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Biomedical subjects

D H Thor

Publications and source records attributed to D H Thor.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1977

Social-olfactory experience and initiation of copulation in the virgin male rat.

Two experiments examined the role of olfactory sensation for initiation of normal copulatory behavior of mature male rats. Experiment 1 compared copulatory performance of peripherally anosmic social isolates with that of intact isolate controls. The results revealed significantly lower mounting, intromission, and ejaculation frequencies of the anosmic group and suggested that nonolfactory cues attain significance via an associative-learning process. Experiment 2 compared three social isolate groups of mature males with varying sexual experience prior to anosmia. Four 1-hr tests were conducted at 5-day intervals. The results indicated comparable copulatory performance of the experienced groups and absence of copulation by the majority of the nonexperienced group. With a 12-day continuous exposure to intact females, all noncopulators eventually impregnated. The results are discussed with reference to the requirement of social experience for initiation of normal sexual performance in the male rat.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Knowledge of results and counting of sequential light flashes by retarded and intellectually normal children.

12 adolescent retarded boys and 12 younger third-grade boys of equivalent mental age observed sequential flashes of light and made judgements of numerosity. Durations of successive flashes were 300, 500, 700, and 900 msec. in trains of 1 to 15 flashes. Over six daily sessions, subgroups receiving information about accuracy after each trial made fewer errors, and subgroups receiving none made more errors. The linear trend interaction of knowledge of results with IQ was significant, with performance of the nonretarded boys decreasing to the level of the retarded boys in the no-feedback condition. With feedback, the rate of decrease in error over sessions was similiar for both levels of IQ. The results indicate a substantial effect of knowledge of results in improving accuracy of counting by retarded and nonretarded children, this effect being relatively greater for the latter group.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Suppression of mouse killing and apomorphine-induced social aggression in rats by local anesthesia of the mystacial vibrissae.

Local anesthesia of the facial epidermis can effect a substantial decrease in shock-elicited fighting of paired rats. The present experiments constitute methodological extensions to mouse killing and spontaneous drug-induced social aggression. In the first experiment, known mouse-killing rats were given bilateral lidocaine or placebo injections administered under ether anesthesia. Attack and kill latencies were significantly longer under lidocaine than under placebo; all subjects killed under placebo, whereas a third of all subjects failed to kill on the initial lidocaine test. On subsequent lidocaine testing, latencies decreased and nonkilling rats killed. In a second experiment intense apomorphine-induced conspecific fighting of rats preselected for aggressiveness was markedly reduced following lidocaine anesthesia. The comparative results of both experiments are interpreted in reference to theoretical assertions regarding the import of sensory information in stimulus-bound attack and the typology of central aggression systems.

Aggression↗