Cogprints: No conditions. Results ordered -Date, Title. 2018-01-17T14:28:46ZEPrintshttp://cogprints.org/images/sitelogo.gifhttp://cogprints.org/2017-02-18T22:07:19Z2017-02-18T22:07:19Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/9841This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/98412017-02-18T22:07:19ZThe Idea of WillThis article presents a new conceptual view on the conscious will. This new concept approaches our will from the perspective of the requirements of our neural-muscular system and not from our anthropocentric perspective. This approach not only repositions the will at the core of behavior control, it also integrates the studies of Libet and Wegner, which seem to support the opposite. The will does not return as an instrument we use to steer, but rather as part of the way we learn new automatic behavior and of how our neural system steers us. The new concept suggests that understanding of our will is more about understanding of our daily behavior then about the will itself.Drs. M.M. Dorenboschmichieldorenbosch@yahoo.co.uk2012-11-09T20:00:24Z2013-02-18T15:12:46Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/8720This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/87202012-11-09T20:00:24ZAssociation of salivary-assessed oxytocin and cortisol levels with time of night and sleep stageThere have been proposals for REM to have a
function of emotional memory consolidation, and also for
REM sleep to be involved in the promotion of attachment
behaviour. The hormones cortisol and oxytocin, respec-
tively, may be involved in these proposed REM sleep
functions. However, there are conflicting reports on whe-
ther levels of cortisol differ between sleep stages when
time since sleep onset (SSO) is controlled, and virtually no
literature on whether levels of oxytocin differ between
sleep stages. This study thus investigated the changes in
levels of oxytocin (OT) and cortisol (CT) across the night,
and whether these levels differ between REM and N2 sleep
when time SSO is controlled. 20 participants (10 males, 10
females, mean age = 20.45, SD = 2.01) were awakened
10 min into REM and N2 sleep periods in the sleep laboratory and gave saliva samples which were assayed for
OT and CT. Levels of OT were relatively constant across
the night, whereas CT increased significantly. REM and N2
did not differ significantly neither for OT nor for CT. The
study has implications for models of sleep-dependent
memory consolidation that incorporate the late sleep
increase in cortisol as a functional component of memory
consolidation, and also for the medical diagnostic assaying
of OT during sleep.
M. BlagroveN. C. FouquetA. L. BairdE. F. Pace-SchottA. C. DaviesJ. L. NeuschafferJ. A. Henley-EinionChristoph T. WeidemannJ. ThomeP. McNameraO. H. Turnbull2011-12-16T00:08:51Z2011-12-16T00:08:51Zhttp://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 Takahashi2011-01-11T03:27:22Z2011-03-11T08:57:50Zhttp://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.com2009-03-28T09:32:58Z2011-03-11T08:57:19Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6382This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/63822009-03-28T09:32:58ZThe Locus Ceruleus in PTSDNO ABSTRACT: This is 750 word encyclopedia entryDr. H. Stefan Brachah.bracha@va.govCaitlin MacyStacy M. LenzeJessica M. SheltonMichelle Tsang-Mui-Chung2009-02-13T01:14:59Z2011-03-11T08:57:18Zhttp://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.edu2009-03-28T09:30:03Z2011-03-11T08:57:20Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6399This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/63992009-03-28T09:30:03ZEvaluation of Buprenorphine in a Postoperative
Pain Model in RatsWe evaluated the commonly prescribed analgesic buprenorphine in a postoperative pain model in rats, assessing acute postoperative pain relief, rebound hyperalgesia, and the long-term effects of postoperative opioid treatment on subsequent opioid exposure. Rats received surgery (paw incision under isoflurane anesthesia), sham surgery (anesthesia only), or neither and were treated postoperatively with 1 of several doses of subcutaneous buprenorphine. Pain sensitivity to noxious and nonnoxious mechanical stimuli at the site of injury (primary pain) was assessed at 1, 4, 24, and 72 h after surgery. Pain sensitivity at a site distal to the injury (secondary pain) was assessed at 24 and 72 h after surgery. Rats were tested for their sensitivity to the analgesic and
locomotor effects of morphine 9 to 10 d after surgery. Buprenorphine at 0.05 mg/kg SC was determined to be the most effective; this dose induced isoalgesia during the acute postoperative period and the longest period of pain relief, and it did not induce longterm changes in opioid sensitivity in 2 functional measures of the opioid system. A lower dose of buprenorphine (0.01 mg/kg SC) did not meet the criterion for isoalgesia, and a higher dose (0.1 mg/kg SC) was less effective in pain relief at later recovery periods and induced a long-lasting opioid tolerance, indicating greater neural adaptations. These results support the use of 0.05 mg/kg SC buprenorphine as the upper dose limit for effective treatment of postoperative pain in rats and suggest that higher doses produce long-term effects on opioid sensitivity.Dr. Leslie I. Curtinlicurtin@buffalo.eduJulie A. Grakowskyjg96@buffalo.eduMauricio Suarezmsuarez@ria.buffalo.eduDr. Alexis C. Thompsonathompso@ria.buffalo.eduDr. Jean M. DiPirrodipirrjm@buffalostate.eduDr. Lisa B.E. Martinlbmartin@buffalo.eduDr. 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.edu2012-11-09T19:02:25Z2012-11-09T19:02:25Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/8128This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/81282012-11-09T19:02:25ZA case of cutaneous larva migrans acquired from soiled toilet floors in urban Kuala LumpurDespite being a common skin dermatosis in the tropics, physicians in the tropics may miss the diagnosis of cutaneous larva migrans for other pruritic skin manifestation. This is especially in those who live in urban housing with no history of travel. Cutaneous larva migrans, an intensely pruritic skin pathology is mainly contracted by people with history of beach holiday or contact with moist soft sand which had been contaminated with dog or cat faeces. This article reports a patient who presented with intensely itchy papular spots over the dorsum of his foot after walking barefooted in an urban toilet soiled with cat faeces. The patient had initially seen an urban general practitioner who diagnosed the papular skin lesion as an allergic reaction, and prescribed antihistamines. The patient subsequently developed creeping skin lesions and was seen by the author who prescribed albendazole 400 mg twice daily for three days. The patient reported reduction in itching after two days of albendazole treatment and a follow up at ten days revealed a healed infection.Noorzurani Robsonnoorzurani@gmail.comS Othman2009-02-13T01:12:55Z2011-03-11T08:57:18Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6345This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/63452009-02-13T01:12:55ZAnxiety and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the Context of Human Brain Evolution:A Role for Theory in DSM-V?The “hypervigilance, escape, struggle, tonic immobility”
evolutionarily hardwired acute peritraumatic response
sequence is important for clinicians to understand. Our
commentary supplements the useful article on human
tonic immobility (TI) by Marx, Forsyth, Gallup, Fusé and Lexington (2008). A hallmark sign of TI is peritraumatic
tachycardia, which others have documented as a
major risk factor for subsequent posttraumatic stress
disorder (PTSD). TI is evolutionarily highly conserved
(uniform across species) and underscores the need for
DSM-V planners to consider the inclusion of evolution
theory in the reconceptualization of anxiety and PTSD.
We discuss the relevance of evolution theory to the
DSM-V reconceptualization of acute dissociativeconversion
symptoms and of epidemic sociogenic disorder(epidemic “hysteria”). Both are especially in need of attention in light of the increasing threat of terrorism
against civilians. We provide other pertinent examples.
Finally, evolution theory is not ideology driven (and
makes testable predictions regarding etiology in “both
directions”). For instance, it predicted the unexpected
finding that some disorders conceptualized in DSM-IV-TR as innate phobias are conditioned responses and thus better conceptualized as mild forms of PTSD. Evolution
theory may offer a conceptual framework in
DSM-V both for treatment and for research on psychopathology.
Dr. H. Stefan Brachah.bracha@va.govDr. Jack D. Maserjmaser@ucsd.edu2009-02-13T01:14:04Z2011-03-11T08:57:18Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6344This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/63442009-02-13T01:14:04ZTorture, Culture, War Zone Exposure and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Criterion A's Bracket CreepTHIS IS A COMMENTARY/LETTER TO THE EDITOR, THUS THERE IS NO ABSTRACTDr. H. Stefan Brachah.bracha@va.govDr. Kentaro Hayashi2008-08-10T08:56:48Z2011-03-11T08:57:10Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6159This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/61592008-08-10T08:56:48ZOn the nature and role of intersubjectivity in communicationWe outline a theory of human agency and communication and discuss the role that the capability to share (that is, intersubjectivity) plays in it. All the notions discussed are cast in a mentalistic and radically constructivist framework. We also introduce and discuss the relevant literature.Maurizio Tirassatirassa@psych.unito.itFrancesca M. Boscobosco@psych.unito.it2006-04-29Z2011-03-11T08:56:24Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/4862This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/48622006-04-29ZPsychosomatic Plasticity: An "Emergent Property" of Personality Research?Psychosomatic plasticity, defined as an extreme capacity to turn suggestions into bodily realities, is as phenomenon well worth investigating, as it challenges mainstream conceptions about the relationship between mind and body in health as well as illness. The field of psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) offers a framework within which to understand this phenomenon, as PNI makes a compelling case for the biological unity of self. Hartmann’s Boundaries concept is particularly applicable, as it suggests that the minds of ‘thin-boundary’ persons are relatively fluid and able to make numerous connections. Wilson and Barber’s identification of the fantasy prone person, and Thalbourne’s transliminality concept, are similarly relevant. Taking these explorations a step further, the author proposes that the flow of feeling within individuals represents the key to psychosomatic plasticity. Blushing, psoriasis, and immune reactions are offered as examples, as are more anomalous reports such as those provided by heart transplant recipients and cases said to be indicative of reincarnation. In each instance, persons who are highly sensitive (i.e., have a speedier and more direct flow of feeling) are more likely to evidence physical reactions. Psychosomatic plasticity represents an emerging area of interest in personality research, one that clearly merits further investigation. Michael Jawer2007-12-10T21:46:19Z2011-03-11T08:57:01Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/5857This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/58572007-12-10T21:46:19ZEnvironmental Sensitivity: A Neurobiological Phenomenon?Researchers often use the term “sensitivity ” when theorizing that certain persons may be more readily affected by various influences than others. Through a review of the literature, it is argued that some individuals are disposed toward a range of sensitivities that, in novelty as well as intensity, distinguish them from the general population. The author cites evidence indicating that such persons exhibit greater susceptibility to a range of environmental factors including allergies, migraine headache, chronic pain, and chronic fatigue. Their immediate family members appear to be similarly affected. Additionally, these “sensitive” individuals report a high degree of anomalous perception. While no single factor in a person’s background is likely to distinguish him/her as sensitive, eight demographic or personality factors are found to be significant. Michael Jawer2006-07-23Z2011-03-11T08:56:32Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/5014This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/50142006-07-23ZFreeze, Flight, Fight, Fright, Faint: Adaptationist Perspectives on the Acute Stress Response SpectrumThis article reviews the existing evolutionary perspectives on the acute stress response habitual faintness and blood-injection-injury type-specific phobia (BIITS phobia). In this article, an alternative evolutionary perspective, based on recent advances in evolutionary psychology, is proposed. Specifically, that fear-induced faintness (eg, fainting following the sight of a syringe, blood, or following a trivial skin injury) is a distinct Homo sapiens-specific extreme-stress survival response to an inescapable threat. The article suggests that faintness evolved in response to middle paleolithic intra-group and inter-group violence (of con-specifics) rather than as a pan-mammalian defense response, as is presently assumed. Based on recent literature, freeze, flight, fight, fright, faint provides a more complete description of the human acute stress response sequence than current descriptions. Faintness, one of three primary physiological reactions involved in BIITS phobia, is extremely rare in other phobias. Since heritability estimates are higher for faintness than for fears or phobias, the author suggests that trait-faintness may be a useful complement to trait-anxiety as an endophenotype in research on the human fear circuitry. Some implications for the forthcoming Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition as well as for clinical, health services, and transcriptomic research are briefly discussedDr. H. Stefan Bracha12004-05-24Z2011-03-11T08:55:36Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/3641This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/36412004-05-24ZSocial Balance Theory: Revisiting Heider’s Balance Theory for many agents
We construct a model based on Heider’s social balance theory to analyze the interpersonal network among social agents. The model of social balance theory provides us an interesting tool to see how a social group evolves to the possible balance state. We introduce the balance index that can be used to measure social balance in macro structure level (global balance index) or in micro structure (local balance index) to see how the local balance index influences the global balance structure. Several experiments are done and we discover how the social group can form separation of subgroups in a group or strengthening a social group while emphasizing the structure theorem and social mitosis previously introduced. Mr Hokky SitungkirMr Deni Khanafiah2009-03-04T03:22:32Z2011-03-11T08:57:19Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6365This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/63652009-03-04T03:22:32ZThe STRS (shortness of breath, tremulousness, racing heart, and sweating): A brief checklist for acute distress with panic-like autonomic indicators; development and factor structureBackground: Peritraumatic response, as currently assessed by Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) diagnostic criterion A2, has weak positive predictive value (PPV) with respect to PTSD diagnosis. Research suggests that indicators of peritraumatic autonomic activation may supplement the PPV of PTSD criterion A2. We describe the development and factor structure of the STRS (Shortness of Breath, Tremulousness, Racing Heart, and Sweating), a one page, two-minute checklist with a five-point Likert-type response format based on a previously unpublished scale. It is the first validated self-report measure of peritraumatic activation of the autonomic nervous system.
Methods: We selected items from the Potential Stressful Events Interview (PSEI) to represent two latent variables: 1) PTSD diagnostic criterion A, and 2) acute autonomic activation. Participants (a convenience sample of 162 non-treatment seeking young adults) rated the most distressing incident of their lives on these items. We examined the factor structure of the STRS in this sample using factor and cluster analysis.
Results: Results confirmed a two-factor model. The factors together accounted for 68% of the variance. The variance in each item accounted for by the two factors together ranged from 41% to 74%. The item loadings on the two factors mapped precisely onto the two proposed latent variables.
Conclusion: The factor structure of the STRS is robust and interpretable. Autonomic activation signs tapped by the STRS constitute a dimension of the acute autonomic activation in response to stress that is distinct from the current PTSD criterion A2. Since the PTSD diagnostic criteria are likely to change in the DSM-V, further research is warranted to determine whether signs of peritraumatic autonomic activation such as those measured by this two-minute scale add to the positive predictive power of the current PTSD criterion A2. Additionally, future research is warranted to explore whether the four automatic activation items of the STRS can be useful as the basis for a possible PTSD criterion A3 in the DSM-V.H. Stefan Brachah.bracha@va.govAndrew E. WilliamsStephen N. HaynesEdward S KubanyTyler C. RalstonJennifer M. Yamashita2007-10-22T10:43:55Z2011-03-11T08:56:59Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/5771This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/57712007-10-22T10:43:55ZPlacenta ingestion by rats enhances d- and k-opioid antinociception, but suppresses m-opioid antinociceptionIngestion of placenta or amniotic fluid produces a dramatic enhancement of centrally mediated opioid antinociception in the rat. The present experiments investigated the role of each opioid receptor type (m, d, k) in the antinociception-modulating effects of Placental Opioid-Enhancing Factor (POEF—presumably the active substance). Antinociception was measured on a 52 C hotplate in adult, female rats after they ingested placenta or control substance (1.0 g) and after they received an intracerebroventricular injection of a d-specific ([D-Pen2,D-Pen5]enkephalin (DPDPE); 0, 30, 50, 62, or 70 nmol), m-specific ([D-Ala2,N-MePhe4,Gly5-ol]enkephalin (DAMGO); 0, 0.21, 0.29, or 0.39 nmol), or k-specific
(U-62066; spiradoline; 0, 100, 150, or 200 nmol) opioid receptor agonist. The results showed that ingestion of placenta potentiated d- and k-opioid antinociception, but attenuated m-opioid antinociception. This finding of POEF action as both opioid receptor-specific and complex
provides an important basis for understanding the intrinsic pain-suppression mechanisms that are activated during parturition and modified by placentophagia, and important information for the possible use of POEF as an adjunct to opioids in pain management.Jean M. DiPirroDr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.edu2003-02-03Z2011-03-11T08:55:08Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/2757This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/27572003-02-03ZCommunity Lynching and the US Asthma EpidemicWe explore the implications of IR Cohen's work on immune cognition for understanding rising rates of asthma morbidity and mortality in the US. Immune cognition is inherently linked with central nervous system cognition, and with the cognitive function of the embedding sociocultural networks by which individuals are acculturated and through which they work with others to meet challenges of threat and opportunity. Externally-imposed patterns of 'structured stress' can, through their effect on a child's socioculture, become synergistic with the development of immune cognition, triggering the persistence of an atopic Th2 phenotype, a necessary precursor to asthma and other immune diseases. Structured stress in the US particularly includes the cross sectional and longitudinal effects of a systematic destruction of minority urban communities occurring since the end of World War II which we characterize as community lynching. Reversal of the rising tide of asthma and related chronic diseases in the US thus seems unlikely without a 21st Century version of the earlier Great Urban Reforms which ended the scourge of infectious diseases, in particular an end to the de-facto ethnic cleansing of minority neighborhoodRodrick WallaceNew York State Psychiatric InstituteMindy FulliloveNew York State Psychiatric InstituteDeborah WallaceColumbia University2003-01-27Z2011-03-11T08:55:08Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/2745This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/27452003-01-27Z'Fat people and bombs':HPA axis cognition, structured stress, and the US obesity epidemicWe examine the accelerating 'obesity epidemic' in the US from the perspective of recently developed theory relating a cognitive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis to an embedding 'language' of structured psychosocial stress. Using a Rate Distortion argument, the obesity epidemic is found to represent the literal writing of an image of a ratcheting pathological social hierarchy onto the bodies of American adults and children. This process, while stratified by the usual divisions of class and ethnicity, is nonetheless relentlessly engulfing even affluent majority populations. Our perspective places the common explanation that 'obesity occurs when people eat too much and get too little exercise' in the same category as the remark by US President Calvin Coolidge on the eve of the Great Depression that 'unemployment occurs when large numbers of people are out of work'. Both statements ignore profound structural determinants of great population suffering which must be addressed by collective actions of equally great reform.Rodrick WallaceNew York State Psychiatric InstituteDeborah WallaceColumbia University2005-06-05Z2011-03-11T08:56:04Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/4375This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/43752005-06-05ZHemi-field memory for attractivenessIn order to determine whether or not facial attractiveness plays a role in hemispheric facial memory, 35 right-handed participants first assigned attractiveness ratings to faces and then performed a recognition test on those faces in the left visual half-field (LVF) and right visual half-field (RVF). We found significant interactions between the experimental factors and visual half- field. There were significant differences in the extreme ends of the rating scale, that is, the very unattractive versus the
very attractive faces: Female participants remembered very attractive faces of both women and men, with memory being superior in the RVF than in the LVF. In contrast,
the male participants remembered very unattractive faces of both women and men; RVF memory was better than the LVF for women faces while for men faces memory was superior in the LVF. The interactions with visual half-field suggest that hemispheric biases in remembering faces are influenced by degree of attractiveness.Choi DeblieckDahlia W. Zaidel2002-07-08Z2011-03-11T08:54:57Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/2314This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/23142002-07-08ZEnergy Medicine for the InternistEnergy medicine includes a broad variety of complementary/ alternative medicine (CAM) therapies, such as acupuncture, kinesiology, and spiritual healing. The term "energy medicine" derives from the perceptions and beliefs of therapists and patients that there are subtle, biological energies that surround and permeate the body. Recent research is confirming that these therapies can be helpful in treating many problems for which conventional medicine may have no cures. Growing numbers of doctors are integrating these therapies in their practices.Daniel J Benor2004-01-17Z2011-03-11T08:55:27Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/3386This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/33862004-01-17ZGreat Expectations: The Evolutionary Psychology of Faith-Healing and the Placebo EffectnoneNicholas Humphrey2002-11-23Z2011-03-11T08:55:06Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/2593This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/25932002-11-23ZThe Image of the Mother's Eye: Autism and Early Narcissistic InjuryAutism results from a pervasive cascade of developmental failure. Prevailing theory is that the primary deficit in autism (primary cause of the cascade) is a biological or genetic abnormality in the brain.
This paper challenges that theory. Though a primary cause should be both necessary and sufficient, none of the biological or genetic factors which are statistically linked to autism is either necessary or sufficient to cause autism. Another objection derives from the logic of cascades. A cascade’s primary cause is the same in kind as the events which comprise the cascade. Autism is a cascade of psychological failures. The associated biological and genetic factors must, I argue, increase the incidence of a primary psychological deficit.
I hypothesize: (1) The acquisition of the image of the mother’s eye is a critical very early step in development. Because the image symbolizes psychological containment, it is an essential element in the self-organization of the personality. (2) Failure to acquire (or retain) that image is the primary deficit in autism.
I show that these hypotheses are consistent with Holland’s paradigm of self-organization in complex adaptive systems.
The paper uses clinical data to illustrate the hypotheses. It then synthesizes evidence from experiments on infant vision, from Stern’s observations of infant-mother pairs, and from observations on the incidence of autism in infants with cranial nerve palsy, or congenital blindness, or severe early deprivation. To this it links evidence from studies of evolutionary changes in the primate eye and from experiments on the visual behavior of mildly autistic adults.
Theories of a biological cause have been undermined by the recent dramatic increase (273% from 1987 to 1998) in the incidence of autism in California. This increase was recently (October 2002) confirmed by Robert Byrd and co-workers; previously it had been widely dismissed as an artifact of measurement. The increase cannot be explained by genetic factors.
It is unlikely that the physical, chemical or biological environment in California deteriorated sufficiently in one decade to account for such a large increase. It is more likely that a change in social behavior (affecting a psychological factor) could be sufficiently rapid.
Because of the significance to public health of the rapid increase in autism, there is likely to be a vigorous new effort to identify its cause(s). The problem should be debated across disciplinary lines. This paper is a timely contribution to that debate.
If the primary deficit is psychological then, to some extent, research should be redirected towards exploring autism at the psychological level. Scientists may need to evaluate suggestions derived, for example, from psychoanalytic data. My paper attempts this difficult collaboration. It shows that the image-of-the-eye hypothesis leads to a testable prediction: that autism is statistically linked to the early use of daycare. Maxson J. McDowell2002-04-05Z2011-03-11T08:54:55Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/2164This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/21642002-04-05ZHuman Pheromones: Integrating Neuroendocrinology and EthologyThe effect of sensory input on hormones is essential to any explanation of mammalian behavior, including aspects of physical attraction. The chemical signals we send have direct and developmental effects on hormone levels in other people. Since we don't know either if, or how, visual cues might have direct and developmental effects on hormone levels in other people, the biological basis for the development of visually perceived human physical attraction is currently somewhat questionable. In contrast, the biological basis for the development of physical attraction based on chemical signals is well detailed.James V. KohlMichaela AtzmuellerBernhard FinkKarl Grammer2002-01-29Z2011-03-11T08:54:53Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/2051This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/20512002-01-29ZConditioned blocking and schizophrenia: a replication and study of the role of symptoms, age, onset-age of psychosis and illness-durationIntroduction:
Measures of selective attention processing like latent inhibition (LI) and conditioned blocking (CB) are disturbed in some patients with schizophrenia. (LI is the delay in learning about the associations of a stimulus that has been associated with no event [vs. de novo learning]; CB is the delay in learning the associations of a stimulus-component when the other component has already started to acquire these associations.) We proposed, -
a) to replicate the reported decreases of CB in patients without paranoid-hallucinatory symptoms,
b) to see if CB depends on the age of illness-onset and its duration, as reported for LI.
Methods:
We studied 101 young and old, acute and chronically ill patients with schizophrenia, of whom 62 learned a modified 'mouse-in-house' CB task, and compared them with 62 healthy controls matched for age, education and socio-economic background.
Results:
1/ CB was more evident in patients with a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia than other subtypes.
2/ An unusual persistence of high CB scores through testing was associated with productive symptoms (including positive thought disorder).
3/ Reduced CB related to the increased expression of a) Schneider's first rank symptoms of ideas-of-reference and b) to negative symptoms like poor rapport and poor attention.
4/ CB was less evident in the older patients (age range 9.5-63.3y) and those with an earlier illness-onset (range 8.5-45.8y).
Conclusions:
In contrast to the similar LI test of selective attention CB is found in patients with paranoid schizophrenia and, unlike LI, the expression of CB by patients with schizophrenia is not related closely to illness-duration.
Reduced CB tended to be found in those with an earlier onset, a group often noted for more severe cognitive problems. These results imply that CB and LI reflect the activity of different underlying processes.
We suggest that reduced CB on the first few test-trials in nonparanoid schizophrenia reflects the unusual persistence of controlled information processing strategies that would normally become automatic during conditioning. In contrast continued CB during testing in patients with positive (paranoid) symptoms reflects an unusual persistence of automatic processing strategies.
Bender Müller Oades Sartory2002-01-11Z2011-03-11T08:54:52Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/2018This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/20182002-01-11ZDehydroepiandrosterone sulphate and corticotropin levels are high in young male patients with conduct disorder: comparisons with growth factors, thyroid and gonadal hormonesIntroduction: The biological concomitants of childhood conduct disorder (CD) have seldom been considered separate from those of hyperkinesis with which CD is often comorbid. CD predicts an increased likelihood of developing a personality disorder and is often associated with an antisocial outcome. Childhood CD may originate in a stressful upbringing in a dysfunctional family environment, and has been reported to be associated with unusual physical or sexual development and thyroid dysfunction.
Methods: We therefore explored circulating levels of hormones from adrenal, gonadal and growth-hormone axes associated with stress, aggression and development in 28 CD patients and 13 age-matched healthy children (10-18 years old).
Results:
1/ The CD group had higher levels of dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA-S) and corticotropin (ACTH) and for those under 14 years of age there was more free triiodothyronine (fT3) in the circulation.
2/ There were no differences for gonadal hormones, and neither the levels of steroid hormones nor the ratings of maturity (early/late) were associated with aggression, as has been reported elsewhere. 3/ Smaller physical measures in CD children correlated with DHEA-S and growth factors (e.g. IGF-I): 4/ increased ACTH and fT3 correlated with restless-impulsive ratings, and DHEA-S with 'disruptive behaviour'.
Conclusions: Imbalances in the adrenal and growth axes may indeed have neurotrophic repercussions in growth and development.
Dmitrieva Oades Hauffa Eggers2001-08-06Z2011-03-11T08:54:44Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1671This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/16712001-08-06ZGenetic dissection of mouse exploratory behaviourA large variety of apparatus and procedures are being employed to measure mouse exploratory behaviour. Definitions of what constitutes exploration also vary widely. The present article reviews two studies, whose results permet a genetic dissection of behaviour displayed in an open-field situation. The results agree that factors representing exploration and stress/fear underly this type of behaviour. Both factors appear to be linked to neuroanatomical variation in the sizes of the hippocampal intra- and infrapyramidal mossy fiber terminal fields. Multivariate analysis of genetic correlations may render inmportant insights into the structure of behaviour and its relations with neuroanatomical and neurophysiological systems.Wim E. Crusio2002-01-11Z2011-03-11T08:54:52Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/2015This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/20152002-01-11ZNeuropsychological indicators of heteromodal cortex (dys)function relevant to conditioned blocking measures of attention in schizophreniaBackground.
Learning a predictive relationship between two events can block learning about an added event (conditioned blocking, CB). Patients with nonparanoid schizophrenia can show reduced CB and learn about the similar consequences of the added event. What parts of the brain are involved in the functions required in learning the CB task and actually showing 'blocking' - a part of normal selective attention processes? As a first approximation, we ask if neuropsychological test performance sensitive to specific cortical regions is associated with these two functions.
Methods.
This study reports on the relationship of associative learning and CB measures of attention obtained with a visuospatial maze-like task to signs of heteromodal cortex function provided by performance on a battery of 10 neuropsychological tasks. These tasks were sensitive to frontal, parietal and temporal lobe function of the left and right hemisphere. Acquisition criteria for the task were achieved by 62 patients with schizophrenia and 62 matched controls but not by 39 other people with schizophrenia.
Results.
First right-hemisphere, visuo-spatial abilities were generally associated with faster task-learning (e.g. visual reproduction, immediate and delayed, picture-completion), and patients that could not learn the task were poorer on tests emphasising set-switching and problem-solving abilities associated with left frontal lobe function (e.g. trail-making, block-design).
Second CB expression depended on Stroop- and Mooney-faces-task performance that are reported to require cingulate and parietal lobe function.
Conclusions.
As would be predicted right hemisphere function was implicated in performing a visuospatial learning task. The additional CB requirement incurred additional anterior cingulate and right parietal involvement. Functionally this probably reflected effortful attentional processes, and illustrates the problems of patients with schizophrenia in switching between automatic and controlled processing strategies. The results are astonishingly consistent with imaging studies implicating brain regions such as the cingulate and intra-parietal sulcus in attention (Mesulam, 1999).
R.D. Oades Bender Müller Sartory2002-09-26Z2011-03-11T08:55:00Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/2475This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/24752002-09-26ZThe Split-Brain debate revisited: On the importance of language and self-recognition for right hemispheric consciousness. In this commentary I use recent empirical evidence and
theoretical analyses concerning the importance of language and the meaning of self-recognition to reevaluate the claim that the right mute hemisphere in commissurotomized patients possesses a full consciousness. Preliminary data indicate that inner speech is deeply linked to self-awareness; also, four hypotheses concerning the crucial role inner speech plays in self-focus are presented. The legitimacy of self-recognition as a strong operationalization of self-awareness in the right hemisphere is also questioned on the basis that it might rather tap a preexisting body awareness having little to do with an access to mental events. I conclude with the formulation of an alternative interpretation of commissurotomy according to self-awareness — a “complete” one in the left hemisphere and a “primitive” one in the right hemisphere,Alain Morin2001-11-14Z2011-03-11T08:54:49Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1886This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/18862001-11-14ZWhen is a conclusion worth deriving? A relevance-based analysis of indeterminate relational problemsWhen is a conclusion worth deriving? We claim that a conclusion is worth deriving to the extent that it is relevant in the sense of relevance theory (Sperber & Wilson, 1995). To support this hypothesis, we experiment with "indeterminate relational problems" where we ask participants what, if anything, follows from premises such as A is taller than B, A is taller than C. With such problems, the indeterminate response that nothing follows is common, and we explain why. We distinguish several types of determinate conclusions and show that their rate is a function of their relevance. We argue that by appropriately changing the formulation of the premises, the relevance of determinate conclusions can be increased, and the rate of indeterminate responses thereby reduced. We contrast these relevance-based predictions with predictions based on linguistic congruence.Jean-Baptiste Van der HenstGuy PolitzerDan Sperber2000-06-14Z2011-03-11T08:53:42Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/149This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1492000-06-14ZTHE MIND AND BRAIN SCHOLAR AS A HITCH-HIKER IN POST-GUTENBERG GALAXY: PUBLISHING AT 2000 AND BEYONDElectronic journal (e-journal) publishing has started to change the ways we think about publish-ing. However, many scholars and scientists in the mind and brain sciences are still ignorant of the new possibilities and on-going debates. This paper will provide a summary of the issues in-volved, give an update of the current discussion, and supply practical information on issues re-lated to e- journal publishing and self-archiving relevant for the mind and brain sciences. Issues such as differences between traditional and e-journal publishing, open archive initiatives, world-wide conventions, quality control, costs involved in e-journal publishing, and copyright questions will be addressed. Practical hints on how to self-archive, how to submit to the e-journal Psycolo-quy, how to create an open research archive, and where to find information relevant to e-publishing will be supplied.Brigitte StemmerMarianne CorreYves Joanette2001-10-27Z2011-03-11T08:54:48Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1841This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/18412001-10-27ZDifferential measures of 'sustained attention' in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity or tic disorders: relations to monoamine metabolismIntroduction: Controversy exists on whether the constructs related to sustained attention and tested by paper/pencil tasks and computerized continuous-performance-tests (CPT) are similar, and whether the deficits recorded in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity symptoms (ADHD) using these different forms of testing information processing are comparable.
Methods: Signal-detection measures (d-prime and beta-criterion) and type of error were recorded on four such tests of 'sustained attention', with increasing working-memory requirements (respond to 'x', respond to 'x' only after 'a') in healthy children (n = 14, mean 10 years of age), and those with ADHD (n = 14, mean 10 years of age) or a tic syndrome (TS, n = 11, mean 11 years of age). Clinical associations were sought from 24h-urinary measures of monoamine activity (parent amines and metabolites), - dopamine (DA), HVA, noradrenaline (NA), MHPG, serotonin (5-HT), 5-HIAA.
Results:
The cancellation paper/pencil test revealed no group differences for errors or signal detection measures. In contrast, on the CPTx ADHD children made more omission and commission errors than controls, but TS children made mostly omissions. This reflected the poor perceptual sensitivity (d-prime, d') for ADHD and conservative response criteria (beta) for TS children.
This group difference extended to the CPT ax which was shown on a regression analysis to test for putative working-memory-related abilities as well as concentration. In all children immediate response-feedback (vs. feedback at the end of the test) reduced omissions, and modestly improved d'. CPT ax performance related negatively to dopamine metabolism in controls and to serotonin metabolism in the ADHD group. But comparisons between the metabolites in the ADHD group suggest that increased serotonin- and decreased noradrenaline- with respect to dopamine-metabolism may detract from CPT performance in terms of d-prime.
Conclusions: CPT tasks demonstrated a perceptual-based impairment in ADHD and response conservatism in TS patients independent of difficulty. Catecholamine activity was implicated in the promotion of perceptual processing in normal and ADHD children, but serotonin activity may contribute to poor CPTax performance (emphasis on working-memory function) in ADHD patients.
Robert D. Oades2000-11-02Z2011-03-11T08:54:25Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1078This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/10782000-11-02ZGreat Expectations: The Evolutionary Psychology of Faith-Healing and the Placebo responsenoneNicholas Humphrey2003-04-15Z2011-03-11T08:55:15Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/2867This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/28672003-04-15ZGreat Expectations: The Evolutionary Psychology of Faith-Healing and the Placebo responsenoneNicholas Humphrey2008-11-02T10:00:10Z2011-03-11T08:57:13Zhttp://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.edu1999-08-26Z2011-03-11T08:53:52Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/391This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/3911999-08-26ZIs Supervenience Asymmetric?After some preliminary clarifications, arguments for the supposed asymmetry of supervenience and determination, such as they are, are shown to be unsound. An argument against the supposed asymmetry is then constructed and defended against objections. This is followed by explanations of why the intuition of asymmetry is nonetheless so entrenched, and of how the asymmetric ontological priority of the physical over the non-physical can be understood without the supposed asymmetry of supervenience and determination.John F. Post2001-10-27Z2011-03-11T08:54:48Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1843This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/18432001-10-27ZNeuropsychological and conditioned blocking performance in patients with schizophrenia: assessment of the contribution of neuroleptic dose, serum levels and dopamine D2-receptor occupancyIntroduction:
Patients with schizophrenia are widely reported to show impairments of attention and neuropsychological performance, but the extent to which this is attributable to medication and dopamine (DA) function remains largely unexplored.
Methods:
We describe here the putative influence of 1) the dose of antipsychotic medication (chlorpromazine equivalents, CPZ), 2) the antipsychotic serum concentration (neuroleptic units in terms of butyrophenone displacement from animal neostriatum) and 3) the approximated DA D2-receptor occupancy in the brain (based on regression curves from 11 studies published for 5 neuroleptics) - - on conditioned blocking (CB) measures of attention and performance on a neuropsycholog-ical battery. We studied 108 patients with schizophrenia with 62 healthy controls.
Results:
1) Antipsychotic serum concentration and D2-occupancy were higher in patients with a paranoid vs. non-paranoid diagnosis, and in female vs. male patients (independent of symptom severity).
2) Controlling for D2-occupancy removed the difference between high CB in paranoid and impaired low CB measures of selective attention in nonparanoid patients.
3) Similar partial correlations for antipsychotic drug dose and serum levels of DA D2-blocking activity with performance on the trail-making and picture completion tests (negative) and the block-design test (positive) showed the functional importance of DA-related activity.
4) High estimates of D2-occupancy were related to impaired verbal fluency - but - were associated with improved recall of stories, especially in paranoid patients.
5) Non-dopaminergic aspects of medication (i.e. CPZ-dependent but not D2-occupancy-associated) impaired verbal recall in males (left-hemisphere function) and non-verbal performance in females (reflecting right hemisphere function).
Conclusions:
This first study of its kind tentatively imputes a role for DA D2-related activity in left frontal (e.g. CB and verbal fluency) and temporal lobe functions (verbal recall), as well as in some non-verbal abilities mediated more in the right hemisphere of patients with schizophrenia
R.D. OadesM.L. RaoS. BenderG. SartoryB.W. Müller2004-04-07Z2011-03-11T08:55:31Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/3552This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/35522004-04-07ZA theoretical framework for the study of spatial cognitionWe argue that the locomotion of organisms is better understood as a form of interaction with a subjective environment, rather than as a set of behaviors allegedly amenable to objective descriptions. An organism's interactions with its subjective environment are in turn understandable in terms of its cognitive architecture. We propose a large-scale classification of the possible types of cognitive architectures, giving a sketch of the subjective structure that each of them superimposes on space and of the relevant consequences on locomotion. The classification comprises a main division between nonrepresentational and representational architectures and further subdivisions.Maurizio TirassaAntonella CarassaGiuliano Geminiani1999-08-24Z2011-03-11T08:53:52Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/389This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/3891999-08-24ZBreakwater: The New Wave, Supervenience and IndividualismNew-wave psychoneural reduction, a la Bickle and Churchland, conflicts with the way certain adaptation properties are individuated according to evolutionary biology. Such properties cannot be reduced to physical properties of the token items that have the adaptation properties. The New Wave may entail a form of individualism inconsistent with evolutionary biology. All of this causes serious trouble as well for Jaegwon Kim's thesis of the Causal Individuation of Kinds, his Weak Supervenience thesis, Alexander's Dictum, his synchronicity thesis that all psychological kinds supervene on the contemporaneous physical states of the organism, Correlation Thesis, and indeed his Restricted Correlation Thesis. All these theses are strongly individualist, in the sense of entailing that ALL a thing's properties are determined by its own physical properties and relations, contrary to many properties in biology and psychology.John F. Post1999-07-16Z2011-03-11T08:53:43Zhttp://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. Hammel2002-11-24Z2011-03-11T08:54:51Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/2002This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/20022002-11-24ZJungian Analysis and BiologyAn archetype is a psychological invariant, common to each of us, which appears to be inherited rather than learned. But there are not enough genes to account for inherited archetypes. The contradiction is explained in terms of emergent self-organization. The apparent "purposefulness" both of dreams and of psychological maturation may also be explained by self-organization. Evidence is drawn from biology and from clinical work with patients. Maxson John McDowell1998-09-25Z2011-03-11T08:54:15Zhttp://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 Shizgal1998-12-14Z2011-03-11T08:53:39Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/72This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/721998-12-14ZUsing spontaneous and induced mutations to genetically-dissect brain and behaviorReport on the First Brain Research Interactive Conference "Knockouts and Mutants, Genetically Dissecting Brain and Behavior". Held in San Diego, CA, USA; 4-6 November 1998.Wim E. Crusio1999-03-01Z2011-03-11T08:54:17Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/800This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/8001999-03-01ZThe sexual competition hypothesis for eating disordersA hypothesis is presented for eating disorders that contends that these syndromes together with the phenomenon of the pursuit of thinness are manifestations of female intra-sexual competition. It is argued that the present-day environment of Western coutries presnts a range of conditions that have led to the overactivation or disruption of the archaic female sexual strategy of maximising 'mate value'. The hypothesis deals with the ultimate level of causation and is therefore compatible with a range of theories dealing with the proximate level of causation.Riadh T Abed1998-10-20Z2011-03-11T08:53:51Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/365This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/3651998-10-20ZTHE THEORY OF THE ORGANISM-ENVIRONMENT SYSTEM: II. SIGNIFICANCE OF NERVOUS ACTIVITY IN THE ORGANISM-ENVIRONMENT SYSTEMThe relation between mental processes and brain activity is studied from the point of view of the theory of the organism-environment system. It is argued that the systemic point of view leads to a new kind of definition of the primary tasks of neurophysiology and to a new understanding of the traditional neurophysiological concepts. Neurophysiology is restored to its place as a part of biology: its task is the study of neurons as living units, not as computer chips. Neurons are living units which are organised as metabolic systems in connection with other neurons; they are not units which would carry out some psychological functions or maintain states which are typical only of the whole organism-environment system. Psychological processes, on the other hand, are processes always comprising the whole organism-environment system.Timo Jarvilehto1998-11-14Z2011-03-11T08:53:39Zhttp://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. Kristal1998-06-22Z2011-03-11T08:53:38Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/48This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/481998-06-22ZTime-Frequency Analysis Reveals Multiple Functional Components During Oddball P300A time-frequency decomposition was applied to rare target and frequent non-target event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited in an oddball condition to assess whether multiple functional components occur in the P300 latency range. The wavelet transform (WT) was used because it allows capture of simultaneous or partly overlapping components in ERPs without loosing their temporal relationships. The application of a four-octave quadratic B-spline wavelet transform at the level of single-sweep data allowed us to obtain new information and revealed the presence of separate events during P300 development. Several delta, theta, and alpha frequency components in the P300 latency range differed between target and non-target processing. These findings indicate that P300 is composed of multiple functional components and that the WT method is of use for the study of P300 functional correlates more precisely.Vasil KolevTamer DemiralpJuliana YordanovaAhmet AdemogluÜmmühan Isoglu-Alkaç2000-07-10Z2011-03-11T08:53:42Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/151This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1512000-07-10ZBrain asymmetry and facial attractiveness: Facial beauty is not simply in the eye of the beholder.We recently reported finding asymmetry in the appearance of beauty on the face [39]. Here we investigated whether facial beauty is a stable characteristic (on the owner's very face) or is in the perceptual space of the observer. We call the question 'the owner versus observer hypothesis'. We compared identity judgements and attractiveness ratings of observers. Subjects viewed left-left and right-right composites of faces and decided which most resembled the normal face (Experiment 1). Identity judgements (resemblance) are known to be associated with perceptual factors in the observer. Another group viewed the same normal faces and rated them on attractiveness (Experiment 2). In each experiment there were two separate viewing conditions, original and reversed (mirror-image). Lateral reversal did affect the results of Experiment 1 (confirming previous findings [3,18]) but did not affect the results of Experiment 2. The fact that lateral reversal did not affect the results of Experiment 2 suggests that facial attractiveness is more dependent on physiognomy (of the owner) and less dependent on an asymmetrical perceptual process (in the observer) than is facial identity. The results are discussed in the context of beautys biological significance and facial processing in the brain.Audrey C. ChenCraig GermanDahlia W. Zaidel1998-06-18Z2011-03-11T08:53:49Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/328This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/3281998-06-18ZIndividualism and Evolutionary Psychology (or: In Defense of 'Narrow' Functions)Millikan and Wilson argue, for different reasons, that the essential reference to the environment in adaptationist explanations of behavior makes (psychological) individualism inconsistent with evolutionary psychology. I show that their arguments are based on misinterpretations of the role of reference to the environment in such explanations. By exploring these misinterpretations, I develop an account of explanation in evolutionary psychology that is fully consistent with individualism. This does not, however, constitute a full-fledged defense of individualism, since evolutionary psychology is only one explanatory paradigm among many in psychology.David J. Buller2008-11-02T10:00:17Z2011-03-11T08:57:13Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6248This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/62482008-11-02T10:00:17ZThe Analgesia-Enhancing Component of
Ingested Amniotic Fluid Does Not Affect
Nicotine-Induced Antinociception in
Naltrexone-Treated RatsIngestion of amniotic fluid and placenta by rats has been shown to enhance opioid-mediated antinociception but not affect the nonopioid-mediated antinociception produced by aspirin, suggesting spccificity for opioid-mediated processes. However, enhancement by the active substance(s) in amniotic fluid and placenta1 (POEF, for placental opioid-enhancing factor) of antinociception produced by other nonopioid mechanisms has yet to be examined. The present experiments tested whether ingestion of amniotic fluid enhances the antinociception produced by nicotine injection. In Experiment IA, Enhancement of morphine-mediated antinociception by ingestion of amniotic fluid was demonstrated in a hot-plate assay. In Experiment IB, rats pretreated with naltrexone were given an orogastric infusion of amniotic fluid or control (0.25 ml), then injected with nicotine (0, 0.075, 0.125, or 0.225 mg/kg subcutaneously), then tested for antinociception in a hot-plate assay. Amniotic fluid ingestion did not enhance the antinociception produced by various doses of nicotine. In Experiment 2, rats pretreated with naltrexone were given an orogastric infusion of amniotic fluid (0, 0.125,
0.25, or 0.50 ml) and then injectcd with 0.125 mg/kg nicotine. None of the doses of amniotic fluid enhanced the nicotine-induced antinociception. The findings of these experiments lend support to our contention that the enhancement by POEF of antinociception is specific to opioid-mediated processes.T.M. ROBINSON-VANDERWERFJean M. DiPirroDr. A.R. CaggiulaDr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.edu1997-10-14Z2011-03-11T08:53:42Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/162This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1621997-10-14ZPlaying with Play What Can We Learn About Cognition, Negotiation, and Evolution?In these papers we mainly consider how analyses of social play in nonhuman animals (hereafter animals) can inform inquiries about the evolution of cognitive mechanisms. Social play is a good behavioral phenotype on which to concentrate for when animals play they typically perform behavior patterns that are used in other contexts (e.g. predation, aggression, or reproduction). Thus, individuals need to be able to tell one another that they do not want to eat, fight with, or mate with the other individual(s), but rather, they want to play with them. In most species (primarily mammals) in which play has been observed, specific actions have evolved that are used to initiate or to maintain play. Furthermore, sequences of play usually differ from nonplay sequences (within species) and self-handicapping has also been observed, in which, for example, dominant individuals allow themselves to be dominated _only_ in the context of play. In our consideration of how play is initiated and maintained, w discuss issues including the evolution of play, the ecology of play, the sorts of information that are shared during play, what cognitive psychologists who study humans can learn from cognitive ethologists who study other animals, and what play can tell us about the emergence of mind in animals. These essays draw on literature from ethology, psychology, and philosophy.Marc Bekoff2000-12-08Z2011-03-11T08:54:27Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1143This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/11432000-12-08ZThe problems of inattention: methods and interpretations. (Editorial)NoneR. D. OADESG. SARTORY1998-08-12Z2011-03-11T08:53:38Zhttp://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. Kristal2008-11-02T10:00:39Z2011-03-11T08:57:13Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6246This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/62462008-11-02T10:00:39ZBlockade of Digestion by Famotidine
Pretreatment Does Not Interfere With the Opioid-Enhancing
Effect of Ingested Amniotic FluidIngestion of placenta or amniotic fluid by rats has been shown to enhance ongoing opioid-mediated antinociception, but does not, by itself, produce antinociception. This enhancement is produced by an active substance(s) in placenta and amniotic fluid that we have termed POEF for placental opioid-enhancing factor. Previous research has shown that enhancement requires mediation by the gastrointestinal system: gastric vagotomy blocks enhancement produced by ingested placenta; amniotic fluid injected SC or IP does not produce enhancement. The present study was designed to distinguish between two possible explanations for the blockade of the POEF effect produced by gastric vagotomy: that afferent information arising in vagal gastric receptors conveys the critical information to the CNS, or that disruption of vagal efferent action on digestion blocks the manufacture or activation of the POEF molecule in the gut. Famotidine is an H2-histamine receptor antagonist that reduces gastric acid and pepsin secretion to an extent at least as great as gastric vagotomy. Rats treated with either famotidine or a vehicle were fed placenta or a control substance, then stimulated with vaginal/cervical probing to produce antinociception that is partly opioid mediated. Famotidine did not block POEF enhancement of vaginal/cervical stimulation-induced analgesia in a tail flick latency test. These results suggest that enhancement by POEF does not require normal digestive processes or other processes inhibited by famotidine.T.M. RobinsonPatricia AbbottDr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.edu1998-11-14Z2011-03-11T08:53:39Zhttp://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. Kristal1999-09-02Z2011-03-11T08:53:52Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/392This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/3921999-09-02ZReview of Jaegwon Kim, Supervenience and Mind"Adaptation properties," as individuated according to evolutionary biology, cannot be reduced to physical properties of the token items that have the adaptation properties. This causes serious if not fatal trouble for several of Kim's crucial theses: the Causal Individuation of Kinds, Weak Supervenience, Alexander's Dictum, the synchronicity thesis (that all psychological kinds supervene on the contemporaneous physical states of the organism), the Correlation Thesis, and indeed his Restricted Correlation Thesis. All these theses are strongly individualist, in the sense of entailing that all a thing's properties are determined by its own physical properties and relations, contrary to many properties in biology and psychology.John F. Post2001-02-02Z2011-03-11T08:54:29Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1269This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/12692001-02-02ZChildhood autism: an appeal for an integrative and psychobiological approachIntroduction: Childhood autism, overtly expressed as social indifference and repetitive motor patterns, in fact involves a range of problems covering sensory, attentional, cognitive, emotional, language as well as motor areas of function - 25 symptoms can be listed. Although a reduced verbal IQ and language difficulties are frequent, a major intervening variable may be problems with the development of a "theory-of-mind" ....the ability to comprehend the mental states of others. Prevalence rates per 10,000 of the population range from 2 to 16 in different countries, rising to 50 if one includes spectrum autistic disorder. A number of sometimes related organic associations and potentially separate aetiologies are described.
Biology: Evidence for delayed neurotransmission (evoked potentials) and a lack of flexibility in physiological responses (signal detection, cross-modal integration) may underlie the attenuation of monitoring processes that lead to withdrawal and stereotypies. Neuropsychological task performance provides limited and qualified evidence for impaired frontal function, although this could explain event-related potential (ERP) evidence for more of a deficit with controlled attention (Nd) than in automatic processing (MMN). [ERPs also underline the difficulties in generating differential responses to relevant and irrelevant stimuli.] Imaging studies show some structural abnormalities in half the patients (e.g. ventricle volume increases), but indices of activation, though in the normal range do not appear situation-appropriate.
Pharmacology:
a) A significant proportion of autistic subjects show increased peripheral measures of serotonin and quite often raised dopamine metabolism - that in some high-functioning cases has been claimed to be beneficial. It is plausible that changes in monoaminergic transmission are inadequately compensated by changes in the other transmitter systems.
b) With serotonin and dopamine responsible for inhibition/volume-control and for switching/flexibility we propose an imbalance of these systems that results in a stop-go form of neuronal communication that inevitably leads to anomalous responses at the whole organism level.
c) At least 20 forms of pharmocotherapy have been attempted, the best with improvement limited to a few patients improving particular symptoms only. The best have proved to be dopamine or opioid antagonists, but at best - these have a limited and modest role to play in clinical care
Conclusions: The impairment of children with autism manifests itself at many levels - treatment concepts must attempt to integrate these, with emphasis on the particular abilities and difficulties of the individual. The need is to synthesize the different levels of analysis for a psychobiological approach to be integrated into the wide-ranging remedial programmes currently practised..
Robert D. OadesC. Eggers2001-01-15Z2011-03-11T08:54:29Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1227This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/12272001-01-15ZMonoamine activity reflected in urine of young patients with obsessive compulsive disorder, psychosis with and without reality distortion and healthy subjects: an explorative analysisIntroduction: Positive psychotic symptoms are reported to be associated with high dopamine (DA), negative symptoms with low DA activity and serotonin (5-HT) activity may be altered in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Method: We analysed 24h urine samples in groups of patients with OCD, paranoid and non-paranoid schizophrenia and in healthy controls for supportive evidence.
Results: Young unmedicated OCD subjects excreted more adrenaline (AD) and homovanillic acid (HVA) and showed a higher HVA/MHPG metabolite ratio and metabolic rate than healthy controls. Independent of general metabolic rate OCD patients showed higher HVA concentrations which suggests that the relative activity of catecholamine systems in OCD (HVA/MHPG) is due more to high DA than to low noradrenergic (NA) activity. Concentrations of 5-HT were also high in OCD patients. In psychotic patients low levels of DA, HVA, NA and MHPG probably resulted from neuroleptic medication.
Conclusions: 1. Patients diagnosed with paranoid psychosis showed higher DA utilization than controls and those with few paranoid symptoms showed high 5-HT utilization. 2. These results support studies suggesting that paranoid psychosis is associated more with increased DA activity (discussed in the context of neuroleptic reactivity), that non-paranoid forms are associated more with increased 5-HT activity and that OCD patients are unusually aroused with high levels of Adrenaline, 5-HT and HVA.
R. D. Oades Röpcke Eggers2001-01-15Z2011-03-11T08:54:29Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1229This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/12292001-01-15ZSerum gonadal steroid hormones in young schizophrenic patientsPsychosis is reported to show a later age of onset in women than in men and its nature and course in women may also differ.
Our aim was to see if levels of four steroid hormones at the start of early-onset psychosis differ from other groups of young people and if predicted low levels of estrogen (E2) are a feature of female psychosis. [We would predict that female schizophrenia patients on a child and adoelscent psychiatry ward would show low levels of E2 with its putative neuroleptic like protective properties.]
Methods: Two blood samples from 22 young psychotic patients were analysed by radioimmunoassay for E2, progesterone (PROG), testosterone (TE) and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS).
Results: Female psychotic patients showed E2 levels lower than matched healthy cycling controls but higher than those on a contraceptive pill: they also showed higher TE levels than controls.
Male psychotic patients had higher DHEAS levels than healthy or obsessive compulsive disorder subjects.
Conclusions: We suggest that illness-related changes of steroids can be measured superimposed on medication - induced changes and that lower E2 levels in psychotic women may increase their vulnerability to psychosis. Changes of TE in female and DHEAS in male psychotics may be more a consequence of the illness. However we postulate that increased DHEAS levels could interfere with normal neurodevelopmental neuronal pruning processes (cf. increased DHEAS levels in male adolescents with conduct disorder, Dmitrieva et al., 1999, 2001)
Oades Schepker2008-09-19T14:08:54Z2011-03-11T08:57:11Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6189This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/61892008-09-19T14:08:54ZAmniotic Fluid Ingestion Before Vaginal/Cervical Stimulation Produces a Dose-Dependent Enhancement of Analgesia and Blocks PseudopregnancyA substance in amniotic fluid (AF) and placenta has been shown to enhance analgesia produced by morphine, late pregnancy, footshock, and vaginal/cervical stimulation (VS). When morphine-induced analgesia was assessed previously, the degree of enhancement by ingestion of AF or placenta was found to be a function of the amount of analgesia being generated. We have extended these results to include the analgesia produced by VS. Analgesia induced by 75, 125, 175, or 225 g of vaginal/cervical pressure was measured in rats pretreated with 0.25 ml (by orogastric infusion) of either AF or saline. AF infusion enhanced the analgesia produced by 125 g VS, but did not affect the analgesia produced by 75, 175, or 225 g VS. Unexpectedly, we also found that infusion of AF shortly before the application of VS prevents VS-induced pseudopregnancy (PsP). Whereas the incidence of PsP following 75, 125, or 175 g VS was less than 19% and not statistically different for AF and saline pretreatments, the incidence of PsP after 225 g VS was 44% in saline-pretreated rats, but only 10% in AF-pretreated rats. Protection from the induction of pseudopregnancy, which could be caused by mechanical stimulation of the cervical area during delivery, may be an additional benefit of parturitional ingestion of placenta and amniotic fluid (placentophagia).Alexis C. Thompsonathompso@RIA.Buffalo.EDUPatricia AbbottJean C. DoerrElizabeth J. FergusonDr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.edu2008-09-19T13:55:20Z2011-03-11T08:57:12Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6212This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/62122008-09-19T13:55:20ZAmniotic-Fluid Ingestion Enhances
Morphine Analgesia During Morphine
Tolerance and Withdrawal in RatsIngestion of placenta and amniotic fluid has been shown to enhance opioid-mediated analgesia in rats produced by morphine injection. footshock, vaginal/cervical stimulation, and during late pregnancy. The present study was designed to investigate the effects of amniotic fluid ingestion on the characteristics of morphine dependency and withdrawal. Tail-flick latencies in Long-Evans rats were determined before and after repeated daily injections of morphine sulfate. It was found that ingestion of amniotic fluid after establishment of the morphine dependency, coupled with an injection of an otherwise ineffective dose of morphine, enhanced analgesia in morphine-dependent rats, and reversed hyperalgesia seen during withdrawal from morphine dependency.Jean C. DoerrDr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.edu2008-09-19T13:55:05Z2011-03-11T08:57:12Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6211This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/62112008-09-19T13:55:05ZAmniotic-Fluid Ingestion Enhances the Central
Analgesic Effect of MorphineAmniotic fluid and placenta contain a substance (POEF) that when ingested enhances opioid-mediated analgesia produced by several agents (morphine injection, vaginal/cervical stimulation, late pregnancy, footshock), but not that produced by aspirin injection. The present series of experiments employed quaternary naltrexone, an opioid antagonist that does not readily cross the blood-brain barrier, in conjunction with either peripheral or central administration of morphine, to determine whether amniotic-fluid ingestion (and therefore POEF ingestion) enhances opioid-mediated analgesia by affecting the central and/or peripheral actions of morphine. The results suggest that POEF affects only the central analgesic effects of morphine.Jean M. DiPirrodipirrjm@buffalostate.eduAlexis C. Thompsonathompso@ria.buffalo.eduDr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.edu1998-11-15Z2011-03-11T08:53:43Zhttp://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. Kristal2008-11-02T10:00:23Z2011-03-11T08:57:13Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6249This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/62492008-11-02T10:00:23ZAmniotic Fluid Ingestion Enhances
Opioid-Mediated But Not
Nonopioid-Mediated AnalgesiaIngestion of amniotic fluid or placenta by rats has been shown to enhance several types of opioid-mediated analgesia: that induced by morphine, footshock, vaginal/cervical stimulation, and late pregnancy. This enhancement has also been blocked by administration of opioid antagonists. The present study was designed to examine further the specificity of the enhancement effect for opioid-mediated analgesia by testing for enhancement following administration of aspirin, a nonopioid analgesic. The formalin test was used as the pain threshold assay. Amniotic fluid or beef bouillon was administered by orogastric tube to rats that were treated either with morphine sulfate or saline. or pretreated with naltrexone, then treated with aspirin or vehicle. Both morphine and aspirin treatments produced analgesia. Amniotic fluid significantly enhanced the analgesia produced by morphine, but did not enhance the analgesia produced by aspirin, further suggesting that the enhancing effect of amniotic fluid ingestion is specific for opioid-mediated analgesia, such as that existing at the start of parturition.Dr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.eduJ. A. TarapackiDebra Barton2007-10-22T10:44:38Z2011-03-11T08:56:59Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/5769This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/57692007-10-22T10:44:38ZAmniotic-fluid ingestion by parturient rats enhances pregnancy-mediated analgesiaAmniotic fluid and placenta contain a substance (POEF, for Placental Opioid-Enhancing Factor) that, when ingested, enhances opioid-mediated analgesia in nonpregnant rats; ingestion of the substance by rats not experiencing opioid-mediated analgesia, however, does not produce analgesia. It is highly likely that periparturitional analgesia-enhancement is a significant benefit of ingestion of the afterbirth (placentophagia) during delivery. Here we report that prepartum ingestion of amniotic fluid (via orogastric infusion) does indeed enhance the endogenous-opioid-mediated analgesia evident at the end of pregnancy and during delivery; that the degree of enhancement is greater with 0.75 ml than with 0.25 ml, and that the prepartum enhancement of analgesia can be blocked with the opioid antagonist naloxone.Dr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.eduAlexis C. ThompsonP. AbbottJean M. DiPirroE.J. FergusonJ. C. Doerr2001-03-09Z2011-03-11T08:54:35Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1353This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/13532001-03-09ZAttention deficit disorder and hyperkinetic syndrome: biological perspectivesThe condition, biological indicators and animal models of the symptoms and the disorder are briefly reviewed.
Condition: No single symptom is indispensable to diagnosis. But measures of the condition include motor activity, attention, motivation and psychostimulant responsiveness.Caveat: In the study of the condition, measuring biological correlates of unusual function may prove useful for management of the condition, but could mislead in the search for causes.
Biological indicators: Investigation of attention-related function and associated regional cerebral activity would be improved by the careful application of the results of neuropsychological and psychophysiological study. A more extensive use of within subject protocols would greatly assist interpretation of the relevance of physiological states and the contribution of activity in different transmitter systems.Why are MHPG levels low, and lower in stimulant responders: HVA/MHPG ratios high in responders and nonresponders alike? However, the author sees the paradox to lie less with the induced (sic) metabolic changes as with the inability to mimic the changes with other catecholaminergic agents. Attention is drawn to the trophic effects of the monoamines. Attention is also drawn to the colocalisation of neuropeptide Y in NA neurons and the possibility that alterations in this relationship could underlie other ADHD characteristics such as thirst (1).
Models: Symptom-models attempt to investigate the determinants a single feature of the illness. Examples have been recent demonstrations that where NA activity is low or depleted selective attention may be impaired (e.g. latent inhibition). An interesting observation here is that where NA activity is low, learning in a variety of situations occurs at normal rates to a modest criterion, but then slows severely before eventually reaching good stringent criteria. It is suggested that this is consistent with an NA role in "tuning" (2).Discussion of the various roles of DA must make mention of the specific improvement seen after amphetamine treatment in those children who only achieve a low response criterion: in contrast in animals amphetamine promotes the impulsive response lowering beta-criterion. The resolution oif the enigma may well lie in a better understanding of the interactions of the mesolimbic with the mesocortical DA system. Mesocortical activity can suppress mesolimbic activity, impairment of frontal function releases the mesolimbic system - a change that can be countered by psychostimulant treatment.
Disorder-models are concerned with mimicking a whole cluster of symptoms if not the syndrome itself. Claims of the usefulness of depleting catecholamines with 6-hydroxydopamine (on the one hand) and modifying the environment in which young animals are brought up (rich andsocial contexts for development) are elaborated elsewhere in this book. The similarity of some of the features of hypertensive patients and those of youngsters with ADHD initiates interest in the "spontaneously hypertensive rat" (SHR). Encouraging the use of the SHR as a model are similarities in the DA and NA activity and reactivity. Further, there are similarities in between the responses of the SHR and children on learning schedules requiring the delay of response, - the delay of gratification that is characteristic of many ADHD children, and leads to impulsive responding in the SHR.
Lastly one should not overlook the possible lessons to be learned in the comparative approach, - namely to look at syndromes with more or fewer comorbid symptoms such as Tourette, Conduct-Disorder, Autism, Lesch.Nyhan and Phenylketonuria (3).
R.D. Oades2008-10-16T13:50:10Z2011-03-11T08:57:12Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6217This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/62172008-10-16T13:50:10ZEnhancement of Opioid-Mediated Analgesia
by Ingestion of Amniotic Fluid:
Onset Latency and DurationIngestion of placenta and amniotic fluid has been shown to enhance opioid-mediated analgesia produced by morphine injection, footshock, vaginal/cervical stimulation, and during late pregnancy in rats. The present study was designed to determine how soon after ingestion the enhancement begins and how long it lasts. Tail-flick latencies in Long-Evans rats were determined before and during vaginal/cervical stimulation; analgesia was measured as the percent increase in tail-flick latency during vaginal stimulation. After determination of baseline, rats were intubated with 0.25 ml of either amniotic fluid or beef bouillon. We found that analgesia enhancement was detectable as early as 5 minutes after ingestion of amniotic fluid, and the effect lasted at least 30 minutes, but no longer than 40 minutes.Jean C. DoerrDr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.edu2008-10-16T13:49:45Z2011-03-11T08:57:12Zhttp://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.EDU2001-04-25Z2011-03-11T08:54:37Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1461This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/14612001-04-25ZAttention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADDH): the contribution of catecholaminergic activityIntroduction:
An attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity in children (ADDH, later known as ADHD) is now recognized in most countries, although diagnostic practices differ. Evidence is presented to show that the two cardinal symptoms of poor attentional performance and a high degree of motor activity may be functionally and causally separate.
Psychobiology:
Both attentional and motor-activity alterations are temporarily relieved in a proportion of subjects that respond to psychostimulants. Beneficial treatment decreases noradrenergic (NA) metabolism and normalizes variable levels of dopaminergic (DA) metabolism.
Clinical and animal models:
Parallels are drawn with other clinical syndromes arising from changed catecholaminergic activity (cf. Phenylketonuria, Tourette's syndrome, Lesch-Nyhan syndrome) and with behavioral interpretations of the result of damage to the dorsal noradrenergic bundle and dopaminergic VTA A10 nucleus (an animal model).
Biopsychological research directions:
Prognosis of ADDH subjects after treatment remains relatively poor. There may be a further defect of neurotransmitter metabolism in the ADDH syndrome. Research strategies are suggested based on the neurobiological correlates of the cognitive style of ADDH subjects and limbic/septal function in the animal model of the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR)
Topics:
1 . Psychostimulant response ... Catecholamines / Serotonin,
2 . Electrophysiological and behavioral indices
3 . Responses to monoaminergic agents ... Precursors, L-DOPA, amino acids, monoamine oxidase and others:
4 . Clinical comparisons ... Phenylketonuria, Tourette's syndrome, Lesch-Nyhan syndrome:
5 . Models ... spontaneously hypertensive rat, neurobiology of hypertension Noradrenaline (NA), Glutamate (Glu), Neuropeptide Y (NPY) & Angiotensin, Serotonin (5-HT), Dopamine (DA):
6 . Link between behavior and cognition ... the septum and conditioned blocking measures of selective attention.
R. D. Oades2001-03-16Z2011-03-11T08:54:36Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1371This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/13712001-03-16ZCatecholamines and conditioned blocking: effects of ventral tegmental, septal and frontal 6-hydroxydopamine lesions in ratsIntroduction:
The performance of rats on the conditioned blocking test (CB) of learned inattention was measured in a two-way shuttle avoidance task after sham and dopamine (DA) - depleting lesions of
the frontal cortex,
the limbic septum, and
the ventral tegmental area (VTA - A10).
Methods:
Animals were trained on two sessions with tone and / or light as conditioned stimuli. One group was trained with both stimuli on both sessions. A second group was trained on the first session with one stimulus and on the second with both stimuli. The blocking of conditioning to the added stimulus (b) was tested by presenting the stimuli (a and b) separately and measuring the blocking ration (avoidance to b/a + b) and response latencies.
Results:
1/ No deficits were recorded on tests of sensory and motor ability;
2/ The VTA group alone showed a hyperlocomotor response to apomorphine treatment, - and did not acquire the avoidance response (i.e. did not learn the active avoidance task);
3/ The appearance of blocking in the septally lesioned group was delayed until the end of the 20-trial test session - then it was exaggerated;
4/ Blocking was mildly attenuated in the frontally lesioned group.
5/ Dopamine (DA) levels were depleted by about 80% and noradrenaline (NA) levels by, respectively, 20% and 50% in the frontal and septal regions.
Figure 2 illustrates a) the CB impairment in the frontal group relative to sham controls, and b) the late development of "supr-blocking" in septally-damage animals.
Figure 3 illustrates the results of the HPLC analysis for NA, DA and DOPAC in frontal cortex, septum, N. accumbens and striatum after 6-OHDA lesions (& vehicle treatment) in the frontal, septal, and VTA areas.
Conclusions:
The results show that the levels of DA activity, or rather the balance between the activity of DA and NA in frontal and limbic regions can contribute to efficient associative conditioning and / or the normal ability of rats not to attend to a redundant stimulus.
R.D. OadesJ-M. RivetK. TaghzoutiM. KharoubyH. SimonM. Le Moal1998-11-25Z2011-03-11T08:53:39Zhttp://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. Kristal2007-10-22T10:42:24Z2011-03-11T08:56:59Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/5776This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/57762007-10-22T10:42:24ZSensory innervation of the external and internal genitalia of the female ratUsing a whole-nerve recording method, the genitalia of the female rat were found to receive afferent innervation as follows. Pelvic nerve: vagina, cervix, and perineal skin; hypogastric nerve: cervix and proximal three fifths of the uterus; pudendal nerve: skin of perineum, inner thigh, and clitoral sheath. It is probable that the pudendal and pelvic nerves are activated during copulation, and that all 3 nerves are activated during parturition.Lawrence C. PetersMark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.eduBarry R. Komisaruk2001-04-05Z2011-03-11T08:54:36Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1390This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/13902001-04-05ZVentral tegmental (A10) system: neurobiology. 1. anatomy and connectivityIntroduction:
The VTA contains the A 10 group of dopamine (DA) containing neurons. These neurons have ben grouped into nuclei to be found on the floor of the midbrain tegmentum - the Nucleus paranigralis (Npn), Nucleus interfasicularis (Nif), Nucleus parabrachialis (Npbp) and the Nucleus linearis (rostralis and caudalis) *. The VTA is traversed by many blood vessels and nerve fibers **. Close to its poorly defined borders are found DA (A8, A9, A11) and 5-HT containing neurons (B8).
* Figures 2-4 show electron micrographs and drawings
** Figure 6 , electronmicrographs show neurovascular contacts in the rat and cat that could be used for, say, steroid hormone influence on neurotransmission.
Efferent projections of the VTA can be divided into 5 subsystems.
The mesorhombencephalic projects to other monoaminergic nucei, the cerebellum and a fine projection descends to other tegmental nuclei as far as the inferior olive. Fibers to the spinal cord havenot been demonstrated.
The mesodiencephalic path projects to several thalamic and hypothalamic nuclei andpossibly the median eminence. Functionally important examples are the anterior hypothalamic-preoptic area, Nucleus medialis dorsalis and reuniens thalami. These two subsystems are largely non-dopaminergic.
A minor mesostriatal projection is overshadowed by the large mesolimbic projection to the Nucleus accumbens, Tuberculum olfactorium, Septum lateralis and Nucleus interstitialis stria terminalis. There are also mesolimbic connections with several amygdaloid nuclei (especially centralis and basolateralis), the olfactory nuclei and Entorhinal cortex. A minor projection to the hippocampus has been detected.
The mesocortical pathway projects to sensory (e.g. visual) motor, limbic (e.g. retrosplenial) and polysensory association coretices (e.g. prefrontal). Prefrontal, orbitofrontal (insular) and cingulate cortices receive the most marked innervation from the VTA. A more widespread presence of DA in other cortices of rodents becomes progressively more evident in carnivores and primates.
Most but not all projections are unilateral (see Table VI for % crossed). Some neurons project to more than one area in mesodiencephalic, limbic and cortical systems. The majority of these fibers ascend in the medial forebrain bundle (MFB). Most areas receiving a projection from the VTA (DA or non-DA) project back to the VTA. The septo-hippocampal complex in particiular and the limbic system in general provide quantitatively much less feedback than other areas.
The role of the VTA as a mediator of dialogue with the fronto - striatal and limbic / extrapyramidal system is discussed under the theme of " circuit " systems (Figure 11, 12 & 13).
The large convergence of afferents to certain VTA projection areas (e.g., prefrontal, entorhinal cortices, lateral septum, central amygdala, habenula, and N. accumbens) is discussed under the theme of " convergence " systems (Figure 15 & 16).
Animal studies clearly demonstrate that the VTA in general, and its DA projections in particular are strategically organized to influence integrative neural function in diverse regions of the meso-, di- and telencephalon.
R.D. OadesG.M. Halliday2008-11-02T09:59:53Z2011-03-11T08:57:13Zhttp://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 Moal2001-06-26Z2011-03-11T08:54:44Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1652This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/16522001-06-26ZHebb, D.O. - Father of Cognitive Psychobiology 1904-1985Obituary for DO Hebb.Stevan Harnad2001-04-05Z2011-03-11T08:54:37Zhttp://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. Oades1998-12-02Z2011-03-11T08:54:16Zhttp://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.
Oades2001-05-16Z2011-03-11T08:54:38Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1503This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/15032001-05-16ZImpairments of search behaviour in rats after haloperidol treatment, hippocampal or neocortical damage suggest a mesocorticolimbic role in cognitionIntroduction:
In view of reports that fimbria-fornix or hippocampal lesions impair working rather than reference memory in a radial maze (Olton et al., 1979) the performance of rodents with hippocampal damage was examined on a 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 three 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). Half of each group received haloperidol (0.275 mg/kg) or saline injections 15 minutes before each of the sessions 4-10.
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/ Hippocampal damage resulted in poorer performance on both working and reference memory measures: this was unaffected by haloperidol treatment.
2/ Neuroleptic treatment also impaired the performance of the sham-controls on both measures.
3/ Animals with neocortical damage were impaired on reference mmeory measures alon, after haloperidol treatment.
Conclusions:
.The lack of a neuroleptic effect on performance after hippocampal damage suggests that this lesion does not impair performance on these two measures of memory performance through a dopaminergic mechanism.
Haloperidol impaired working memory measures in sham-controls, but only reference memory measures in the neocortical group.. The results imply that there are (at least) three separate mechanisms (i.e. meso-cortico-limbic interactions) at work here involved in shorter- and longer-term consolidation of the consequences of selective attention mechanism required to efficiently learn a search task. Oades2001-05-16Z2011-03-11T08:54:38Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1504This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/15042001-05-16ZTestosterone administration in chicks affects responding in the presence of task irrelevant stimulus changesIntroduction:
A series of studies have shown that circulating testosterone increases the persistence with which animals search for and select a particular visual cue to respond to (as a consequence of experience with it) - and hence incur a perseveration of response towards such cues (e.g. Rogers 1971; Andrew 1972, Archer 1976; Earley & Leonard 1978).
We tested the effect of testosterone on such attention-related mechanisms by studying the effect of intradimensionsional colour changes to cues relevant and irrelevant to an operant discrimination on continuous reinforcement learning (non-reversal shifts).
Methods:
Treatment: Chicks (20 males) were given 12.5 mg testosterone enanthate im after training on a continuous reinforcement schedule of response (CRF); 19 controls received sesame oil vehicle and 8 males and 15 females had no treatment.
Testing: Birds were given A) test sessions on day 10 and 11: whereby each session consisted of 2 minutes training, 5 minutes test then 2 minutes re-training: B) 4 types of test --(i) the negative key colour changed from red to deep blue, (ii) the positive key colour changed from pale blue to green, and (iii) both key colours changed as described, and (iv) the overhead lighting changed with the introduction of a pale red filter.
Results:
1/ Treatment did not affect CRF patterns of discriminative responding.
2/ All birds decreased their response rate after a colour change.
3/ After changes on the non-reinforced key, testosterone treated birds showed significantly less attenuation of response rate.
4/ Testosterone treatment also maintained a higher rate of response (and hence fewer reinforcements) - seen especially after a change in the negative cue or overhead lighting vs. changes in the positive cue (irrelevant changes of stimulation).
5/ Testosterone treated birds also showed a shorter latency to respond after a colour change.
6/ The female birds did not differ from the males
Conclusions:
The results support a role for testosterone in the discrimination between relevant and irrelevant stimulus changes and the persistent expression of learned sets.
The fact that responding after testosterone treatment was altered by irrelevant rather than relevant stimulus changes suggests that testosterone achieves its persistence effect by enhancing the activated set or what is at the focus of attention, rather than the inhibition of features irrelevant to the ongoing situation - these provide the reference for 'what is relevant' and changes in them disturb this mechanismR.D. Oades Messent2001-05-08Z2011-03-11T08:54:37Zhttp://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.
Oades2001-06-26Z2011-03-11T08:54:44Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1653This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/16532001-06-26ZBiographical entry for A. MontaguAshley Montagu was one of those rare men of learning who succeeded in making substantive scholarly contributions to their academic disciplines while at the same time maintaining contact with the educated layman. In addition, he was a dedicated and articulate social critic, concerned with bringing the findings of the social and biological sciences to bear upon the betterment of man's lot, while subjecting some of those very findings to critical social scrutiny. His accomplishments in these three domains, the scientific, the public-educational, and the socioethical, are treated as a unity in this biographical sketch, in accordance with what was clearly the spirit of the program that guided his life's work. Stevan Harnad2001-06-08Z2011-03-11T08:54:40Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1548This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/15482001-06-08ZDiscriminatory approach to auditory stimuli in Guinea fowl (Numida meleagris) after hyperstriatal/hippocampal brain damageIntroduction:
The dorsomedial hyperstriatum accessorium (DMHA) appears to mediate some functions simialr to the mammalian hippocampus on tests in the visual modality ( Oades 1976a, 1976b). Here we investigate similar attention-related functions in the auditory modality after brain damage in and around the avian hippocampus. To what extent do these functions extend posterior to the posterior commissure (parahippocampus) and relate to the apparent hierarchical function reported from auditory areas that are adjacent posteriorly (e.g. Field L) ?
Methods:
Operation: Aspiration lesions and cuts were made to discrete parts of the hyperstriatum/hippocampus anterior and posterior to the posterior commissure in adult birds: the performance of these two lesion groups was compared with sham-controls..
Training/testing: Guinea fowl were trained to approach, feed and retreat from a food dish after hearing a species-specific food-trill. An ethogram including approach, search, locomotion and tension behaviour was recorded before and after operation for a training and test regime of variations of the natural calls and other sounds
Histology is shown in figure 1 : Sonograms of fast-, slow, novel-, arousal-trills and "watch-winding" are shown in figure 2 : Photographs and Sketches of the behavioural responses are shown in figure 3.
Results:
1/ Both groups with anterior and posterior lesions showed impaired recognition of the stimulus variations, shown a) by more search behaviour in both groups, and b) increased approach tendencies in the posterior-lesion group.
[Nonetheless test stimuli were rcognized to be different - e.g. search after extinction > after filtered trills > after novel stimuli]
2/ Extended approach after posterior-lesions was followed by a long period of arousal / high tension.
3/ Transient tension behaviour after anterior damage habituated rapidly - search behaviour changed to low tension..
[The anterior lesioned group responded with search to filtered trills - there was message content still in the stimulus, whereas the posterior group changed behaviour.]
Conclusions:
It is proposed that after anterior hyperstriatal damage (hippocampus) there were changes in the thresholds for matching specifications of learned stimuli with new sensory input - initial activation was followed by disengagement.
In contrast more posterior damage incurred an impairment to the general rules for the selection of sensory input - hence this led to more generalised approach and arousal responses.
In conclusion there is a hierarchy of associative function extending anterior from the sensory field L, and this is discussed in terms of the function impaired after brain damage - perseveration (gross behavioural consequences) and persistence (application of recognition units to patterns of sensory stimulation).
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. Kristal2008-09-19T13:55:51Z2011-03-11T08:57:12Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6213This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/62132008-09-19T13:55:51ZEffects of Medial Preoptic Lesions on
Placentophagia and on the Onset of Maternal
Behavior in the RatLesions of the medial preoptic area (MPO) were produced through permanently indwelling electrodes 24 hr prior to parturition in pregnant rats, or 24 hr prior to donor-placenta presentation in virgin rats determined in a pretest to be placentophages. The lesions had no disruptive effect on placentophagia in the virgin females. However, MPO lesions did delay the onset of placentophagia, pup-retrieval, and nestbuilding in some parturient rats. In others, lesions produced an impairment (in latency and quality) only of nest-building. None showed any impairment of pup-licking, or in the clear tendency to leave excreted waste away from the gathered pups. These results suggest the possibility of at least semi-independent mechanisms for the various components of maternal behavior.Michael Noonannoonan@canisius.eduDr. Mark B Kristalkristal@buffalo.edu2001-06-08Z2011-03-11T08:54:40Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1546This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/15462001-06-08ZSearch and attention: Interactions of the hippocampal-septal axis, adrenocortical and gonadal hormonesThe phenomenon of attention is treated in terms of the ability to select some sensory input channels over others by the central nervous system for further processing and behavioral organization.
Studies of birds and mammals are reviewed to illustrate two major points : -
1) The physiological interactions of the hippocampus and septum modulated by adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), adrenal and gonadal steroids have an important influence on the selective aspects of perception.
2) The theme is developed that some of these interactions mediate one of the attributes of an attention process: namely, the ability to direct attention (facilitated processing capacity)to salient stimuli to the exclusion of an irrelevant background.
Contents:
. A hippocampal role in attention --
a) Electrophysiological correlates, b) Behavioral approaches,
. Active sites for hormones --
a) Pituitary-adrenal hormones, b) Gonadal steroid hormones,
. ACTH 4-10 related molecules and behavior,
. Effects of carbohydrate active steroids,
. Physiological interactions of pituitary-adrenal hormones with the hippocampus,
. Circulating gonadal steroids and persistence --
a) Testosterone, b) Estrogen,
. Conclusions Oades2001-05-29Z2011-03-11T08:54:39Zhttp://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 Isaacson2001-08-16Z2011-03-11T08:54:46Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1736This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/17362001-08-16ZEffects of red light and loud noise on the rate at which monkeys sample the sensory environmentMonkeys, given the opportunity to move between two featureless chambers, 'sample' first one, then the other in a way which reflects a Poisson decision process. The rate of sampling is higher in red light than in blue and in loud noise than in quietness. We suggest that monkeys 'tune' their sampling rate to the a priori probability of change in the environment.Nicholas K HumphreyGraham R Keeble1998-12-03Z2011-03-11T08:54:16Zhttp://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 Noonan2001-06-26Z2011-03-11T08:54:43Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1636This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/16362001-06-26ZMore persistence during task acquisition by intact vs. castrated Japanese QuailIntroduction:
In view of reports that circulating testosterone levels can lead to the persistence of the selection of previously used stimulus specifications in selective attention mechanisms (Andrew and Rogers, 1972), adult male Japanese Quail with and without circulating gonadal steroids were tested in on a match to sample task in a T-maze. As the specifications (sample) change from trial to trial, it would be predicted that testosterone would not facilitate acquisition of this task if a type of stimulus controls response, but would enhance acquisition if the steroid acts on the activation of a set.
Methods:
Treatment: Data from 13 castrated and 12 intact male Japanese Quail (Coturnix japonica) are reported.
Testing: Birds were tested with and without prior experience of simple T-maze discrimination. The main test consisted of responding to the same colour door (black or white) in one of the two arms as had been encountered in the runway (i.e. match-to-sample).
Results:
1/ Both groups of birds acquired the simple discrimination rapidly and at similar rates.
2/ On the match-to-sample task intact birds exhibited a relatively stable performance with longer response sequences, while castrates showed a more variable pattern of responding - increasing then decreasing error rates across sessions.
3/ Sequences of 3 or more responses to position or to brightness were more numerous in birds with circulating gonadal steroids.
4/ All birds showed a preference for longer sequences of response to position than to brightness .
5/ Birds with prior experience of the T-maze discrimination made fewer errors.
Conclusions:
The results support a role for testosterone in the persistent selection of familiar or learned sets for controlling response - as suggested in the introduction the effect is on the "rule" used in attention not the nature of an individual stimulus. Oades2001-06-26Z2011-03-11T08:54:43Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1637This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/16372001-06-26ZThe effect of unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesions in the substantia nigra on hippocampal noradrenaline-induced feeding and other behaviour in the ratIntroduction:
Given that administration of noradrenaline (NA) to the cerebral ventricles or into the hippocampus can elicit feeding, and that lesion the the dopaminergic (DA) substantia nigra (SN) can bring about aphagia, the present report considers the interaction of these two manipulations.
Methods:
Cannulae were implanted into the SN and the dorsal hippocampus of rats kept on a normal food and water regimen.
One week after surgery 13 µg NA in 0.6 µl were administered to the hippocampus and the animals were observed for 20 minutes or until 3 minutes had elapsed after feeding had stopped.
The behavioural effects of 6-hydroxydopamine lesions of the SN were recorded from a circular open arena.
Results:
1/ Feeding in short bouts was elicited after NA injection to 25/30 sites in the hippocampus
2/ More feeding was observed from sites where later histology suggested there had been no leakage to the ventricles (88%). The feeding behavior did not result from spreading depression (>7 shakes recorded on 3% of tests).
3/ After SN lesion, NA still elicited feeding from all hippocampal sites (on two or more occasions).
4/ The SN lesion did not alter the latency to feed, the duration of feeding or the intake of food. (A temporary decrease of body weight was registered on the third postoperative day, only).
5/ NA treatment did not affect locomotion (pre- or post-lesion) although the lesion on its own increased the latency to move and rotation in the open field.
Conclusions:
Unilateral SN-6-OHDA treatment did not affect feeding elicited by ipsi- or contralateral hippocampal teatment with NA.
It is suggested that 6-OHDA induced hypophagia may result from non-specific effects of treatment as the latencies to rest, the duration of grooming increased and feeding bout-duration decreased following the injection of vehicle or toxin.
Oades2001-05-29Z2011-03-11T08:54:39Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1520This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/15202001-05-29Zp-Chlorophenylalanine-produced effects on behavior in intact and brain-damaged ratsIntroduction:
Our aim was to determine if a reduction of serotonin (5-HT) synthesis in the brain would provide any protection from the behavioral alterations induced by hippocampal brain-damage. The development of open-field activity (5 minute sessions) over two weeks and the acquisition of a passive avoidance task were chosen for study.
Methods:
There were 3 groups of lesioned rats - those hippocampal aspiration lesions, those with only damage to the neocortex overlying the hippocampus, and a sham-operated group. Half of each group was treated 300 mg/kg p-chlorphenylalanine (PCPA) for 3 successive days to deplete levels of 5-HT and the other half were given the saline vehicle alone.
[Hippocampal damage is associated with increased activity in the open field and impaired learning of the step-through passive avoidance response.]
Results:
1/ Animals with hippocampal damage became hyperactive in the second week after operation.
2/ PCPA treatment had no effect on locomotion, (nor on the frequently observed thigmotaxic nature of the behavior)
3/ Rearing was initially depressed after the operation, and PCPA treatment facilitated its recovery - but PCPA decreased rearing in intact animals during the second week of testing.
4/ Reduced levels of grooming were seen in hippocampal animals, while PCPA reduced grooming in those with neocortical damage
5/ The animals with hippocampal damage were impaired in witholding response in the passive avoidance task - those treated with PCPA performed even worse in not witholding the shock-reinforced step-through response. This contrasted with the intact animals, where PCPA treatment reduced the amount of footshock the animals were exposed to in the task
Conclusions:
.The results are consistent with a role for mesolimbic 5-HT innervation of the dorsal hippocampus having an influence on novelty-elicited responses (e.g. grooming in home vs. novel cage and investigative rearing behavior) and in modulation of the sensitivity of response to electric footshock (hypersensitive in PCPA-intact animals, hyposensitive in PCPA-hippocampal animals).
R.D. Oades Isaacson2007-10-22T10:44:17Z2011-03-11T08:56:59Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/5770This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/57702007-10-22T10:44:17ZUterine distention facilitates the onset of maternal behavior in pseudopregnant but not in cycling ratsThe latency to onset of maternal behavior toward foster pups was examined in maternally-naive female rats treated either with uterine distention, a sham procedure, or no uterine manipulation. Uterine distention was achieved by intrauterine injection of hypertonic saline. The treatments were applied to either cycling, Day 10 pseudopregnant, or Day 11 pseudopregnant-decidualized virgins. The latency to onset of maternal behavior for both pseudopregnant groups was significantly shorter than that for the nonpseudopregnant group, when uterine distention was applied. The results suggest that uterine distention during pregnancy (during high progesterone level) may bring about both pregnancy termination (delivery) and the almost immediate maternal behavior seen at parturition, by the same hormonal mechanism.Gary C. GraberDr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.edu2001-06-19Z2011-03-11T08:54:42Zhttp://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. Graber2001-08-30Z2011-03-11T08:54:47Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1780This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/17802001-08-30ZInteractive effects of unpleasant light and unpleasant soundnoneNicholas K HumphreyGraham R Keeble2008-11-02T10:00:31Z2011-03-11T08:57:13Zhttp://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. Eleftheriou2008-11-02T09:59:35Z2011-03-11T08:57:13Zhttp://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.edu2008-10-16T13:50:02Z2011-03-11T08:57:12Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/6218This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/62182008-10-16T13:50:02ZThe effects of strain, reproductive condition, and strain of placenta donor on placentophagia in nonpregnant miceThe effects on placentophagia of strain, reproductive condition, and strain of placenta donor were observed in nonpregnant mice. Mice of the C57BL/6By and BALB/cBy strains were exposed to placentas of either strain after either no previous parturitional experience, one parturitional experience without nursing experience, or one parturitional experience with nursing experience. There was a significant effect of strain, a significant effect of reproductive condition, but no significant effect of strain of placenta donor. There was a significant interaction between strain and reproductive condition, but no significant interactions with placenta strain. It was inferred that the ability of a mouse to acquire and utilize relevant stimuli during and after parturition, in order to produce an emancipation of placentophagia from the physiological controls associated with parturition, is influenced by genotype.Dr. Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.eduChristina L. Williams2001-06-26Z2011-03-11T08:54:43Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/1638This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/16382001-06-26ZEscape, hiding and freezing behaviour elicited by electrical stimulation of the chick diencephalonIntroduction:
An escape, hide and freeze (EHF) system has been plotted in the chick diencephalon and compared with that described in mammals, with particular reference to the defensive threat and fleeing system described for the cat. It is largely medially distributed and supra-threshold stimulation at different sites in the core of this system can elicit a mix of these behaviours. (These EHF behaviours can also be elicited peripherally. These results emerged from a broadly based study of CNS sites that were investigated for their potential to support electrical self-stimulation.)
Results:
1/ The EHF system starts in the rostral anterior hypothalamus and runs backward through the medial dorsal hypothalamus.
2/ A lateral extension occurs at the entry of the hypothalamic component of the Tractus occipito-mesencephalicus (TOM).
3/ Posterior to this TOM junction the system shows a ventral extension, but this does not include the N. ventromedialis: it coincides instead with medial and periventricular fibres.
4/ The preoptic area, lateral hypothalamic and mamillary areas were all free of EHF sites.
Conclusions:
a - The EHF system thus corresponds well with the distribution of the defensive escape-threat system in mammals.
b - In both mammals and birds similar behaviour can be elicited from both the diencephalic escape system and the central mesencephalic gray. The two are probably connected in the bird by periventricular routes, part of which can be identified by EHF sites.
c - The discussion also refers to other properties of the EHF system such as its role in vocalisation and activation by non-reinforcement.
Andrew Oades2007-10-22T10:42:43Z2011-03-11T08:56:59Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/5774This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/57742007-10-22T10:42:43ZFood and water intake prior to parturition in the ratFood and water intakes were measured in pregnant rats to determine whether parturition is preceded by significant changes in food and water intake. Three diets of different palatability and caloric value were used. Over the last 5 days of pregnancy, pregnant rats were found to ingest more calories/day than nonpregnant rats, and females with prior parturitional experience (multiparous) ingested more than virgin or primiparous females. Pregnant rats also ingested significantly greater amounts of fluid when compared to nonpregnant rats, and multiparous rats (pregnant or not) ingested greater amounts of fluid than did virgin or primiparous rats. On the last day of pregnancy, the intake of solid foods or a liquid diet did not change significantly, but the intake of either water or 5% sucrose was significantly reduced.Mark B. Kristalkristal@buffalo.eduRichard S. Wampler1998-12-20Z2011-03-11T08:54:17Zhttp://cogprints.org/id/eprint/776This item is in the repository with the URL: http://cogprints.org/id/eprint/7761998-12-20ZPreception in the rat: Autonomic response to shock as a function of length of the warning interval.The autonomic response (galvanic skin response) to a noxious stimulus (shock) is reduced when the stimulus is preceded by a warning signal. The greatest reduction, 53%, was obtaqined with a warning interval of 1 second. Warning also reduces variance of the response over trials, a decrease of over 90% for the optimum 1-second interval.David T. Lykke