understand human social, economic, and cultural studies in terms of sociology or economics. The paper did experiments on those issues, on the possible relation between population growth, power-law distribution of wealth, and some other relevant points to our realization of evolutionary theory of sexual selection. The paper expects to open an alternative bridge of our advancement in human evolution and the complexity of the social system. Hokky Situngkir2008-03-10T14:49:25Z2011-03-11T08:57:05Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/5962This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/59622008-03-10T14:49:25ZEpigenetic and Cultural Evolution are non-DarwinianThe argument that heritable epigenetic change plays a distinct role in evolution would be strengthened through recognition that it is what bootstrapped the origin and early evolution of life, and like behavioral and symbolic change, is non-Darwinian. The mathematics of natural selection, a population-level process, is limited to replication with negligible individual-level change, i.e. that uses a self-assembly code.Dr. L. M. Gaboraliane.gabora@ubc.ca2008-03-10T14:53:22Z2011-03-11T08:57:05Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/5960This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/59602008-03-10T14:53:22ZMindWhat can relics of the past tell us about the thoughts and beliefs of the people who invented and used them? Recent collaborations at the frontier of archaeology, anthropology, and cognitive science are culminating in speculative but nevertheless increasingly sophisticated efforts to unravel how modern human cognition came about. By considering objects within their archaeological context, we have begun to piece together something of the way of life of people who inhabited particular locales, which in turn reflects their underlying thought processes.
Comparing data between different sites or time periods tells us something about the horizontal (within generation) or vertical (between generations) transmission of material culture. In addition to patterns of transmission of existing kinds of artifacts, we are also interested in novel artifacts that might be indicative of new cognitive abilities, belief structures, or levels of cooperation. An archaeological period marked by the sudden appearance of many kinds of new objects may suggest the onset of enhanced creative abilities. By corroborating archaeological findings with anthropological data (evidence of sudden change in the size or shape of the cranium, for example) with knowledge from cognitive science about how minds function, we can make educated guesses as to what kinds of underlying cognitive changes could be involved, and how the unique abilities of Homo sapiens arose.
In this chapter, we consider three questions about human cognition that can be addressed through archaeological data: (1) How did human culture begin? (2) Where, when, and how did humans acquire the unique cognitive abilities of modern Homo sapiens? and (3) What role do artifacts play in the evolution of these cognitive abilities?Dr. Liane M. Gaboraliane.gabora@ubc.ca2005-09-18Z2011-03-11T08:56:10Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/4531This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/45312005-09-18ZInformation and Meaning in Life, Humans and RobotsInformation and meaning exist around us and within ourselves, and the same information can correspond to different meanings. This is true for humans and animals, and is becoming true for robots.
We propose here an overview of this subject by using a systemic tool related to meaning generation that has already been published (C. Menant, Entropy 2003).
The Meaning Generator System (MGS) is a system submitted to a constraint that generates a meaningful information when it receives an incident information that has a relation with the constraint. The content of the meaningful information is explicited, and its function is to
trigger an action that will be used to satisfy the constraint of the system.
The MGS has been introduced in the case of basic life submitted to a "stay alive" constraint.
We propose here to see how the usage of the MGS can be extended to more complex living systems, to humans and to robots by introducing new types of constraints, and integrating the MGS into higher level systems.
The application of the MGS to humans is partly based on a scenario relative to the evolution of body self-awareness toward self-consciousness that has already been presented
(C. Menant, Biosemiotics 2003, and TSC 2004).
The application of the MGS to robots is based on the definition of the MGS applied to robots functionality, taking into account the origins of the constraints.
We conclude with a summary of this overview and with themes that can be linked to this systemic approach on meaning generation.
Christophe Menantcrmenant@free.fr2004-02-03Z2011-03-11T08:55:28Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/3418This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/34182004-02-03ZIdeas are not replicators but minds areAn idea is not a replicator because it does not consist of coded self-assembly instructions. It may retain structure as it passes from one individual to another, but does not replicate it. The cultural replicator is not an idea but an associatively-structured network of them that together form an internal model of the world, or worldview. A worldview is a primitive, uncoded replicator, like the autocatalytic sets of polymers widely believed to be the earliest form of life. Primitive replicators generate self-similar structure, but because the process happens in a piecemeal manner, through bottom-up interactions rather than a top-down code, they replicate with low fidelity, and acquired characteristics are inherited. Just as polymers catalyze reactions that generate other polymers, the retrieval of an item from memory can in turn trigger other items, thus cross-linking memories, ideas, and concepts into an integrated conceptual structure. Worldviews evolve idea by idea, largely through social exchange. An idea participates in the evolution of culture by revealing certain aspects of the worldview that generated it, thereby affecting the worldviews of those exposed to it. If an idea influences seemingly unrelated fields this does not mean that separate cultural lineages are contaminating one another, because it is worldviews, not ideas, that are the basic unit of cultural evolution.Dr. Liane Gabora2004-04-07Z2011-03-11T08:55:30Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/3535This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/35352004-04-07ZTopology of large-scale engineering problem-solving networksThe last few years have led to a series of discoveries that uncovered statistical properties that are common
to a variety of diverse real-world social, information, biological, and technological networks. The goal of the
present paper is to investigate the statistical properties of networks of people engaged in distributed problem
solving and discuss their significance. We show that problem-solving networks have properties ~sparseness,
small world, scaling regimes! that are like those displayed by information, biological, and technological
networks. More importantly, we demonstrate a previously unreported difference between the distribution of
incoming and outgoing links of directed networks. Specifically, the incoming link distributions have sharp
cutoffs that are substantially lower than those of the outgoing link distributions ~sometimes the outgoing
cutoffs are not even present!. This asymmetry can be explained by considering the dynamical interactions that
take place in distributed problem solving and may be related to differences between each actor’s capacity to
process information provided by others and the actor’s capacity to transmit information over the network. We
conjecture that the asymmetric link distribution is likely to hold for other human or nonhuman directed
networks when nodes represent information processing and using elements.Dan BrahaYaneer Bar-Yam2006-12-12Z2011-03-11T08:56:44Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/5299This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/52992006-12-12ZThe evolution of brain lateralization: A game theoretical analysis of population structure
In recent years, it has become apparent that behavioural and brain lateralization is the rule rather than the exception among vertebrates. The study of lateralization has been so far the province of neurology and neuropsychology. We show how such research can be integrated with evolutionary biology to more fully understand lateralization. In particular, we address
the fact that, within a species, left- and right-type individuals are often in a definite proportion different from 1/2 (e.g., hand use in humans). We argue that traditional explanations of brain lateralization (that it may avoid costly duplication of neural circuitry and reduce interference between functions) cannot account for this fact, because increased individual efficiency is unre-
lated to the frequency of left- and right-type individuals in a population. A further puzzle is that, if a majority of individuals are of the same type, individual behaviour becomes more predictable to other organisms. Here we
show that alignment of the direction of behavioural asymmetries in a population can arise as an evolutionarily stable strategy (ESS), when individually asymmetrical organisms must coordinate their behaviour with that of other
asymmetrical organisms. Thus, brain and behavioural lateralization, as we know it in humans and other vertebrates, may have evolved under basically
"social" selection pressures.
Stefano GhirlandaGiorgio Vallortigara2004-01-13Z2011-03-11T08:55:27Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/3380This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/33802004-01-13ZPutting infants in their placeThe interests of mother and infants do not exactly coincide. Further, infants are not merely objects of attempted control by mothers, but the sources of attempts to control what mothers do. Taking account of the ways in which this is so suggest an enriched perspective on mother-infant interaction, and on the beginnings of conventionalized signaling.David Spurrett466Andrew Dellis2006-08-01Z2011-03-11T08:56:33Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/5032This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/50322006-08-01ZEvidence Based Complementary
Intervention for InsomniaIncreasing scientific evidence point to a non-pharmacological
complementary treatment for insomnia: white noise. Its presentation
has been shown to induce sleep in human neonates and adults,
probably by reducing the signal-to-noise ratio of ambient sound.
White noise may be a simple, safe, cost-effective alternative to
hypnotic medication in many psychiatric disorders, especially acute
stress disorder and PTSD. Dr. Hassen H. LopezAdam S. BrachaDr. Stefan Bracha2003-04-15Z2011-03-11T08:55:15Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/2872This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/28722003-04-15ZCOMPARISON OF EMOTIONAL RESPONSES IN MONKEYS WITH RHINAL CORTEX OR AMYGDALA LESIONSFour emotionally arousing stimuli were used to probe the behavior of monkeys with bilateral ablations of the entorhinal and perirhinal cortex. The animals’ behavioral changes were then contrasted with those observed earlier (Meunier et al., 1999) in monkeys with either neurotoxic or aspiration lesions of the neighboring amygdala. Rhinal cortex ablations yielded several subtle behavioral changes, but none of them resembled any of the disorders typically seen after amygdalectomies. The changes produced by rhinal damage took mainly the form of heightened defensiveness, and attenuated submission and approach responses, that is, just the opposite of some of the most distinctive symptoms following amygdala damage. These findings raise the possibility that the rhinal cortex and amygdala have distinct, interactive, functions in normal behavioral adaptation to affective stimuli.PhD Martine MeunierPhD Jocelyne Bachevalier2002-12-18Z2011-03-11T08:55:07Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/2665This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/26652002-12-18ZHave brain dynamics evolved?
Should we look for unique dynamics in the sapient species?Ongoing "spontaneous" electrical field potentials of assemblies of neurons in the brains of diverse animal groups differ widely in character and amplitude without obvious explanation. There may be correlates with other measures of brain complexity, such as histological differentiation but there are so far no known differences between the EEG s of humans and other mammals or between mammals and reptiles, amphibians or fish, apart from amplitude. The proposition is defended that further search for descriptors or statistical, probably non-linear features of the time series will reveal consistent differences - meaning that we have so far missed major features of the natural history of EEGs, just as we have, thus far, relatively neglected the identification of features of the physiology of the brain relevant to its evolution of complexity through major grades of phyla, classes and orders.T.H. Bullock2003-02-17Z2011-03-11T08:55:10Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/2777This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/27772003-02-17ZHave brain dynamics evolved?
Should we look for unique dynamics in the sapient species?Ongoing “spontaneous” electrical field potentials of assemblies of neurons in the brains of diverse animal groups differ widely in character and amplitude without obvious explanation. There may be correlates with other measures of brain complexity, such as histological differentiation but there are so far no known differences between the EEG s of humans and other mammals or between mammals and reptiles, amphibians or fish, apart from amplitude. The proposition is defended that further search for descriptors or statistical, probably non-linear features of the time series will reveal consistent differences - meaning that we have so far missed major features of the natural history of EEGs, just as we have, thus far, relatively neglected the identification of features of the physiology of the brain relevant to its evolution of complexity through major grades of phyla, classes and orders.T.H. Bullock2013-05-04T23:22:04Z2013-05-04T23:22:04Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/8955This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/89552013-05-04T23:22:04ZMale-induced estrus synchronization in the female Siberian hamster (Phodopus sungorus sungorus)Olfactory cues play an integral role in the organization of events that mediate reproductive success. In a variety of species, priming
pheromones, in particular, are important for ensuring reproductive fitness. To date, very little research has focused on how male-emitted
priming pheromones, such as those that regulate the onset of puberty and estrus synchronization in females, affect the reproductive
physiology of the female Siberian hamster (Phodopus sungorus sungorus). This lack of research may be due to the physiology of the
Phodopus genus; vaginal cytology cannot be used as a reliable indicator of estrus or ovulation. Using a jugular cannulation technique to
determine estrous stage by blood analysis of prolactin and luteinizing hormone, we sought to determine if male priming pheromones affect
estrous cyclicity in the female Siberian hamster and, if so, whether the production of these priming pheromones is androgen dependent. Our results showed that females exposed to bedding from mature, intact males showed a significantly higher incidence of proestrus 3 days later than did females exposed to the bedding of mature, gonadectomized males. Therefore, we found that not only do male Siberian hamsters emit chemical signals that induce estrus synchronization, but also that this ability is likely to be androgen dependent.Dr. J.C. DodgeDr. M.B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.eduDr. L.L. Badura2002-06-10Z2011-03-11T08:54:56Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/2249This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/22492002-06-10ZAttentional and Semantic AnticipationsWhy are attentional processes important in the driving of anticipations? Anticipatory processes are fundamental cognitive abilities of living systems, in order to rapidly and accurately perceive new events in the environment, and to trigger adapted behaviors to the newly perceived events. To process anticipations adapted to sequences of various events in complex environments, the cognitive system must be able to run specific anticipations on the basis of selected relevant events. Then more attention must be given to events potentially relevant for the living system, compared to less important events.
What are useful attentional factors in anticipatory processes? The relevance of events in the environment depend on the effects they can have on the survival of the living system. The cognitive system must then be able to detect relevant events to drive anticipations and to trigger adapted behaviors. The attention given to an event depends on i) its external physical relevance in the environment, such as time duration and visual quality, and ii) on its internal semantic relevance in memory, such as knowledge about the event (semantic field in memory) and anticipatory power (associative strength to anticipated associates).
How can we model interactions between attentional and semantic anticipations? Specific types of distributed recurrent neural networks are able to code temporal sequences of events as associated attractors in memory. Particular learning protocol and spike rate transmission through synaptic associations allow the model presented to vary attentionally the amount of activation of anticipations (by activation or inhibition processes) as a function of the external and internal relevance of the perceived events. This type of model offers a unique opportunity to account for both anticipations and attention in unified terms of neural dynamics in a recurrent network.
Frédéric LavigneSylvain Denis2000-02-04Z2011-03-11T08:53:41Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/138This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1382000-02-04ZDirect evidence for local oscillatory current sources and intracortical phase gradients in turtle visual cortexVisual stimuli induce oscillations in the membrane potential of neurons in cortices of several species. In turtle, these oscillations take the form of linear and circular traveling waves. Such waves may be a consequence of a pacemaker that emits periodic pulses of excitation that propagate across a network of excitable neuro-nal tissue or may result from continuous and possibly reconfigu-rable phase shifts along a network with multiple weakly coupled neuronal oscillators. As a means to resolve the origin of wave propagation in turtle visual cortex, we performed simultaneous measurements of the local field potential at a series of depths throughout this cortex. Measurements along a single radial pen-etration revealed the presence of broadband current sources, with a center frequency near 20 Hz ( g band), that were activated by visual stimulation. The spectral coherence between sources at two well-separated loci along a rostral caudal axis revealed the pres-ence of systematic timing differences between localized cortical oscillators. These multiple oscillating current sources and their timing differences in a tangential plane are interpreted as the neuronal activity that underlies the wave motion revealed in previous imaging studies. The present data provide direct evidence for the inference from imaging of bidirectional wave motion that the stimulus-induced electrical waves in turtle visual cortex corre-spond to phase shifts in a network of coupled neuronal oscillators.James C. PrechtlT.H. BullockDavid. Kleinfeld2002-06-10Z2011-03-11T08:54:56Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/2248This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/22482002-06-10ZAnticipatory Semantic ProcessesWhy anticipatory processes correspond to cognitive abilities of living systems? To be adapted to an environment, behaviors need at least i) internal representations of events occurring in the external environment; and ii) internal anticipations of possible events to occur in the external environment. Interactions of these two opposite but complementary cognitive properties lead to various patterns of experimental data on semantic processing.
How to investigate dynamic semantic processes? Experimental studies in cognitive psychology offer several interests such as: i) the control of the semantic environment such as words embedded in sentences; ii) the methodological tools allowing the observation of anticipations and adapted oculomotor behavior during reading; and iii) the analyze of different anticipatory processes within the theoretical framework of semantic processing.
What are the different types of semantic anticipations? Experimental data show that semantic anticipatory processes involve i) the coding in memory of sequences of words occurring in textual environments; ii) the anticipation of possible future words from currently perceived words; and iii) the selection of anticipated words as a function of the sequences of perceived words, achieved by anticipatory activations and inhibitory selection processes.
How to modelize anticipatory semantic processes? Localist or distributed neural networks models can account for some types of semantic processes, anticipatory or not. Attractor neural networks coding temporal sequences are presented as good candidate for modeling anticipatory semantic processes, according to specific properties of the human brain such as i) auto-associative memory; ii) learning and memorization of sequences of patterns; and iii) anticipation of memorized patterns from previously perceived patterns.
Frédéric LavignePascal Lavigne2008-11-02T10:00:10Z2011-03-11T08:57:13Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6250This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/62502008-11-02T10:00:10ZIngested bovine amniotic fluid enhances morphine antinociception in ratsIngestion by rats of rat placenta or amniotic fluid enhances opioid-mediated, or partly opioid-mediated, antinociception produced by morphine injection, vaginal or cervical stimulation, late pregnancy, and foot shock. This phenomenon is believed to be produced by a placental
opioid-enhancing factor (POEF). Ingestion by rats of human or dolphin placenta has also been shown to enhance opioid antinociception, suggesting that POEF may be common to many mammalian species. We tested bovine amniotic fluid (BAF) for its capacity to enhance morphine antinociception in female Long-Evans rats, as determined by percentage change from baseline tail-flick latency in response to radiant heat, and we report that 0.50 mL BAF effectively enhanced morphine antinociception but did not by itself produce antinociception. The efficacy of POEF across species suggests that POEF may have been functionally (and structurally) conserved during evolution. Furthermore, the availability of POEF at parturition, as well as its ability to enhance pregnancy-mediated antinociception without
disrupting maternal behavior, offers a tenable explanation for the long-debated ultimate causality of placentophagia.James W. CorpeningJean C. DoerrDr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.edu2000-05-12Z2011-03-11T08:53:42Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/144This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1442000-05-12ZThe relation between movement parameters and motor learning.In a recent paper, Flament et al (1999) studied the learning to flex the elbow fast. They concluded from their data that time-related parameters (e.g. movement time) changed faster during learning than magnitude-related parameters (e.g. peak velocity), and discussed this finding in terms of neural substrates responsible for the apparently different learning mechanisms. In this note, I will argue that finding different time constants does not imply different learning mechanisms. I will give a theoretical example of the development of parameters during learning to move faster. Despite the fact that I model only one learning process, various kinematic parameters show different time courses of learning. The differences the model predicts are comparable with the experimental results.Jeroen B.J. Smeets2000-12-01Z2011-03-11T08:54:26Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1089This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/10892000-12-01ZRevisiting the Concept of Identifiable NeuronsAlthough eutely in nematodes was known, giant neurons in several taxa and unique motor neurons to leg muscles in decapod crustaceans, the idea that many animals have many identifiable neurons with relatively consistent dynamical properties and connections was only slowly established in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This has to be one of the important quiet revolutions in neurobiology. It stimulated a vast acquisition of specific information and led to some euphoria in the degree and pace of understanding activity of nervous systems and consequent behavior in terms of neuronal connections and properties. Some implications, problems and opportunities for new discovery are developed. The distribution of identifiable neurons among taxa and parts of the nervous system is not yet satisfactorily known. Their evolution may have been a case of several independent inventions. The degree of consistency has been quantified only in a few examples and the plasticity is little known. Identified neurons imply identifiable circuits but whether this extends to discrete systems, functionally definable, seems likely to have several answers in different animals or sites. Very limited attempts have been made to extend the concept to cases of two or ten or a hundred fully equivalent neurons, on all kinds of criteria. These attempts suggest a much smaller redundancy and vaster number of types of neurons than hitherto believed. Theory as well as empirical information has not yet interpreted the range of systems from those with small sets of relatively reliable neurons to those with large numbers of parallel, partially redundant units. The now classical notion of local circuits has to be extended to take account and find roles for the plethora of integrative variables, of evidence for neural processing independent of spikes and classical synapses, of spatial configurations of terminal arbors and dendritic geometry, of modulators and transmitters, degrees of rhythmicity (regularity varying several orders of magnitude), and of synchrony. Adequate language and models need to go beyond "circuits" in any engineering sense. Identifiable neurons can contribute to a broad spectrum of issues in neurobiology.Theodore Bullock2002-06-21Z2011-03-11T08:54:23Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/978This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/9782002-06-21ZAutonomy in Anticipatory Systems: Significance for Functionality, Intentionality and MeaningAbstract Many anticipatory systems cannot in
themselves act meaningfully or represent
intentionally. This stems largely from the derivative
nature of their functionality. All current artificial
control systems, and many living systems such as
organs and cellular parts of organisms derive any
intentionality they might have from their designers
or possessors. Derivative functionality requires
reference to some external autonomously functional
system, and derivative intentionality similarly
requires reference to an external autonomous
intentional system. The importance of autonomy
can be summed up in the following slogan: No
meaning without intention; no intention without
function; no function without autonomy. This paper
develops the role of autonomy to show how learning
new tasks is facilitated by autonomy, and further by
representational capacities that are functional for
autonomy.
John Collier1999-07-16Z2011-03-11T08:53:43Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/183This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1831999-07-16ZThe Fifth InfluenceThis article is a theoretical consideration on the role of sensory pleasure and mental joy as optimizers of behavior. It ends with an axiomatic proposal. When they compare the human body to its environment, Philosophers recognise the cosmos as the Large Infinite, and the atomic particles as the Small Infinite. The human brain reaches such a degree of complexity that it may be considered as a third infinite in the universe, a Complex Infinite. It follows that any force capable of moving such an infinite deserves a place among the forces of the universe. Physicists have recognized four forces, the gravitational, the electromagnetic, the weak, and the strong nuclear force. Forces are defined in four dimentions (reversible or not in time) and it is postulated that these forces are valid and applicable everywhere. Pleasure and displeasure, the affective axis of consciousness, can move the infinitely complex into action and no human brain can avoid the trend to maximize its pleasure. Therefore, we suggest, axiomatically, that the affective capability of consciousness operates in a way similar to the four forces of the Physics, i.e. influences the behavior of conscious agents in a way similar to the way the four forces influence masses and particles. However, since a mental phenomenon is dimensioneless we propose to call the affective capability of consciousness the fifth influence rather than the fifth force.Michel CabanacRemi A. CabanacHarold T. Hammel1999-07-14Z2011-03-11T08:53:40Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/106This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1061999-07-14ZThe Future of Research on Electroreception and Electrocommunication.Besides the rounding out of presently active areas, six are selected for predictions of marked advance. (1) Most discoveries will be in cellular componentry and molecular mechanisms for one or another class of receptors or central pathways. (2) More major taxa will be found with electroreceptive species, possibly birds, reptiles or invertebrates, representing independent evolutionary "inventions". (3) Electric organs with weak and episodic electric discharges will be found in new taxa; first, among siluriforms. (4) New examples are expected, like lampreys, where synchronized muscle action potentials add up to voltages in the range of weakly electric fish. Some of these will look like intermediates in the evolution of electric organs. (5) Ethological significance will be found for a variety of known physiological features. Exs.: uranoscopids, skates and weakly electric catfish with episodic electric discharges of unknown role; electroreceptive ability of some of the diverse group having Lorenzinian-type ampullae (besides elasmobranchs) including lampreys, chimaeras, lungfish, sturgeons, paddlefish, and salamanders; gymnotiform and mormyrid detection of capacitive component of impedance. (6) The organization of some higher functions in the cerebellum and forebrain will gradually come to light.Theodore H. Bullock2000-01-21Z2011-03-11T08:53:41Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/128This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1282000-01-21ZNeuroethology has pregnant agendasTwo of the many agendas of neuroethology are illustrated with examples. (1) What cells or assemblies of cells and what patterns of activity are sufficient to accomplish recognition of ethologically important stimulus configurations and initiation of behavioral action? The theme is the opportunities available in relatively neglected approaches to these objectives. As an example, the approach is developed of gentle microstimulation of loci in the brain where cells have been found responsive to complex, natural stimuli, under conditions conducive to the performance of tell-tale behavior. Other approaches include (a) microinjection of modulatory substances into regions with such complex recognition cells and (b) recording in efficient and informative ways, by using multiple electrode arrays, recording wideband activity, in behaving animals. (2) What brain and behavior differences has evolution produced between major taxa at distinct grades of complexity? Emphasized are our relative ignorance of basic aspects of connectivity, physiology and cognitive capacities in the major grades and the probability of surprises from new studies that employ comparison.T.H. Bullock1998-09-25Z2011-03-11T08:54:15Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/740This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/7401998-09-25ZOn the neural computation of utility: implications from studies of brain stimulation reward1. Like other vertebrates, from goldfish to humans, rats will work in order to deliver electrical stimulation to certain brain sites. Although the stimulation produces no evident physiological benefit, it is sought out avidly, as if it were a biologically significant resource. Thus, it has long been thought that the rewarding stimulation activates neural circuitry involved in the evaluation and selection of goals. 2. Computing the utility of goal objects involves a tightly integrated set of perceptual, cognitive, and motivational mechanisms. I argue that rewarding electrical brain stimulation engages only a subset of these mechanisms. If so, comparison of the ways in which the utility of electrical brain stimulation and natural reinforcers are computed may highlight operating principles and isolate components of the computational mechanisms. 3. In the view proposed here, information about goal objects and consummatory acts is processed, in parallel, in three different channels. 3.1. Perceptual processing indicates what and where the goal object is. 3.2. A stopwatch-like interval timer predicts when or how often the goal object will be available. 3.3. Under the influence of information about the current physiological state, an evaluative channel returns a subjective weighting of strength variables such as the concentration of a sucrose solution or the temperature of an air current. 3.4. The output of these channels is recorded in multidimensional records that include 3.4.1. information of perceptual origin about amount and kind (e.g., food, water,or salt) 3.4.2. information from the timer about rate and delay 3.4.3. a subjective assessment of intensity provided by the evaluative channel 4. This chapter addresses the relationships between brain stimulation reward (BSR), the perceptual, interval timing, and evaluative channels, and the variants of utility proposed by Kahneman and his coworkers on the basis of their studies of evaluation and choice in human subjects. 4.1. It is argued that the output of the evaluative channel can be manifested in experience as pleasure or suffering but that awareness is not necessary in order for this signal to influence action. 5. The neural signal injected by rewarding electrical stimulation is portrayed as providing meaningful information about rate, delay and intensity but not about amount or kind. This proposal is used to account for 5.1. competition and summation between BSR and natural rewards 5.2. differential effects of physiological feedback on the utility of BSR and natural rewards 5.3. matching of behavioral allocation to the relative rates and intensities of BSR 5.4. differences in the elasticity of demand for BSR and food in a closed economy 5.5. the high substitutability of BSR for food and water in an open economy 6. The powerful aftereffect of BSR that potentiates efforts to obtain additional stimulation is related to expectancy.Peter Shizgal2000-02-09Z2011-03-11T08:53:41Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/139This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1392000-02-09ZThe theory of the organism-environment system: III. Role of efferent influences on receptors in the formation of knowledge.The present article is an attempt to give - in the frame of the theory of the organism-environment system (Jarvilehto 1998a) - a new interpretation to the role of efferent influences on receptor activity and to the functions of senses in the formation of knowledge. It is argued, on the basis of experimental evidence and theoretical considerations, that the senses are not transmitters of environmental information, but they create a direct connection between the organism and the environment, which makes the development of a dynamic living system, the organism-environment system, possible. In this connection process the efferent influences on receptor activity are of particular significance, because with their help the receptors may be adjusted in relation to the parts of the environment which are most important in the achievement of behavioral results. Perception is the process of joining of new parts of the environment to the organism-environment system; thus, the formation of knowledge by perception is based on reorganization (widening and differentiation) of the organism-environment system, and not on transmission of information from the environment. With the help of the efferent influences on receptors each organism creates its own peculiar world which is simultaneously subjective and objective. The present considerations have far reaching influences as well on experimental work in neurophysiology and psychology of perception as on philosophical considerations of knowledge formation.Timo Jarvilehto1999-01-10Z2011-03-11T08:54:17Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/785This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/7851999-01-10ZResponse to BullerBuller recently posted a critique of evolutionary psychology (reproduced below). Although I disagree with many of his assertions, this is the most credible attempt to critique evolutionary psychology that I have encountered. Bullers arguments regarding improper motivational inferences from evolutionary psychological explanations are largely correct--such inferences are indeed erroneous. Furthermore, the mistakes he identifies have been made by some prominent evolutionists including, apparently, W. D. Hamilton (Symons, personal communication). However, most evolutionary psychologists are not saying what he claims they are saying. Buller wishes to find evolutionary psychology trapped in Freudian quicksand so that he can rescue it. Instead, it is he who must hoist himself from the bog using the theoretical rigging created by evolutionary psychologists over the last two decades, including, most prominently, Don Symons, a primary target of his essay.Edward H. Hagen1998-10-13Z2011-03-11T08:53:39Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/65This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/651998-10-13ZThe genetic dissection of brain-behaviour relationships: An introduction to neurobehavioural geneticsNo abstract availableWim E. Crusio1999-07-23Z2011-03-11T08:53:40Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/112This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1121999-07-23ZSensory processing in the pallium of a mormyrid fishTo investigate the functional organization of higher brain levels in fish we test the hypothesis that the dorsal gray mantle of the telencephalon of a mormyrid fish has discrete receptive areas for several sensory modalities. Multiunit and compound field potentials evoked by auditory, visual, electrosensory and water displacement stimuli in this weakly electric fish are recorded with multiple semimicroelectrodes placed in many tracks and depths in or near area dorsalis telencephali, pars medialis (Dm). Most responsive loci are unimodal; some respond to two or more modalities. Each modality dominates a circumscribed area, chiefly separate. Auditory and electrical responses cluster in the dorsal 500 m of rostral and caudolateral Dm, respectively. Two auditory subdivisions underline specialization of this sense. Mechanoreception occupies a caudal area overlapping electroreception but centered 500 m deeper. Visual responses scatter widely through ventral areas. Auditory, electrosensory and mechanosensory responses are dominated by a negative wave within the first 50 ms, followed by 15-55 Hz oscillations and a slow positive wave with multiunit spikes lasting from 200-500 ms. Stimuli can induce shifts in coherence of certain frequency bands between neighboring loci. Every electric organ discharge command is followed within 3 ms by a large, mainly negative but generally biphasic, widespread corollary discharge. At certain loci large, slow ("delta F") waves usually precede transient shifts in electric organ discharge rate. Sensory evoked potentials in this fish pallium may be more segregated than in elasmobranchs and anurans and have some surprising similarities to those in mammals. Key Words: cerebral cortex; corollary discharge; induced rhythms; evoked potential; gamma band; lateral line; mormyrid.James C. PrechtlGerhard von der EmdeJakob WolfartSaçit KaramürselGeorge N. AkoevYuri N. AndrianovTheodore H. Bullock1998-10-19Z2011-03-11T08:53:51Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/362This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/3621998-10-19ZTHE THEORY OF THE ORGANISM-ENVIRONMENT SYSTEM: I. DESCRIPTION OF THE THEORYThe theory of the organism-environment system starts with the proposition that in any functional sense organism and environment are inseparable and form only one unitary system. The organism cannot exist without the environment and the environment has descriptive properties only if it is connected to the organism. Although for practical purposes we do separate organism and environment, this common-sense starting point leads in psychological theory to problems which cannot be solved. Therefore, separation of organism and environment cannot be the basis of any scientific explanation of human behavior. The theory leads to a reinterpretation of basic problems in many fields of inquiry and makes possible the definition of mental phenomena without their reduction either to neural or biological activity or to separate mental functions. According to the theory, mental activity is activity of the whole organism-environment system, and the traditional psychological concepts describe only different aspects of organisation of this system. Therefore, mental activity cannot be separated from the nervous system, but the nervous system is only one part of the organismenvironment system. This problem will be dealt with in detail in the second part of the article.Timo Jarvilehto1998-03-24Z2011-03-11T08:53:42Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/164This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1641998-03-24ZCo-Evolution of Language-Size and the Critical PeriodSpecies evolve, very slowly, through selection of genes which give rise to phenotypes well adapted to their environments. The cultures, including the languages, of human communities evolve, much faster, maintaining at least a minimum level of adaptedness to the external, non- cultural environment. In the phylogenetic evolution of species, the transmission of information across generations is via copying of molecules, and innovation is by mutation and sexual recombination. In cultural evolution, the transmission of information across generations is by learning, and innovation is by sporadic invention or borrowing from other cultures. This much is the foundational bedrock of evolutionary theory. But things get more complicated; there can be gene-culture co-evolution. Prior to the rise of culture, the physical environment is the only force shaping biological evolution from outside the organism, and cultures themselves are clearly constrained by the evolved biological characteristics of their members. But cultures become part of the external environment, and influence the course of biological evolution. For example, altruistic cultures with developed medical knowledge reduce the cost to the individual of carrying genes disposing to certain pathologies (such as diabetes); and such genes become more widespread in the populations maintaining such cultures. Assortative mating can affect biological evolution, and particular cultures may influence the factors which are sorted for in mating. (For a careful discussion of the effects of cultural evolution on natural selection, see Cavalli-Sforza and Bodmer, 1971:774- 804). This paper examines mechanisms involved in the co-evolution of a biological trait, the critical period for language acquisition, and a property of human cultures, the size of their languages. A gene/culture interaction will be shown that can be described as a kind of symbiosis, but perhaps more aptly as an `arms race'. In this introduction, we will sketch the basic mechanics of the interaction in very broad terms; the rest of the paper will explain and justify the details. The implications of our model for second language acquisition are given toward the end of the paper.James R HurfordSimon Kirby1998-11-14Z2011-03-11T08:53:39Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/69This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/691998-11-14ZParticipation of Placental Opioid-Enhancing Factor in opioid-modulated events at parturitionParturition in mammals occurs in the context of sensory, neurochemical, and endocrinological factors that are orchestrated and timed so that maternal behavior and the object of the behavior, the neonate, "emerge" almost simultaneously. Among the factors found to be important for the suppression of pain during delivery as well as for the emergence of caretaking behavior toward the young, are changes in endogenous opioid activity in the central nervous system. In most mammalian species, these changes are likely initiated by sensory events arising in the distended reproductive tract and abdominal musculature, and are modified by the parturitional endocrine milieu and substances ingested in amniotic fluid and placenta (e.g., Placental Opioid-Enhancing Factor, or POEF). In addition, ingestion of afterbirth material may decrease the probability that the vaginal/cervical sensory stimulation arising during delivery will trigger pseudopregnancy, a condition that decreases, if not eliminates, the likelihood of fertilization in the postpartum estrus. The research described herein primarily focuses on elucidating the manner in which POEF modulates opioid antinociception, and otherwise participates in opioid-mediated parturitional events.M. B. Kristal1998-06-22Z2011-03-11T08:54:12Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/694This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6941998-06-22ZThe ``Semantics'' of Evolution: Trajectories and Trade-offs in Design Space and Niche SpaceThis paper attempts to characterise a unifying overview of the practice of software engineers, AI designers, developers of evolutionary forms of computation, designers of adaptive systems, etc. The topic overlaps with theoretical biology, developmental psychology and perhaps some aspects of social theory. Just as much of theoretical computer science follows the lead of engineering intuitions and tries to formalise them, there are also some important emerging high level cross disciplinary ideas about natural information processing architectures and evolutionary mechanisms and that can perhaps be unified and formalised in the future. There is some speculation about the evolution of human cognitive architectures and consciousness.Aaron Sloman1998-07-09Z2011-03-11T08:54:13Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/716This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/7161998-07-09ZThe ``Semantics'' of Evolution: Trajectories and Trade-offs in Design Space and Niche Space.This paper attempts to characterise a unifying overview of the practice of software engineers, AI designers, developers of evolutionary forms of computation, designers of adaptive systems, etc. The topic overlaps with theoretical biology, developmental psychology and perhaps some aspects of social theory. Just as much of theoretical computer science follows the lead of engineering intuitions and tries to formalise them, there are also some important emerging high level cross disciplinary ideas about natural information processing architectures and evolutionary mechanisms and that can perhaps be unified and formalised in the future. There is some speculation about the evolution of human cognitive architectures and consciousness.A. Sloman2003-09-04Z2011-03-11T08:55:20Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/3133This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/31332003-09-04ZTOWARD THE ANTHEAP, THE DRUGGED SOCIETY OR?Though evolution has no purpose, it may be legitimate to speculate about the direction and plausible consequences of technological and other developments and trends in social organization. Human societies are in implicit competition with each other; each society aims to survive, to prosper, to achieve stability and order for the members of the national group. Each society does this in the environment created by the existence of other similar societies. Because human individuals are conscious not only of their own selves but also of the selves of others, because the shared communication through language of members of the group makes possible the moulding of each individual's behaviour and attitudes and the transmission of structures of ideas about the society of which they form part, what is rejected as implausible for thoughtless and language-less creatures has to be considered for human communities: the reality of a process of group selection. Due to technological progress, radical changes affecting the most basic evolutionary forces are taking place: the continual refinement of contraceptive techniques, the use of chemicals to manipulate brains and behaviour, the ability directly to manipulate genetic structures. In the case of other species, particularly the social insects, evolution has produced very specific group structures depending on specialised systems of communication (biochemical and behavioural) and on changes in the genetic organisation of the group. Where may the new developments in human society lead? Which new or changed societal structures will achieve fitness both at the group level and in terms of the relative fitness of the succession of individuals composing the group? We need a sociobiology of human societies to complement the sociobiology of the human individual. Robin Allott1998-06-22Z2011-03-11T08:53:38Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/49This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/491998-06-22ZThe Phase-Locking of Auditory Gamma Band Responses in Humans is Sensitive to Task ProcessingThe present study assessed the effects of stimulus task-relevance and certainty on early and late 40 Hz (gamma band) responses (GBRs) in humans. Auditory GBRs of nine young adults were recorded in passive listening, simple reaction task, and choice-reaction task (target probability = 0.5) conditions and evaluated in three consecutive post-stimulus periods (0-120, 120-250, 250-400 ms) corresponding to the serial occurrence of gamma oscillation bursts. Amplitude and phase-locking of GBRs within these bursts were analyzed separately at the level of single sweeps by applying a method that allows the independent quantification of between-sweep synchronization. Major results showed that the effects of stimulus certainty and task-relevance on single-response amplitude were specific and different from the effects on the phase-locking. Also, the functional involvement of the early and late auditory gamma responses was distinct: early auditory gamma band responses appear primarily associated with focused attention, while the late gamma responses vary with motor-task relevance. It is concluded that along with power measures, the stability of phase-locking of gamma band responses should be regarded as a functionally meaningful parameter that varies with processing demands and recording site.Juliana YordanovaVasil KolevDemiralp Tamer2000-01-21Z2011-03-11T08:53:41Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/127This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1272000-01-21ZNeuroethology of ZooplanktonWhereas the neural analysis of behavior of planktonic species and stages has been relatively neglected, we have many clues that it is going to be rich, diverse and interesting. The aims of this contribution are to defend that statement, with selected examples, and to suggest that neural analysis, particularly sensory physiology, has great explanatory power of ecologically significant behavior. I have to begin with a personal note about plankton, recalling the lasting impression made long ago by a film on invertebrates in the Arctic where scyphomedusan jellyfish were pulsing at a rate well within the range familiar in summer temperate waters, warmer by 20º C. I must have been influenced by this observation and my own experiences in a study of the neural basis of fluctuations in the rate of pulsation of medusae (Bullock 1943), some of which was made in December 1941 in Pensacola, where my wife and I collected Rhopilema cruising at random in the Sound, stopped now and then by Army bridge guards concerned about saboteurs in that first fortnight after Pearl Harbor. At any rate, by the early fifties about half of my laboratory group was devoted to the physiological ecology of temperature acclimation in marine invertebrates. That field, which I left in the early sixties, still offers a challenge in the ecologically fundamental question of why some species are able to acclimate much more than others. The proposal I made in 1955, that different rates in the same organism acclimate to different degrees, resulting in greater disharmony in some species than others, may still be viable and most likely applies to rate processes in sensory and central nervous functions, among others. Medusae are large animals, relatively, although generally treated as planktonic. The first reaction from most workers when neurophysiology of plankton is mentioned concerns their small size or gelatinous nature. The first message I bring is not new but also not widely appreciated.T.H. Bullock2001-12-07Z2011-03-11T08:54:51Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1965This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/19652001-12-07ZRelative importance of initial individual differences, victory and defeat experiences, and assessment accuracy during hierarchy formation: A simulation studyThis simulation study explores some conditions leading to transitivity within dominance orders. Combinations of three parameters were varied to study their consequences upon hierarchy formation and upon the degree of linearity of resultant structures. The factors studied were (i) the importance of initial Resource Holding Potentials (RHPs) , (ii) changes brought in RHPs by successive victories and defeats, and (iii) accuracy of RHP assessment made by opponents. Results show that initial differences in RHP always lead to perfectly transitive chains whose rank order reflects the importance of initial differences. Even when simulated animals make important errors while assessing each other during round robin tournaments, emerging dominance structures are perfectly linear and ranks obtained in the structure are highly correlated with initial values in RHPs. Moreover, accumulated experiences of victory and/or defeat alone always lead to perfectly linear hierarchies. Their combination with initial individual differences in RHP led to the same conclusion. Even when assessment was far from being perfect, not only perfect chains were formed but initial values in RHPs significantly influenced rank order when the contribution of victory and defeat to RHP was relatively unimportant. The higher the importance of victory and defeat to RHP as compared to that of initial RHP values, the lower was the correlation between initial RHP values and the ranks order reached by individuals in the resultant hierarchies. In general also, the lower the variation within initial RHPs, the lower was the correlation between initial RHPs and ranks in the hierarchy. At a given level of initial RHP dispersion, increasing the contribution of victory and defeat to RHP diminished the correlation between initial RHP values and obtained ranks. In addition, inaccurate assessment reduced the overall correlation, especially when dispersion of initial RHP values was low and the contribution of victory and defeat was high. These results shed some light on the controversy about the respective roles of initial individual attributes and that of patterns of resolution in the formation of animal hierarchies. We present the emergence of social order within closed systems as those simulated here as a case of self-organization.
Jacques P. Beaugrand2001-12-01Z2011-03-11T08:54:50Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1944This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/19442001-12-01ZResolution of agonistic conflicts in dyads of acquainted green swordtails (Xiphophorus helleri, Pisces, Poeciliidae): A game with perfect informationConflict resolution of familiar opponents was compared to that of unfamiliar ones in Xiphophorus helleri males. Under the Familiar condition, the two males which met had settled a contest against each other in a previously staged encounter in another aquarium. Thus one opponent was the previously dominant pair member, the other its previously subordinate. Under the Unfamiliar condition, two males met which were not acquainted with each other but had independently undergone previous experience of victory or defeat. We tested the hypothesis that familiar pairs would conform to some behaviourial predictions of an «asymmetrical game with perfect information». As for unfamiliar pairs, being uninformed of asymmetries at a contest onset, they would have to acquire information on these during the course of interaction («asymmetrical game with assessment») or alternatively would have to persist for a certain time or cost («war of attrition»). All expectations derived from an «asymmetrical game with perfect information» applied to familiar pairs but not to unfamiliar ones. In familiar pairs, all prior roles were reinstated without any escalation. Though prior winners predominantly defeated prior losers under both conditions of cognizance, this difference was more extreme in familiar dyads than in unfamiliar ones. This suggests that the respective roles were less clearly identified in the latter. The costs of conflicts both in terms of aggressive behaviours used and in time were also higher in unfamiliar pairs than in familiar ones. Unacquainted individuals required a longer period to assess each other. In addition, they had to rely on more pugnacious behaviour to settle disputes in comparison to acquainted pairs. As expected also, familiar pairs being already cognizant of initial respective roles were more characterized in terms of the behavioural patterns typical of each of these roles. Differences between ultimate winners and losers were more clear in acquainted pairs, and appeared earlier during conflict. It was also possible earlier during contest to discriminate and to predict ultimate winners from losers of acquainted pairs using behavioural interactions. In most unacquainted pairs, ultimate winners could be forecasted using multivariate discriminant analyses, mainly by their offering «resistance» to future losers. A «war of attrition» did not fit to unacquainted pairs.Jacques P. Beaugrand2008-04-07T21:07:33Z2011-03-11T08:57:05Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/5990This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/59902008-04-07T21:07:33ZThe Statistical Analysis of Behavioural Latency MeasuresThis article concerns two important problems with the statistical analysis of behavioural latency measures: they typically have severely skewed distributions, and are often censored (truncated). These problems, however, were not generally recognised by animal behaviour researchers: most people either allot an arbitrary score to all censored values or simply ignore them. Yet, such treatments could easily lead to dubious conclusions because of reduction of power and spuriously significant p-values. Thus, one should always use specially devised survival analysis methods whenever the study involves the measurement of censored latencies. The present article provides a short catalogue of some appropriate references, concentrating on the methods which are not “standard” for the common biomedical applications of survival analysis, but may be crucial in many behavioural studies. The statistical analysis of uncensored latencies is also discussed, with a particular attention to the analysis of variance.Dr. Sergey Budaevs.budaev@sussex.ac.uk1998-08-12Z2011-03-11T08:53:38Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/58This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/581998-08-12ZOn the neural computation of utilityThe rewarding effect produced by electrical stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus can compete and summate with gustatory rewards. However, physiological manipulations, such as sodium depletion and the accumulation of an energy-rich solution in the gut, can alter the rewarding impact of the gustatory stimuli without producing substantial changes in the rewarding effect of the electrical stimulation. On the basis of their competition and summation, it is argued that the artificial and natural rewards are evaluated in a common currency, represented in an aggregate firing-rate code. Such a code would make it possible for the synchronous, spatially contiguous pattern of neural firing induced by the electrode to simulate a signal normally produced by asynchronous, spatially distributed activity. It is suggested that a unidimensional code of this sort is employed to represent the utility of a goal object. In order for physiological feedback to alter the utility of one natural reward, such as sucrose, without changing the utility of a second natural reward, such as a salt solution, the physiological feedback signals must enter into the computation of utility at a stage of processing in which the representations of the two natural rewards are distinct. However, orderly choice between such rewards implies that their utilities are expressed ultimately in a common neural currency. That physiological feedback alters the rewarding effects of the gustatory stimuli suggests that the physiological feedback signals modulate the value of such natural stimuli at a stage of processing prior to their translation into a common currency. In contrast, physiological feedback would fail to alter the rewarding effect of the electrical stimulation if the electrically evoked signal is injected at a later stage processing, a stage in which different rewards are represented in a common currency. In this view, the signal injected by the electrical stimulation mimics the utility of a natural stimulus but not its sensory quality.Peter ShizgalKent Conover2009-01-05T23:58:11Z2011-03-11T08:57:17Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6311This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/63112009-01-05T23:58:11ZOpioid stimulation in the ventral tegmental area facilitates the onset of maternal behavior in ratsThis research investigated the effect of an increase or decrease in opioid activity in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) on the onset of maternal behavior in rats. In Experiment 1, the latency to show maternal behavior toward foster rat pups (sensitization latency) was determined in maternally naive female rats given either nothing or a unilateral intra-VTA injection of morphine sulfate (MS) (0.0, 0.01, 0.03, 0.1 or 0.3 µg), on the first three days of a 10-day period of constant exposure to pups. Rats treated with 0.03 µg MS had significantly shorter sensitization latencies than did rats treated with 0.0 µg MS, 0.01 µg MS, or receiving no treatment (higher doses of morphine produced intermediate results). The facilitating effect of intra-VTA MS on the onset of maternal behavior was blocked by pretreatment with naltrexone hydrochloride and was found to have a specific site of action in the VTA (MS injections dorsal to the VTA were ineffective). In Experiment 2, sensitization latencies were determined in periparturitional rats given a bilateral intra-VTA injection of either the opioid antagonist naltrexone methobromide (quaternary naltrexone), its vehicle, a sham injection, or left untreated 40 min after delivery of the last pup. The mothers' own pups were removed at delivery; mothers were nonmaternal at the time of testing. Quaternary naltrexone treatment produced significantly slower sensitization to foster pups than did control conditions. Total activity and pup-directed activity did not differ significantly with treatment. The results demonstrate that increased opioid activity in the VTA facilitates the onset of maternal behavior in inexperienced nonpregnant female rats, and decreased opioid activity in the VTA disrupts the rapid onset of maternal behavior at parturition.Alexis C. ThompsonMark B. Kristal2000-01-24Z2011-03-11T08:53:41Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/130This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1302000-01-24ZTheodore Holmes BullockThey tell me I was born on a sunny Sunday in May in Nanking, China, in 1915. I was the second of four children of Presbyterian missionary parents, Amasa Archibald Bullock and Ruth Beckwith, who had come to China in 1909, honeymooning on the way for six months in Europe and India. Several years before, father had answered a call for western teachers, published by the Empress; he spent a contract year in Chengtu, in western Szechuan, teaching chemistry, his major subject at U.C. Berkeley. He fell in love with the people, their eagerness to listen, and their respect for learning. Seeing a niche that called him, in the scattered experiments with western style education, especially teacher training, he returned to the states to take a master's degree in education at Chicago and then advanced work in psychology with Thorndike at Columbia. His college roommate's sister was preparing to be a missionary in Hartford Theological Seminary and they had corresponded but not met before he came to visit and in four days secured her assent to return with him and spend a life in China. He joined the faculty of the University of Nanking to start its normal school and, among other activities, its program in agriculture. The still extant guest book of our home shows the signatures of Sun Yat Sun, then President of China, and several members of his cabinet.T.H. Bullock1998-11-14Z2011-03-11T08:53:39Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/68This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/681998-11-14ZIngestion of amniotic fluid by postpartum rats enhances morphine antinociception without liability to maternal behaviorIngestion of amniotic fluid or placenta by rats has been shown to enhance opioid-mediated analgesia induced by morphine injection, foot shock, vaginal/cervical stimulation, or late pregnancy. The present study was designed to determine whether this mechanism might be a means of providing greater analgesia during the periparturitional period without contributing to the disruption of maternal behavior (measured primarily as retrieval) that can result from excessive opioid levels. Postpartum primiparous rats, injected with either 2 or 3 mg/kg morphine sulfate or vehicle and given orogastric infusions of either amniotic fluid or saline, were tested for maternal behavior. Pain threshold (determined by tail-flick latency test) in rats injected with 2 mg/kg morphine and infused with amniotic fluid was elevated to a level that did not differ significantly from that of a separate group of rats injected with 3 mg/kg morphine and infused with saline. This enhanced analgesia was not, however, accompanied by the significant disruption of maternal behavior found among the rats receiving the higher morphine dose.J. A. TarapackiM. PiechM. B. Kristal2006-07-16Z2011-03-11T08:56:29Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/4972This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/49722006-07-16ZMOTOR THEORY OF LANGUAGE IN RELATION TO SYNTAXThe semantic, syntactic and phonetic structures of language develop from a complex preexisting system, more specifically the preexisting motor system. Language thus emerged as an external physical expression of the neural basis for movement control. Features which made a wide range of skilled action possible - a set of elementary motor subprograms together with rules expressed in neural organization for combining subprograms into extended action sequences - were transferred to form a parallel set of programs and rules for speech and language. The already established integration of motor control with perceptual organization led directly to a systematic relation between language and the externally perceived world.Robin Allott2003-10-14Z2011-03-11T08:55:22Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/3214This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/32142003-10-14ZThe emergence of intelligenceLanguage, foresight, musical skills and other hallmarks of intelligence are connected through an underlying facility that enhances rapid movements. Creativity may result from a Darwinian contest within the brain. William H Calvin1999-08-30Z2011-03-11T08:53:40Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/116This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1161999-08-30ZDynamic properties of human visual evoked and omitted stimulus potentialsVisual evoked potentials (VEP) and omitted stimulus potentials (OSPs) are reexamined in scalp recordings from 19 healthy subjects. The principal finding is a distinction in form, latency and properties between OSPs in the conditioning stimulus range <2 Hz, used in previous human studies, and those in the range >5 Hz, used in previous studies of selected elasmobranchs, teleost fish and reptiles. We cannot find OSPs between 2 and 5 Hz. The high frequency ("fast,"ca. 6 to >40 Hz) and the low frequency ("slow," ca. 0.3-1.6 Hz) OSPs have different forms and latencies but both tend to a constant latency after the omission, over their frequency ranges, suggesting a temporally specific expectation. Fast OSPs (typically N120, P170-230 and later components including induced rhythms at 10-13 Hz) resemble an OFF effect, and require fixation but not attention to the ISI. Slow OSPs (usually P500-1100) require attention but not fixation; they are multimodal, unlike the fast OSPs. Based on cited data from fish and reptiles, fast OSPs probably arise in the retina, to be modified at each subsequent level. We have no evidence on the origin of slow OSPs. In both ranges not only large, diffuse flashes; but weak, virtual point sources (colored LEDs) meters away suffice. They are difficult to habituate. Both require very short conditioning periods. The transition from the single, rested VEP to the steady state response (SSR) at different frequencies is described. Around 8-15 Hz in most subjects larger SSRs suggest a resonance. Alternation between large and small SSR amplitude occurs around 4 Hz in some subjects and conditions of attention, and correlates with an illusion that the flash frequency is two Hz or is irregular. Jitter of the conditioning intervals greatly reduces the slow OSP but only slightly affects the fast OSP. Differences between scalp loci are described.T.H. BullockSacit KaramürselJerzy Z. AchimowiczMcClune Michael C.Baar-Eroglu Canan1998-09-06Z2011-03-11T08:53:43Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/173This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1731998-09-06ZHominids, coalitions, and weapons; not vehiclesPace Wilson & Sober, group selection has not won over biology. However, the combination of fission/fusion organization (favoring coalition formation and relatively complex tactical behavior) with weapons (which in conjunction with group and/or ambush attacks greatly reduce the costs to actors of lethal inter- and intragroup aggression) create circumstances which may well have favored group selection in hominid evolution.Jim Moore1998-02-05Z2011-03-11T08:54:05Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/591This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/5911998-02-05ZMathematical Principles of Reinforcement: Based on the Correlation of Behaviour with Incentives in Short-Term MemoryEffective conditioning requires a correlation between the experimenter's definition of a response and an organism's, but an animal's perception of its behavior differs from ours. Various definitions of the response are explored experimentally using the slopes of learning curves to infer which comes closest to the organism's definition. The resulting exponentially weighted moving average provides a model of memory which grounds a quantitative theory of reinforcement in which incentives excite behavior and focus the excitement on the responses present in memory at the same time. The correlation between the organism's memory and the behavior measured by the experimenter is given by coupling coefficients derived for various schedules of reinforcement. For simple schedules these coefficients can be concatenated to predict the effects of complex schedules and can be inserted into a generic model of arousal and temporal constraint to predict response rates under any scheduling arrangement. According to the theory, the decay of memory is response-indexed rather than time-indexed. Incentives displace memory for the responses that occur before them and may truncate the representation of the response that brings them about. This contiguity-weighted correlation model bridges opposing views of the reinforcement process and can be extended in a straightforward way to the classical conditioning of stimuli. Placing the short-term memory of behavior in so central a role provides a behavioral account of a key cognitive process.Peter Killeen2005-02-16Z2011-03-11T08:55:51Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/4094This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/40942005-02-16ZWeber's Law Modeled by the Mathematical Description of a Beam BalanceA beam balance is analyzed as a model that describes Weber's law. The mathematical derivations of the torques on a beam balance produce a description that is strictly compatible with that law. The natural relationship of the beam balance model to Weber's law provides for an intuitive understanding of the relationship of Weber's law to sensory and receptor systems. Additionally, this model may offer a simple way to compute perturbations that result from unequal effects on coupled steady state systems. A practical outgrowth from this work is that a relatively simple mathematical description models sensory phenomena and may aid in the understanding of sensory and receptor systems.Richard G. Lanzara2005-12-30Z2011-03-11T08:56:14Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/4664This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/46642005-12-30ZA theory of general impairment of gene-expression manifesting as autismThis is the first part of a combined theory of autism and general intelligence (IQ). It is argued that general impairment of gene-expression, produced by a diversity of environmental and genetic causes, is in moderation advantageous in suppressing genetic idiosyncracies. But in excess it will produce a condition involving abnormalities of appearance and behaviour, with a particular relationship to high parental social class and IQ and with particular sex distributions. Character-istics and findings relating to schizophrenia, manic-depressive illness, or neuroses indicate that they cannot reasonably be considered manifestations of excessive general impairment of gene-expression. By contrast, characteristics and findings relating to autism accord very well with this conception. The suggestion is that autism involves primary abnormalities in diverse parts of the brain and in diverse psychological functions. Random binding to DNA may be a substantial mechanism of general impairment of gene-expression. [i.e., would definitely cause impairment, and hence cause autism, but only may be substantially involved (see para. 15)].R.P. Clarke2006-09-01Z2011-03-11T08:56:34Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/5069This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/50692006-09-01ZA theory of general impairment of gene-expression manifesting as autismThis is the first part of a combined theory of autism and general intelligence (IQ). It is argued that general impairment of gene-expression, produced by a diversity of environmental and genetic causes, is in moderation advantageous in suppressing genetic idiosyncracies. But in excess it will produce a condition involving abnormalities of appearance and behaviour, with a particular relationship to high parental social class and IQ and with particular sex distributions. Character-istics and findings relating to schizophrenia, manic-depressive illness, or neuroses indicate that they cannot reasonably be considered manifestations of excessive general impairment of gene-expression. By contrast, characteristics and findings relating to autism accord very well with this conception. The suggestion is that autism involves primary abnormalities in diverse parts of the brain and in diverse psychological functions. Random binding to DNA may be a substantial mechanism of general impairment of gene-expression. [i.e., would definitely cause impairment, and hence cause autism, but only may be substantially involved (see para. 15)].R.P. Clarke2006-10-05Z2011-03-11T08:56:38Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/5207This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/52072006-10-05ZA theory of general impairment of gene-expression manifesting as autismThis is the first part of a combined theory of autism and general intelligence (IQ). It is argued that general impairment of gene-expression, produced by a diversity of environmental and genetic causes, is in moderation advantageous in suppressing genetic idiosyncracies. But in excess it will produce a condition involving abnormalities of appearance and behaviour, with a particular relationship to high parental social class and IQ and with particular sex distributions. Characteristics and findings relating to schizophrenia, manic-depressive illness, or neuroses indicate that they cannot reasonably be considered manifestations of excessive general impairment of gene-expression. By contrast, characteristics and findings relating to autism accord very well with this conception. The suggestion is that autism involves primary abnormalities in diverse parts of the brain and in diverse psychological functions. Random binding to DNA may be a substantial mechanism of general impairment of gene-expression. [i.e., would definitely cause impairment, and hence cause autism, but only may be substantially involved (see para. 15)].R.P. Clarke1999-10-21Z2011-03-11T08:53:41Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/121This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1211999-10-21ZInterval-specific event related potentials to omitted stimuli in the electrosensory pathway in elasmobranchs: an elementary form of expectationMultiunit activity and slow local field potentials show Omitted Stimulus Potentials (OSP) in the electrosensory system in rays after a missing stimulus in a 3 to >20 Hz train of microvolt pulses in the bath, at levels from the primary medullary nucleus to the telencephalon. A precursor can be seen in the afferent nerve. The OSP follows the due-time of the first omitted stimulus with a, usually, constant main peak latency, 30-50 ms in medullary dorsal nucleus, 60-100 ms in midbrain, 120-190 ms in telencephalon - as though the brain has an expectation specific to the interstimulus interval (ISI). The latency, form and components vary between nerve, medulla, midbrain and forebrain. They include early fast waves, later slow waves and labile induced rhythms. Responsive loci are quite local. Besides ISI, which exerts a strong influence, many factors affect the OSP slightly, including train parameters and intensity, duration and polarity of the single stimulus pulses. Jitter of ISI does not reduce the OSP substantially, if the last interval equals the mean; the mean and the last interval have the main effect on both amplitude and latency. Taken together with our recent findings on visually evoked OSPs, we conclude that OSPs do not require higher brain levels or even the complexities of the retina. They appear in primary sensory nuclei and are then modified at midbrain and telencephalic levels. We propose that the initial processes are partly in the receptors and partly in the first central relay including a rapid increase of some depressing influence contributed by each stimulus. This influence comes to an ISI-specific equilibrium with the excitatory influence; withholding a stimulus and hence its depressing influence causes a rebound excitation with a specific latency.T.H. BullockSacit KaramürselMichael H. Hofmann2001-06-26Z2011-03-11T08:54:44Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1654This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/16542001-06-26ZApproach to a model of the aging phenomenonNumerous physiological theories of aging have been proposed; most of them approach the problem in an essentially local manner, stressing the role of a particular factor intervening at a certain level and the resulting pathological consequences. But they do not allow for a combination of the different phenomena observed in the aging process.
This paper proposes a more unified and global approach to this process. It is presented in the frame of a mathematical model for complex systems with a hierarchy of internal regulation centers (CR), developed by the authors in preceding papers; the dynamics of such a system depends on a dialectics between these CRs due to their different complexity level and different timescales.
Aging for an organism is described as a consequence of this dialectics, that progressively triggers a "cascade of de/resynchronizations" between the CRs, resulting from the reduction in stability of complex components (increase in turnover or acceleration of degradation) and the increase in transmission delays for functioning and repair. This temporal imbalance comes from the interplay between external stochastic disturbances and more or less predetermined sub-systems with limited capacities for repair.
Jean-Paul VanbremeerschAndrée C. Ehresmann1998-09-29Z2011-03-11T08:53:43Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/178This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1781998-09-29ZIs the monkeys' world scientifically impenetrable?Cheney & Seyfarth (C&S) argue for a hybrid approach which 'place (empiricistic findings) tentatively within the framework of a more mentalistic approach'(p.9). The book is an important contribution to clarify the value and limits of the intentional approach in interpreting monkey behaviour, particularly C&S's excellent field work with vervets. But, unintentionally, it also demonstrates that cognitive science is more a perspective than a scientific discipline. In order to illustrate this, I shall consider the following topics: evolution of intelligence, concept formation, philosophy of scienceWinand Dittrich1998-11-15Z2011-03-11T08:53:43Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/180This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1801998-11-15ZEnhancement of Opioid-Mediated Analgesia: A Solution to the Enigma of PlacentophagiaTwo major consequences of placentophagia, the ingestion of afterbirth materials that occurs usually during mammalian parturition, have been uncovered in the past several years. The first is that increased contact, associated with ingesting placenta and amniotic fluid from the surface of the young, causes an accelerated onset of maternal behavior toward those young. The second, which probably has importance for a broader range of mammalian taxa than the first, is that ingestion of afterbirth materials produces enhancement of ongoing opioid-mediated analgesia. The active substance in placenta and amniotic fluid has been named POEF, for Placental Opioid-Enhancing Factor. Recent research on both consequences is summarized, with particular attention to POEF, the generalizability of the enhancement phenomenon, its locus and mode of action, and its significance for new approaches to the management of pain and addiction.Mark B. Kristal1998-11-29Z2011-03-11T08:54:16Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/759This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/7591998-11-29ZMaintenance and decline of the suppression of infanticide in mother ratsVirgin female rats kill foster neonates, whereas newly parturient mothers do not. We demonstrated previously that this tendency to kill is suppressed shortly prepartum, presumably by physiological factors. In this study, we show that a) suppression of infanticide is maintained through the first two weeks of lactation; b) the mothers that do not kill foster neonates are not necessarily the same mothers that respond maternally toward older foster pups, and those that kill neonates are not necessarily the same ones that are nonmaternal to older pups, the two behaviors being somewhat independent; and c) some virgins can be induced to be noninfanticides by prolonged exposure to young, but only under special testing conditions not required by actual mothers, which are nonkillers of foster young. This suggests that the maintenance of the suppression of infanticide in mothers owes something so the special circumstances of lactation other than continued exposure to young.L. C. PetersT. C. SistM. B. Kristal2001-12-07Z2011-03-11T08:54:51Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1966This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/19662001-12-07ZOutcome of dyadic conflict in male green swordtail fish, Xiphophorus helleri: effects of body size and prior dominanceThe relative contribution of prior experience and of size asymmetries to the determination of dyadic dominance between unfamiliar individuals was examined using pairs of green swordtail fish, Xiphophorus helleri. Three experiments were conducted to assess the extent to which superiority in size could override potential handicaps resulting from prior experience. These results indicated that prior experience accounted for dyadic dominance when the size advantage of a previously subordinate over a previously dominant opponent was less than 25 mm2. However, as the lateral surface of the subordinate fish increased, neither previous experience nor size differences clearly accounted for the outcome of dyadic conflict. Even when the size advantage of subordinate opponents was in the 126-150 mm2 range, size differences did not adequately explain the outcome. In conflicts between large previously subordinate and smaller dominant fish, there was evidence for an inverse linear relation between the effects of size and the likelihood of establishing dyadic dominance. In general, males with prior experience as subordinates had to be at least 40% larger than a previously dominant fish to win a significant proportion of conflicts. These results indicate that prior agonistic experience and body size effects can be additive when at the advantage of one opponent. These factors can also cancel each other out when in opposition, at least when size differences are not extreme. The results also confirm the main effect of both factors as well as their interaction in the determination of conflict outcomes for X. helleri.
Jacques P. BeaugrandClaude GouletDaniel Payette2008-10-16T13:49:45Z2011-03-11T08:57:12Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6220This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/62202008-10-16T13:49:45ZDose-Dependent Enhancement of Morphine-Induced Analgesia
by Ingestion of Amniotic Fluid and PlacentaIngestion of amniotic fluid and placenta by rats has been shown to enhance opioid-mediated analgesia. The present studies were designed to examine the effect of several doses and volumes of placenta and amniotic fluid on tail-flick latency in rats treated with 3 mg/kg morphine. The optimal dose of amniotic fluid was found to be 0.25 ml, although 0.50 and 1.0 ml also produced significant enhancement. Doses of 0.125 and 2 ml of amniotic fluid were ineffective, as was a dose of 0.25 ml diluted to 2 ml with saline. The optimal dose of placenta was found to be 1 placenta, although the resulting enhancement was not significantly greater than that produced by 0.25, 0.50, 2.0 or 4.0 placentas. Doses smaller than 0.25 placenta or larger than 4.0 placentas were ineffective. The most effective doses of amniotic fluid and placenta correspond to the amounts delivered with each pup during parturition.Dr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.eduPatricia AbbottAlexis C. Thompsonathompso@RIA.Buffalo.EDU2001-12-07Z2011-03-11T08:54:51Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1964This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/19642001-12-07ZSocial and spatial structure in brook chars (Salvelinus fontinalis) under competition for food and shelter/shadeSalmonids, outside their reproductive period, are seen to have two types of territory called "territorial mosaic" and "partial territory". The first aspect of this research aimed at identifying the type of territory established by mature brook chars in artificial streams. After this, the biological value of spacing out was studied with regard to two resources: food, and shelter/shade which gives protection. Three 5 X 1 X 1 m artificial streams were built on the edge of a natural brook which provided a continuous water supply. One hundred and fifty mature brook chars (Salvelinus fontinalis) taken from that brook were distributed into 30 colonies with 5 members apiece. Three experimental conditions were created, and 10 colonies were submitted to each of these. In the first experimental condition, the quality of shelter/shade differed in 3 sectors of the artificial streams, whereas the quantity of food remained the same for all 3. In the second experimental condition, the quality of shelter/shade was identical, while the quantity of food differed in the 3 sectors. In the last condition, conflict was created: the fish had to choose between an area which offered excellent shelter/shade but no food, one which provided ample nourishment but no shelter/shade, and one in which all those resources were present at intermediate levels. Observation of the 30 colonies revealed "partial territory" in all cases. These corresponded to more or less complete aggressive-dominance hierarchies. Almost every alpha established territory, and the number of territorial individuals progressively decreased throughout inferior ranks. Alphas had exclusive use of their territory. Lower-ranking individuals successfully defended their territory against their subordinates, but were unable to drive away higher-ranking conspecifics. Overall results also indicated that the highest-ranking brook chars in the aggressive-dominance hierarchies more frequently established their territories in sectors of the streams with good shelter/shade than in sectors with good alimentary conditions.Jean CaronJacques P. Beaugrand1998-11-25Z2011-03-11T08:53:39Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/71This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/711998-11-25ZInduction of maternal behavior in rats: Effects of pseudopregnancy termination and placenta-smeared pupsThe onset of maternal behavior in Long-Evans rats was examined after pseudopregnancy (PsP) termination, both with and without exogenous estrogen administration, and in response to either clean or placenta-smeared stimulus pups. Natural (spontaneous) PsP termination was as effective in hastening the onset of maternal behavior as ovariectomy plus estrogen injection. If clean foster pups were presented as soon as pseudopregnancy terminated (first proestrus or cornified smear), maternal behavior was exhibited within 2 days; placenta-smeared foster pups presented at the same time elicited maternal behavior within 2 hr. The combination of initiating maternal- behavior testing immediately after the natural termination of pseudopregnancy and proffering placenta-smeared pups apparently simulates the hormonal milieu as well as the environmental cues present at parturition, noninvasively, producing optimal conditions for the rapid induction of maternal behavior.M. A. SteuerA. C. ThompsonJ. C. DoerrM. YouakimM. B. Kristal2008-11-02T09:59:53Z2011-03-11T08:57:13Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6252This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/62522008-11-02T09:59:53ZIngestion of Amniotic Fluid Enhances
Opiate Analgesia in RatsPlacenta ingestion has recently been shown to enhance opiate-mediated analgesia produced by morphine injection, footshock, or vaginal/cervical stimulation. The enhancement of the effect of endogenous opiates (especially analgesia) may be one of the principal benefits to mammalian mothers of placentophagia at delivery. During labor and delivery, however, mothers also ingest amniotic fluid (AF) which, unlike placenta, becomes available during, or even before expulsion of the infant. The present experiments were undertaken to determine (a) whether AF ingestion, too, enhances analgesia; if so, (b) whether the effect requires ingestion of, or merely exposure to, AF; (c) whether the effect can be produced by AF delivered directly to the stomach by tube; and (d) whether the enhancement, if it exists, can be blocked by administering an opiate antagonist. Nulliparous Long-Evans rats were tested for analgesia using tail-flick latency. We found that (a) rats that ingested AF after receiving a morphine injection showed significantly more analgesia than did rats that ingested a control substance;' (b) AF ingestion, alone, did not produce analgesia; (c) ingestion of AF, rather than just smelling and seeing it, was necessary to produce analgesia enhancement; (d) AF produced enhancement
when oropharyngeal factors were eliminated by delivering it through an orogastric tube; and (e) treatment of the rats with naltrexone blocked the enhancement of morphine-induced analgesia that results from AF ingestion.Dr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.eduAlexis C. Thompsonathompso@RIA.Buffalo.EDUPatricia Abbott2001-03-16Z2011-03-11T08:54:36Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1372This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/13722001-03-16ZLocomotor activity in relation to dopamine and noradrenaline in the nucleus accumbens, septal and frontalk areas: a 6-hydroxydopamine studyThe Study and the Method:
The locomotor activity of adult male Sprague-Dawley was automatically recorded in a circular corridor - circadian changes are described as well as the response to the novel situation and its habituation over three hours.
Four groups of animals were compared, - those with sham/vehicle operations and those with 6-OHDA dopamine (DA) depleting lesions in -
the frontal cortex,
the limbic septum, and
the ventral tegmental area (VTA - A10).
Results:
1/ Lesions of the VTA resulted in increased dark-phase activity, - and a large response to an apomorphine challenge in comparison to other lesion and control groups:
2/ Septal 6-OHDA lesions did not alter locomotion:
3/ After frontal DA depletion there was a small increase of locomotion after the apomorphine challenge, that might reflect increased receptor sensitivity in cortical or sub-cortical areas:
(Table 1: HPLC measures of NA, DA and DOPAC for each group in the prefrontal cortex, septum and N. accumbens)
Figure 1 illustrates the cumulative photocell counts per hour over 24 hours for the 4 groups:.
Figure 2 illustrates the cumulative photocell counts every 10 minutes over 90 minutes post-apomorphine treatment - maximal at 20-30 minutes and habituating over 60 minutes (90 minutes for the VTA group): overall activity VTA >> Frontal > Septal > Controls.
Conclusions:
Along with correlations found for motor activity with cortical levels of DA and NA, these results are interpreted to support a role for DA, NA and the region of the frontal cortex in modulating locomotion that is primarily mediated by mesolimbic VTA - accumbens - DA activity.
R.D. OadesK. TaghzoutiJ-M. RivetH. SimonM. Le Moal2008-11-02T09:59:45Z2011-03-11T08:57:13Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6254This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/62542008-11-02T09:59:45ZPlacenta Ingestion Enhances Analgesia
Produced by Vaginal/Cervical
Stimulation in RatsIngestion of placenta has previously been shown to enhance opiate-mediated analgesia (measured as tail-flick latency) induced either by morphine injection or by footshock. The present study was designed to test whether placenta ingestion would enhance the partly opiate-mediated analgesia produced by vaginal/cervical stimulation. Nulliparous Sprague-Dawley rats were tested for analgesia, using tail-flick latency, during and after vaginal/cervical stimulation; the tests for vaginal/cervical stimulation-induced analgesia were administered both before and after the rats ate placenta or ground beef. Placenta ingestion, but not beef ingestion. significantly heightened vaginal/cervical stimulation-induced analgesia. A subsequent morphine injection provided evidence that, as in a previous report, placenta ingestion, but not beef ingestion, enhanced morphine-induced analgesia.Dr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.eduAlexis C. Thompsonathompso@RIA.Buffalo.EDUSteve B. HellerDr. Barry R. Komisaruk2001-04-05Z2011-03-11T08:54:37Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1435This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/14352001-04-05ZDopamine-sensitive alternation and collateral behaviour in a Y-maze: effects of d-amphetamine and haloperidolIntroduction:
The frequency of spontaneous alternation in a Y-maze (visiting each arm in turn at p>50%) depends on the influence of the attention given to intra- and extra-maze cues.
We examined the observing responses shown by rats (collateral rearing and head-turning behaviour), the habituation to the novelty and alternation responses over 15 minutes/day, four days in a row - in a Y-maze under enhanced and reduced dopamine (DA) activity (amphetamine- and haloperidol treatment).
Methods:
Prior to placement in a Y-maze for 15 minutes observation on 4 successive days animals were treated with either amphetamine (0.5 or 2.5 mg/kg) or pre-treated with a low dose of haloperidol (0.08 mg/kg, ip).
Results:
1/ Amphetamine treated animals chose the arms at random on day 1, but after the higher dose on day 2-4 they perseverated their choice. The controls maintained their alternation over this period.
2/ The amphetamine-induced effects on alternation were prevented by prior treatment with the neuroleptic haloperidol.
3/ Amphetamine treatment increased the frequency of rearing in the middle at the choice point of the Y-maze. Haloperidol pre-treatment blocked this increase at the midpoint on day 1, and blocked the rearing behavior at the end of an arm on day 2.
4/ Amphetamine also increased the frequency of head turning and "looking", - an effect that was also prevented by haloperidol. (day 2 onwards).
5/ Haloperidol increased the duration of" looking" and of rearing at the end of an arm later in testing..
Conclusions:
Two effects are postulated to have occurred.
a) a conflict on day 1 between the novelty-controlled sensory or attentional effects, that leads to an alternation of arm-choice, and amphetamine-induced DA activity that facilitates an alternation of behavioural responses: -- the result was random choice and increased rearing at the choice point.
b) On days 2-4 the drug-induced effects on switching motor responses came to control behaviour
R.D. OadesK. TaghzoutiH. SimonM. Le Moal2001-12-16Z2011-03-11T08:54:51Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1987This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/19872001-12-16ZAn experimental model of aggressive dominance in Xiphophorus helleri (Pisces, Poeciliidae)An experimental model was constructed using seven postulates derived from the experimental results of Zayan (1974, 1975a,b,c, 1976). The model specifies the relative importance of several asymmetries in predicting aggressive dominance in Xiphophorus helleri. These asymmetries concern differences between opponents with respect to: prior residence in the tested area (versus intrusion); immediate social experiences of dominance or submission; social isolation; individual familiarity and recognition. The predictions of the general model were checked experimentally and confirmed; a multiple orthogonal regression accounted for about 97% of the variance in our experimental results. The basic experimental results serving as postulates were confirmed and could be generalized; a new synthetic and predictive model was formulated concerning the determinants of aggressive dominance in Xiphophorus males. The following empirical generalisations were either confirmed or disclosed by the present study of opponents showing very small size differences: G1: The dominance propensity is significantly higher in resident individuals than in intruders. G2: The dominance propensity is significantly higher in previously dominant individuals than in previously submissive ones. G2 holds true for dyadic encounters between acquainted as well as between unacquainted pairmembers. G3: The dominance propensity is similar in previously dominant individuals and in previously isolated ones. G4: The dominance propensity is significantly higher in previously isolated individuals than in previously submissive ones. G5: G2 overrides G1 in both acquainted and unacquainted opponents. In general it was found that recent agonistic experience (victory or defeat) was much more important to explain future issues than familiarity with the meeting place. However, negative effects of recent defeat appeared diminished when the prior loser encountered on familiar ground a prior dominant or isolated but unacquainted opponent.Jacques P. BeaugrandR.C. Zayan2001-04-05Z2011-03-11T08:54:37Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1436This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/14362001-04-05ZThe role of noradrenaline in tuning and dopamine in switching between signals in the CNSIntroduction- Thesis:
Neuronal catecholaminergic activity modulates central nervous (CNS) function. - Specifically -
Noradrenaline (NA) can exert a tuning or biassing function, whereby the signal-to-noise ratio is altered.
Dopamine (DA) activity may promote switching between inputs and outputs of information to specific brain regions.
Background:
It has been ten years since evidence for a tuning function was advanced for NA (Segal & Bloom, 1976 a, b), and in the last five years the switching hypothesis for DA has been tentatively put forward (Cools, 1980).
Review:
Recent studies are reviewed to show that while catecholamine activity contributes to neural interactions in separate brain regions, that give rise to the organization of different functions, their working principles may be common between species and independent of the nucleus of origin. Behavioral examples are discussed and an attempt is made to integrate this with evidence from intracellular recording studies. It is suggested that the tuning principle in NA systems is particularly important for the formation of associations and neural plasticity (interference control), and that the switching principle of DA systems modulates the timing, time-sharing and initiation of responses (program-control).
R.D. Oades1998-09-06Z2011-03-11T08:53:43Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/175This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1751998-09-06ZThe evolution of reciprocal sharingGenetical models of the evolution of reciprocal altruism (as distinct from cooperation, mutualism, or nepotism) have difficulty explaining the initial establishment of an altruist gene in a selfish deme. Though potential mechanisms have been suggested, there is an alternative: much "altruistic" behavior may in fact be purely selfish in origin and consequently reciprocity need not be invoked to provide a selective benefit to the actor. _Sharing_ and _helping_ are fundamentally different behavior categories and should not be confused. Patterns of resource sharing in chimpanzees correspond to predictions made by a selfish model but not to those of a reciprocal altruism model, and many observations of human gift exchange are consistent with the selfish, but not the altruistic, model. This suggests that presumed hominid meat exchange may have been the result of competition, not altruism or even cooperation, and that evolutionary models of "altruistic" behavior should be treated with caution.Jim Moore1998-09-06Z2011-03-11T08:53:43Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/176This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1761998-09-06ZFemale transfer in primatesIntergroup transfer by males is nearly universal among social primates. Furthermore, among the most frequently studied monkeys - savanna baboons and Japanese and rhesus macaques - females typically remain in their natal groups, so troops are composed of related matrilines. These facts strongly support two major theories: 1) that kin selection is a powerful force in patterning sociality (if one is to live in a group, one should prefer a group of one's relatives), and 2) that the ultimate explanation for intergroup transfer is the avoidance of inbreeding depression (though both sexes would prefer to live with kin, one sex has to disperse to avoid inbreeding and for a variety of reasons the losing sex is generally male). Substantial rates of transfer by females in social species with routine male transfer would cast doubt on both ideas. In fact, evidence reviewed here indicates that female transfer is not unusual and among folivorous primates (e.g., _Alouatta_, the Colobinae) it seems to be routine. In addition to casting doubt on the demographic significance of inbreeding avoidance and favoring mutualistic and/or game theory interpretations of behavior over nepotistic ones, this finding supports the hypothesis that predator detection is the primary selective pressure favoring sociality for many primates. Finally, while female bonding [_sensu_ Wrangham, R. W. (1980), _Behaviour_ 75: 262-299] among primates appears to be less common than generally believed, the observed correlation between female transfer and morphological adaptations to folivory provides empirical support for Wrangham's model for the evolution of female-bonded groups.Jim Moore2001-12-08Z2011-03-11T08:54:51Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1970This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/19702001-12-08ZSocial organization of small heterosexual groups of Green swordtails (Xiphophorus helleri, Pisces, Poeciliidae) under conditions of captivitySixteen populations, each of four male and four female green 'swordtail fish, were observed in 54 litre tanks separated into two unequal volumes by a partition allowing swimming from one area to another only at the surface. Each population was observed on 2 4 occasions, making a combined total of 50 observation periods of 2 hours each. Chase right orders, spatial positions as well as several agonistic and epigamic behaviour units were noted during each period of observation. Males and females apparently form distinct hierarchies which are perfectly linear and transitive in 68% and 42% of the cases respectively. Some dominance structures are incomplete, but no intransitivity is noted. Alpha males are much more aggressive than their isosexual subordinates. In females, the frequency of aggressive behaviour appears to be more proportional to the social rank of the initiator, but the number of chases received from other females is the best indicator of rank in the female hierarchies. Alpha males are responsible for 80% of all sexual activity and have privilege to behaviour leading to insemination with a high probability in 85 % of the cases. Females are not courted according to their position in the female hierarchy, nor to their size. In the two compartment situation of the present study, which allowed spacing out and visual isolation of the individuals, the alpha males occupied the larger area of the aquarium in the company of the four females while the three subordinate males were restricted to the smaller area, unaccompanied by any females. This spacing out pattern emerged with neat regularity from the data and was apparently caused and maintained by aggressive behaviour, especially by charges, initiated by the alpha male toward male rivals. However, it is not evident that the behaviour of the alpha male should be neatly qualified as territorial defence, since specific area linked dominance was never realized in the present study. The social scheme most readily applicable to the present social and spatial organization is the "one male to several females" system or monarchistic male hierarchy, in which one male becomes very dominant over the others, occupies the larger area and is also the sole individual to court the females and to attempt insemination (haremic). These results support the sociobiological theorem that to dominate is to have priority of access to the necessities of life and reproduction.Jacques P. BeaugrandJean CaronLouise Comeau1998-12-02Z2011-03-11T08:54:16Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/760This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/7601998-12-02ZSuppression of infanticide in mother ratsIn order to test the hypothesis that infanticidal tendencies are suppressed when rats become mothers, very young newborn pups, either naturally born or cesarean-delivered, were presented to virgin females and to newly delivered mothers. Provided that the pups were lively, uncleaned of fetal fluids or membranes, and presented without placentas, nearly all virgins killed and nearly all mothers did not. Newborns were also presented to Day 22 pregnant rats and to rats whose pregnancies had recently been surgically terminated. Large proportions of both groups either were nonkillers or were actively maternally responsive (and a smaller proportion were both) despite the fact that none of these rats had undergone parturition or cared for pups. These results indicate that, independent of its effect on maternal caretaking, pregnancy suppresses infanticide in previously infanticidal nulliparae even before they become mothers. Hence, infants are protected from their own parents. In addition, evidence was obtained in support of the idea that freshly delivered pups have stimulus properties that make them specially suited for promoting the onset of maternal caretaking.L. C. PetersM. B. Kristal2001-04-25Z2011-03-11T08:54:37Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1462This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/14622001-04-25ZSearch strategies on a hoile-board are impaired with ventral tegmental damage: animal model for tests of thought disorderIntroduction:
Attention-related mechanisms distinguish relevance from irrelevance. A disturbance of this capability underlies thought-disorder in schizophrenia (e.g. see Oades, Attention and Schizophrenia. Pitman Press, 1982).
Stimulus choice strategies depend, inter alia, on such selective mechanisms and are anomalous in some patients with schizophrenia, a disorder in which ventral tegmental area (VTA) functions have been postulated to be impaired.
Here, the effects of VTA damage on making the relevance/irrelevance distinction and the formation of problem-solving strategies has been studied in rats.
Methods:
Food-deprived animals searched for food pellets placed consistently in 4 holes of a 16-hole-board (figure 2). They were presented with 9 sessions of 10 trials/session. VTA damage resulted from coagulation with a stylet inserted down a stereotaxically implanted cannula, sham operations consisted of cannula placement alone (figure 1).
Results:
1/ a) Across sessions the control group reduced the number of empty hole-visits (errors) more rapidly than the lesioned animals:
b) the proportion of repeated visits to relevant holes (had contained food, working memory errors) to irrelevant holes (had never contained food, reference memory errors) increased for intact, but not for lesioned animals.
2/ Intact animals developed a preferred sequence of hole-visits (a strategy) across sessions: this habit was not learned by the lesioned animals.
3/ The animals with VTA damage developed a preference across trials within a session and maintained a preference for the first-hole visited across sessions (i.e. were capable of simple learning), but switched their preferred overall strategy (hole-visit-sequence) between sessions.
Conclusions:
.The results are discussed in terms of a) the overall behaviour of the animals, and b) the interaction between selective attention and the establishment of a short-term working memory - both for the efficiency of search (errors) and the strategy that facilitates search success (hole-visit-sequence).
It is proposed that VTA function contributes to the succesful deployment of attention-related strategies in rodents, and that these strategies model those impaired when patients with schizophrenia have to interpret words with multiple meanings, categories in card-sorting tasks - to assess the contingencies or context that normally control the making of a choice.
Oades2001-05-08Z2011-03-11T08:54:37Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1481This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/14812001-05-08ZDopaminergic agonistic and antagonistic drugs in the ventral tegmentum of rats inhibit and facilitate changes of food-search behaviourIntroduction:
The proposal that an increase of dopaminergic (DA) activity in the mesocorticolimbic pathway with an origin in the ventral tegmental area (VTA A10) increases the probability of behavioural change was tested (Koob et al., 1978 - see also Oades, 1985 on the switching role of DA)
Methods:
Food-deprived animals searched for food pellets placed consistently in 4 holes of a 16-hole-board. They were presented with 9 sessions of 10 trials/session. Groups of rats received lesions of the VTA or injections of the DA D2 antagonist spiroperidol (2µg/0.5 µl) or the DA agonist apomorphine (2 µg(0.5µl) into the VTA before sessions 4 and 7.
[Neuroleptic treatment should block local inhibition via autoreceptors and thus lead to increased DA activity in the terminal regions]
Results:
1/ Compared to vehicle- or apomorphine-treatment, spiroperidol increased the number of empty hole-visits (errors)
2/ Comparison animals (vehicle- and apomorphine treated) developed individually specific but consistent sequences of hole-visits ("strategy") -- these were disrupted on sessions 4 and 7 after neuroleptic treatment and following VTA damage.
(i.e. there was much intra-session switching between sequences from trial to trial.)
3/ Further the identity of the preferred sequence on session 7 was more often different than on session 4 for lesioned and neuroleptic treated animals than for the comparison groups.
(i.e there was also inter-session switching between sequences between sessions 4 and 7.)
4/ Although many apomorphine-treated animals changed their preference on session 4, this was not repeated after the second treatment on session 7 - when fewer changes were recorded than for the controls..
Conclusions:
.The results are consistent with increased switching of strategies in animals with increased mesocorticolimbic DA activity - where the learning and maintenance of strategies are seen as an aid to recall the adaptive sequence of behaviour likely to lead to the relevant baited holes.
Oades2001-05-08Z2011-03-11T08:54:37Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1482This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/14822001-05-08ZTypes of memory or attention ? Impairments after lesions of the hippocampus and limbic ventral tegmentumIntroduction:
An animal with an unimpaired reference memory can distinguish between alternatives that belong to a rewarded set and those that are always unrewarded. An animal with an unimpaired working memory can distinguish beween alternatives where it has been rewarded (e.g. food has been eaten, but not replaced) and those where it will still be rewarded.
Olton et al., 1979 proposed that fimbria-fornix or hippocampal lesions impairs working rather than reference memory in a radial maze. This hypothesis was tested for rats with damage to the hippocampus, limbic ventral tegmentum (VTA A10 ) and neocortex, intact and operated controls on a 16-hole-board search task.
Methods:
Food-deprived animals searched for food pellets placed consistently in 4 holes of a 16-hole-board (figure 1). They were presented with 11 sessions of 10 trials/session. There were five groups of animals, - one with aspiration lesions of the hippocampus and overlying neocortex, one with damage only to the overlying neocortex and sham-controls that went through the procedure but the brain was left intact (Oades and Isaacson, 1978) - VTA damage resulted from coagulation with a stylet in a sterotaxically implanted cannula and their controls received the cannula alone.
Working memory error = a visit to a correct hole that has just been visited, and thus no longer contains a food pellet.
Reference memory error = visit to a hole that is never baited.
Results:
1/ A reference and a working memory impairment (in terms of errors made) was recorded for animals with hippocampal or with VTA damage.
2/ The impairments were significant by session 3 and the differences amounted to more than 50% by the end of testing.
Conclusions:
.There was a striking similarity between the performances of animals with damage to the hippocampus and those with damage to the VTA (that projects to the lateral septum, entorhinal cortex and dentate gyrus. The different results obtained by Olton in the radial maze may be explained by the discrete trial testing conducted in the radial maze that contrasts with the multiple choices that an animal makes on a hole-board. Further in the current study training occurred exclusively post-operatively, while in the radial maze animals had received some preoperative training.
Both lesioned and control animals expressed preferred sequences of hole-visits. The preference was weaker in the lesioned animals but the number of changes of preference between sessions did not differ between groups. Thus it is argued that limbic and mesolimbic DA substrates are crucially involved in attentive mechanisms important to adaptive learning and the impairment is not merely one of forming and using memory.
Oades1998-12-03Z2011-03-11T08:54:16Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/762This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/7621998-12-03ZNeophobia and water intake after repeated pairings of novel flavors with toxicosisThe ability of rats (a) to acquire a generalized neophobia and (b) to maintain total daily fluid intake (by increasing intake of plain water) during the neophobia, was assessed. Rats trained to drink on a 23 1/2-hr water deprivation schedule were presented with a series of novel-flavored drinking solutions at 4-day intervals. Fifteen min of exposure to the novel flavor was followed first by 15 min of access to plain water, and then by an injection of lithium chloride. A saline-injected group and a noncontingent lithium chloride-injected group served as controls. Re-exposure to flavors did not occur between presentations of novel flavors. The rats in the group receiving novel flavors paired with toxicosis not only showed suppressed intake of all subsequent novel flavors after several pairings, but also eventually showed suppressed intake of plain water, which was limited to the days of novel-flavor presentation.Mark B. KristalMelissa Ann SteuerJ. Ken NishitaLawrence C. Peters1998-11-19Z2011-03-11T08:54:16Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/757This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/7571998-11-19ZPlacentophagia: A biobehavioral enigma (or De gustibus non disputandum est)Although ingestion of the afterbirth during delivery is a reliable component of parturitional behavior of mothers in most mammalian species, we know almost nothing of the direct causes or consequences of the act. Traditional explanations of placentophagia, such as general or specific hunger, are discussed and evaluated in light of recent experimental results. Next, research is reviewed which has attempted to distinguish between placentophagia as a maternal behavior and placentophagia as an ingestive behavior. Finally, consequences of the behavior, which may also be viewed as ultimate causes in an evolutionary sense, are considered, such as the possibility of beneficial effects on maternal behavior or reproductive competence, on protection against predators, and on immunological protection afforded either the mother or the young.Mark B. Kristal2001-05-29Z2011-03-11T08:54:39Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1521This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/15212001-05-29ZThe development of food search behavior by rats: the effects of hippocampal damage and haloperidolIntroduction:
The aim of the study was to see if some of the effects of hippocampal brain damage on attention-related function may be mediated perhaps trans-synaptically in the dopamine (DA) system.
Methods:
A food search task in a 16-hole board was developed (based on search studies used to investigate the avian hippocampus (Oades 1976), but suitable for rodents). Food-deprived rats were required to locate 4 pellets located in 4 of 16 holes in an enclosed arena.
Three groups of animals were studied in 11 test sessions : - rats with bilateral hippocampal aspiration lesions, bilateral neocortical damage (overlying the hippocampus), and an unoperated group. Half of each group received haloperidol (DA D2 antagonist) and half saline before sessions 4 through 10. No injections were administered on the first three or the last test session.
Results:
1/ Animals with hippocampal damage visited more non-food holes (errors) than the controls, AND did not develop consistent sequences of food-hole visits as the other animals did.
2/ In unoperated controls haloperidol reduced the number of preferred sequences of food-hole visits, WITHOUT affecting the efficiency of performance as measured by the number of non-food-holes visited (i.e., the number of errors did not increase).
3/ Haloperidol treatment of those with hippocampal damage
reduced the number of non-food-hole visits (i.e. reduced the number of errors made in comparison to the saline treated animals with hippocampal damage).
Conclusions:
It is likely that hippocampal damage incurs increased DA activity elsewhere that for the search task is not adaptive and brings about an increase in the number of errors made. This contrasts with the normal development of a consistent sequence of food-hole visits (individually specific) - one form of working memory aid - that is disrupted by haloperidol and by hippocampal damage. Neuroleptic treatment of the hippocampal animals did not reinstate this preferred sequence but by dampening DA activity (reducing switching between alternatives, Oades 1985) improved attention-related search performance by decreasing the number of erros made.
This result may be seen post-hoc as a model for some of the functions disturbed in schizophrenia - where there is evidence for impaired medial temporal lobe function (hippoicampus, parahippocampal gyrus) and often hyper-active DA systems, sometimes ameliorated through neuroleptic treatment (see further studies by Lipska and Weinberger: e.g. Lipska et al. 1992; 1993, 1994, 1995; Sams-Dodd et al., 1997; Wood et al., 1997).
Oades Isaacson1998-12-03Z2011-03-11T08:54:16Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/761This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/7611998-12-03ZLearning in escape/avoidance tasks in female rats does not vary with reproductive conditionTo determine whether the development of novel stimulus-response associations by the mother during the periparturient period is attributable to a general facilitation of learning produced by the hormonal milieu during that period, learning ability under various reproductive conditions was assessed in two tasks unrelated to the periparturitional situation. The two tasks, selected because they equalized the various groups for motivation and performance variables, were acquisition of a water-maze escape (including two reversals), and acquisition and retention of an unsignalled shuttlebox shock avoidance. The groups tested in the water maze were a midpregnant group, an immediately prepartum group, and an immediately postpartum group. In the shuttlebox, the same conditions (different rats) were compared, together with a nonpregnant estrus condition, and a nonpregnant diestrus condition. The results of both experiments indicate that although learning occurred, the characteristics of acquisition and retention were not influenced by reproductive condition.Mark B. KristalSeymour AxelrodMichael Noonan2001-06-19Z2011-03-11T08:54:42Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1618This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/16182001-06-19ZA persistence of responding in hyperstriatal chicksIntroduction:
Various lesions in the dorsomedial hyperstriatum accessorium (DMHA) of chicks were investigated because a substrate with functions similar to the mammalian hippocampus has been proposed for this region (cf. Oades 1976).
Methods:
Operation: Chicks were given aspiration lesions or bilateral scalpel cuts to disconnect the DMHA on day 10 of life (4 types of lesion) and along with sham-operates first exposed to the the training regime 24h later.
Training/testing: Birds were given a) a runway task with distraction at the focus of attention (black and white food dish) or peripherally (black and white panels on runway wallswith a grid to cross), b) operant conditioning for food reward on a DRL-10 schedule [differential learning at low rate of reinforcement - one response in 10 sec is rewarded] and c) a passive avoidance task (with the need to withold entering a compartment or receive an electric footshock).
Results:
1/ DMHA lesioned animals were less distracted by all forms of novelty in the runway, except the presentation of differently coloured food). This feature was specific to DMHA damage and not seen with brain damage elsewhere or in sham-operates.
2/ After DMHA damage the animals had difficulty to learn to withold response on the passive avoidance task, and to learn to withold peck responses to achieve reward on the DRL schedule.
Conclusions:
The continuation of the characteristics associated with the trained response in DMHA-lesioned chicks (damage to the hyperstriatum accessorium) when experimental contingencies change is compared with the behaviour of mammals with lesions in the limbic system (the hippocampus and septum). Oades2001-06-19Z2011-03-11T08:54:42Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1613This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/16132001-06-19ZPersistence of the pattern of feeding in chicks with hyperstriatal lesionsIntroduction:
Strategies for coloured food pellet selection (response sequences to one or another colour) were studied after training for a red (vs. yellow) preference on a board with/without distracting coloured pebbles.
Various lesions in the dorsomedial hyperstriatum accessorium (DMHA) of chicks were investigated because a) a substrate with functions similar to the mammalian hippocampus has been proposed for this region (Oades 1976), b) perseveration of choice based on persistent stimulus representations is a feature of selective attention after hippocampal brain-damage, and c) treatment with testosterone, with uptake sites in the hippocampus (i.a) also induced persistence in this task Rogers, 1971; Andrew, 1972).
Methods:
Operation: Chicks were given aspiration lesions or bilateral scalpel cuts to disconnect the DMHA on day 10 of life (5 types of lesion) and along with sham-operates first exposed to the the training regime 24h later.
Training/testing: Birds were given red-dyed food for 10 days, (but would accept normal yellow grains). On test they were presented with 200 red, 200 yellow grains spread on either a plain perspex floor or one with pebbles coloured like the food glued to the floor, and the identity of the first 100 pecks scored. The influence of priming with 50 pecks on one or the other colour vs. overnight experience of the non-preferred colour of food was also tested over 2 days
Results:
1/ Colour choice in terms of mean run length (MRL) or first 10 pecks was more stable in the lesioned birds and varied more with the test (and prior experience) in intact animals.
2/ On the plain floor - controls decreased their non-preferred food intake on day 1, but with overnight experience increased it markedly on day 2.
3/ On the pebble floor - controls were more distracted and pecked more pebbles. By comparison the DMHA group retained longer MRL for the trained colour preference.
4/ Chicks with lesions more lateral to the DMHA differed by showing a disruption of the trained preference
5/ Chicks with more ventral or more posterior brain-damage showed a food choice pattern that was indistinguishable from intact controls.
Conclusions:
The lack of lability of the trained feeding preferences of the DMHA animals (whether primed for short or long periods) and in the face of distracting stimuli is interpreted as consistent with the functions of the mammalian hippocampus in tests of selective attention. Different behaviour following damage to the DMHA periphery point to the specificity of the role attributed to the hyperstriatum accessorium
Oades2008-10-16T13:49:54Z2011-03-11T08:57:12Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6219This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/62192008-10-16T13:49:54ZPlacentophagia in Nonpregnant Rats:
Influence of Estrous Cycle Stage and BirthplacePrior parturitional experience and genotype have previously been found to affect the proportion of nonpregnant female rats and mice that will eat foster placenta. The present series of experiments was designed to investigate the influence of estrous cycle stage on placentophagia in rats. Foster placenta was presented to nonpregnant Long-Evans females, purchased from a commercial breeder, for 15 min on 5 consecutive days. We found that virgin placentophages were most likely to have eaten placenta on the first presentation, unless the first presentation occurred during proestrus. In fact, virgins would not eat placenta for the first time during proestrus, regardless of test-day. However, once they had eaten placenta, either in a nonproestrus stage, or, in the case of primiparae, during parturition, they would eat placenta during proestrus. Long-Evans rats born in our laboratory differed from the purchased rats, manifesting an incidence of placentophagia that was too low to be analyzed by stage of the estrous cycle; when tested as primiparae, however, there were no differences between the two groups.Dr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.eduGary C. Graber2008-11-02T10:00:31Z2011-03-11T08:57:13Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6247This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/62472008-11-02T10:00:31ZPlacentophagia in Nonpregnant Nulliparous Mice: A Genetic InvestigationThe genetic influence on the response of nonpregnant nulliparous mice to foster placenta was investigated. Two highly inbred strains (BALB/cBy and C57BL/6By), their F1 hybrids, a backcross generation, and seven recombinant-inbred strains derived from the F2 generation were tested. It was concluded that there is a genetic component to the response of female mice to placenta in the absence of previous experience, and that more than one, but possibly as few as two loci are involved. Alternative explanations of average dominance for placentophagia and for no placentophagia (by the promotion of competing responses) were considered.Dr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.eduBasil E. Eleftheriou2011-12-16T00:58:07Z2011-12-16T00:58:07Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/7753This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/77532011-12-16T00:58:07ZOn Adjoint Dynamical SystemsTransformations of dynamical systems and organismic structures are discussed in terms of adjoint, simple adjoint and weak adjoint functors of organismic supercategories during development and evolution of organisms on markedly different timescales. A representation of nuclear transplants in terms of adjoint functors and a novel interpretation of nuclear transplant experiments is proposed. Three new theorems are proven for adjoint dynamical systems representing multi-potent developing cells and additional results are obtained for weak adjoint systems such as differentiated (specialized) cells.Prof. Dr. I. C. BaianuicbProf.Dr. Dragos Scripcariu2008-11-02T09:59:35Z2011-03-11T08:57:13Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6253This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/62532008-11-02T09:59:35ZEffects of Lateral Hypothalamic Lesions on Placentophagia in Virgin, Primiparous, and Multiparous RatsLesions of the lateral hypothalamus (LH) were produced in pregnant and nonpregnant female rats through chronically implanted electrodes to investigate the effect of LH damage on placentophagia. Other variables investigated were prior parturitional experience and stimulus properties of the placenta. Lesions were produced under ether anesthesia 24 hr. prior to parturition in pregnant females and 24 hr. prior to placenta presentation in nonpregnant females.
The LH lesions produced aphagia to a liquid diet. Pregnancy was not a significant variable in the initiation of placentophagia, but prior parturitional experience was a critical variable. Virgin and primiparous females did not exhibit placentophagia following LH damage, but multiparous females would eat placenta whenever the opportunity arose, independently of LH damage and pregnancy.Dr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.edu2004-10-06Z2011-12-16T00:59:02Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/3831This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/38312004-10-06ZOrganismic Supercategories: I. Proposals for a General Unified Theory of Systems- Classical, Quantum, and Complex Biological Systems.
The representation of physical and complex biological systems in terms of organismic supercategories was introduced in 1968 by Baianu and Marinescu in the attached paper which was published in the Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics, edited by Nicolas Rashevsky. The different approaches to relational biology, developed by Rashevsky, Rosen and by Baianu et al.(1968,1969,1973,1974,1987,2004)were later discussed.
The present paper is an attempt to outline an abstract unitary theory of systems. In the introduction some of the previous abstract representations of systems are discussed. Also a possible connection of abstract representations of systems with a general theory of measure is proposed. Then follow some necessary definitions and authors' proposals for an axiomatic theory of systems. Finally some concrete examples are analyzed in the light of the proposed theory.
An abstract representation of biological systems from the standpoint of the theory of supercategories is presented. The relevance of such representations forG-relational biologies is suggested. In section A the basic concepts of our representation, that is class, system, supercategory and measure are introduced. Section B is concerned with the mathematical representation starting with some axioms and principles which are natural extensions of the current abstract representations in biology. Likewise, some extensions of the principle of adequate design are introduced in section C. Two theorems which present the connection between categories and supercategories are proved. Two other theorems concerning the dynamical behavior of biological and biophysical systems are derived on the basis of the previous considerations. Section D is devoted to a general study of oscillatory behavior in enzymic systems, some general quantitative relations being derived from our representation. Finally, the relevance of these results for a quantum theoretic approach to biology is discussed.
http://www.springerlink.com/content/141l35843506596h/Prof. Dr. I.C. BaianuicbDr. Mircea M. Marinescu1998-02-26Z2011-03-11T08:54:06Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/601This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6011998-02-26ZBurrhus F. SkinnerIn dealing with Skinner, we are concerned with a theorist who now espouses no theory, a systematist whose system is still developing, and a constructive thinker some of whose most important contributions have been those of a critic. In the course of his writings, Skinner has presented the results of a comprehensive experimental program, and elaborated a theory of behavior based upon it. Since its publication in comprehensive form in The Behavior of Organisms, he has, one may infer from more recent writings, modified it greatly by eliminating several central concepts without substituting others. These publications are not sufficient to enable us to analyze the system in its current status, so that we will restrict ourselves to its earlier form. From an examination of this theory, we may learn something of the reasons for its alteration, and perhaps reveal some relationships between the adequacy of the theory as it was stated and the procedures which were followed in its construction. That portions of the theory as it was presented in 1938 no longer find complete acceptance is not relevant to our purpose; much may be learned from autopsies. The revision of Sinner's theoretical views has not extended downward to his basic assumptions with respect to the nature of psychological theory, nor to the elementary statements of much of his data language and of the basic laws of behavior. The systematic position is unchanged. It is largely at the level at which complex concepts are introduced that revisions have been made.W S Verplanck1998-02-26Z2011-03-11T08:53:42Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/163This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1631998-02-26ZEating and drinking as a function of maintenance scheduleAnimals without water do not eat as much food as usual, and hungry animals do not drink much water (4, 8, 13, 16, 17, 20). Animals drink more after meals than at other times. The dog and hen (13) and the rat (20) show a drop in food intake during water deprivation. Dogs (5, 11) and rats (20) similarly drop in water intake during food deprivation. Rats drink more after a period of water deprivation during which food is available than after a similar period with no food available (17). The corresponding case for food intake apparently has not been investigated. After protracted periods of food or water deprivation, rats exceed in both drinking and eating their average value before deprivation (4). No systematic sets of data are available on these phenomena as they are encountered in studies of learning, although their signifigance for theoretical formulations of "motivation" and learning has not escaped some investigators (9, p.234; 22). Recent studies on "drive interaction," "drive discrimination," and on "cognitions" have involved the control of the behavior of food-deprived and of water-deprived rats by food and water placed in goal boxes and alleys (21). These have not had uniform results, so that it is pertinent to examine the matter more closely. Today's learning theorists are in fair agreement on a definition of "drive." This concept is an intervening variable, explicitly involving two sets of operations and implicitly a third.2 The first operations establish drives; e.g., for hunger and thirst, the animal is deprived of food and water, respectively, for a stated number of hours. The second class of operations is the measurement of classes of behavior (running, bar pressing, eating) that vary with the duration of the preceding deprivation. The third, implicit, operation is that of satiation, usually giving the animal access to food and water long enough so that it neither eats nor drinks for a specified period. "Satiation" operations vary considerably. In this experiment, the operations are depriving the animal of food or water, or both, through stated intervals of time following free feeding and free drinking. The measure of behavior chosen is the total weight, in grams, of food and water ingested by the animal in the first hour following the period of deprivation. The adequacy of these measures has been established by others (1, p.128; 2, 7, 15, 18, 19). The general plan of the experiment and the values of the variables investigated have been chosen to provide data useful for the interpretation of experimental data in the field of learning.W S VerplanckJ R Hayes