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PubMed1994

Inhibition of nitric oxide synthase does not impair spatial learning.

Nitric oxide (NO), a putative intercellular messenger in the CNS, may be involved in certain forms of synaptic plasticity and learning. This article reports a series of experiments investigating the effects of N omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) upon various forms of learning and memory in the watermaze. L-NAME (75 mg/kg, i.p., sufficient to bring about > 90% inhibition of NO synthesis in brain) produced an apparent impairment in spatial learning when given to naive rats during acquisition (3 d, six training trials per day). This impairment was dose related, stereoselective, and attenuated by coadministration of L-arginine. A second study showed that L-NAME did not affect the retention of a previously learned spatial task. In addition, in a visual discrimination task, the rate at which criterion levels of performance were reached was unaffected by L-NAME. Thus, inhibition of NO synthase may cause a selective impairment of spatial learning without effect upon retention. However, analysis of the early training trials of the visual discrimination task revealed significantly elevated escape latencies in the L-NAME-treated rats, suggesting that inhibition of NO synthase may have more general effects. As normal rats learn the spatial task very rapidly, the possibility arises that the apparent deficit in learning is due to a disruption of some process other than learning per se. A further series of experiments investigated this possibility. L-NAME was found not to impair the learning of a new platform position in the same spatial environment. Surprisingly, L-NAME also had no effect on spatial learning in a second watermaze located in a novel spatial environment by rats well practiced with all aspects of watermaze training. Finally, L-NAME had no effect on spatial learning in naive rats trained with just one trial per day. Thus, systemic injection of an NO synthase inhibitor impairs behavioral performance in two tasks during their initial acquisition, but the basis of this functional disruption is unlikely to be due to any direct effect upon the mechanisms of spatial learning.

Amino Acid Oxidoreductases↗

PubMed1993

Conditional discrimination in mentally retarded subjects: programming acquisition and learning set.

In Experiment 1, 3 subjects with retardation were exposed to two visual-visual arbitrary matching-to-sample problems each day. One conditional discrimination was presented under trial-and-error conditions, and the other was presented under a component training procedure. The latter began by establishing the comparison discrimination and its rapid reversal. The successive discrimination between the sample stimuli was established through differential naming. Then, sample naming was maintained in conditional discrimination sessions in which the same sample was presented in blocks of consecutive trials. Block size was decreased across sessions until sample presentation was randomized as in trial-and-error training (but with naming maintained). Two subjects initially learned only with component training. The performance of the 3rd subject was inconsistent across conditional discriminations. One of the successful subjects ultimately learned rapidly and consistently with trial-and-error procedures. Experiment 2 sought to demonstrate learning set in the other 2 subjects. Elements of the component training procedure were withdrawn over successive conditional discriminations. Ultimately, 1 subject nearly always learned under trial-and-error conditions, and the other learned under trial-and-error conditions combined with differential sample naming.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1985

A comparison of the effects of interspersal and concurrent training sequences on acquisition, retention, and generalization of picture names.

A comparison was made between an interspersal and a concurrent procedure in teaching picture names to three mentally handicapped children. During the interspersal procedure a picture thats name was being trained was alternated with pictures already known; during the concurrent procedure a picture thats name was being trained was alternated with other pictures thats names were unknown. An ABA design with counterbalancing (BAB) was used. The children learned naming responses more rapidly when trained by the interspersal procedure than by the concurrent procedure. Weekly retention tests on pictures learned to criterion during the week showed no consistent difference between the two procedures in percentage of learned picture names retained. Weekly generalization tests showed that picture names that were retained in both conditions tended to generalize equally to a different setting and tester, and to the objects depicted in the pictures.

Child↗

PubMed2000

Development of a protocol for studying object recognition memory in the dog.

1. Dogs had considerable difficulty learning a delayed-non-matching-to sample task at a short delay (approximately 5 seconds) for an extended period (900 trials). Only 3 of 19 dogs met the learning criterion. 2. Acquisition on the DNMS task was markedly improved when a pause was introduced on presentation of the stimulus objects, when the objects were approximately 30 cm from the dog; eleven of 16 dogs learned the task within 600 trials. 3. Dogs learned the task more rapidly at 20 and 30 second delays than at 10-second delays. This indicates a transfer of learning. 4. Dogs that did learn the task were able to perform at accuracy greater than 85% at delays of 150 and 200 seconds. At a 5-minute delay, performance was at 75%. 5. When the animals were switched to a repeated object paradigm, accuracy markedly declined. 6. The improved performance produced by introduction of the pause is attributable to: (1) presenting the object at a distance longer than the dogs' near point, and (2) allowing increased processing time.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A strategy to identify the learning needs of staff nurses.

Rapidly changing technology and the trend toward specialization make continuing education (CE) vital for today's nurses. Various methods to assess CE needs of nurses are described in the literature. This article outlines an assessment strategy implemented to determine staff nurses' perceptions of their learning needs. In addition, head nurses and clinical directors were surveyed regarding their perceptions of the staff nurses' learning needs. The chosen strategy used limited resources to contact a large number of nurses within a short time frame. Results indicated that the three groups surveyed perceived similar learning needs for staff nurses.

Education, Nursing, Continuing↗

PubMed1979

The independence of recall and recognition in motor learning.

A basic tenet of both current closed-loop theories of motor learning (Adams, 1971; Schmidt, 1975) is that the generation of response specifications during learning is required for the development of recall memory. Two experiments were performed to test this tenet by attempting to demonstrate the development of recall memory in the absence of response specification production. The task in both experiments required blindfolded subjects to learn to produce a rapid, novel criterion movement on a linear positioning device. Control subjects in both experiments actively produced movements during learning with knowledge of results (KR) while experimental subjects in Experiment 1 experienced only the endpoint locations and in Experiment 2 were passively moved to the endpoint locations. Following initial KR trials, both experimental and control groups attempted to actively produce the criterion movement in the absence of KR. The results of both experiments support closed-loop theory that active practice is required to develop recall memory. There was some suggestion, however, that passive experience with sensory feedback may also aid recall memory development, contrary to the two closed-loop theories.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1999

Retention of hindlimb stepping ability in adult spinal cats after the cessation of step training.

Adult spinal cats were trained to perform bipedal hindlimb locomotion on a treadmill for 6-12 wk. After each animal acquired the ability to step, locomotor training was withheld, and stepping was reexamined 6 and 12 wk after training ended. The performance characteristics, hindlimb muscle electromyographic activity patterns, and kinematic characteristics of the step cycle that were acquired with training were largely maintained when training was withheld for 6 wk. However, after 12 wk without training, locomotor performance declined, i.e., stumbling was more frequent, and the ability to consistently execute full weight-bearing steps at any treadmill speed decreased. In addition, the height that the paw was lifted during the swing phase decreased, and a smaller range of extension in the hindlimbs occurred during the E3 phase of stance. When three of the spinal cats underwent 1 wk of retraining, stepping ability was regained more rapidly than when trained initially. The finding that stepping ability in trained adult spinal cats can persist for 6 wk without training provides further evidence that training-induced enhancement of stepping is learned in the spinal cats and that a memory of the enhanced stepping is stored in the spinal networks. However, it appears that the spinal cord can forget how to consistently execute stepping if that task is not practiced for 12 wk. The more rapid learning that occurred with retraining is also consistent with a learning phenomenon. These results in conjunction with our earlier findings suggest that the efficacy of the neural pathways that execute a motor task is highly dependent on the periodic activation of those pathways in a sequence compatible with that motor task.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

Binocular coordination of saccades in children with vertigo: dependency on the vergence state.

The present study examines the quality of binocular coordination of saccades at far and near distance in 15 children with symptoms of vertigo headache and equilibrium disorders; these children show normal vestibular function but abnormal convergence eye movements (e.g., long time preparation, slow execution and poor accuracy, see ). The results show normal binocular saccade coordination at far distance, but large abnormal disconjugacy for saccades at near distance. During combined saccade-vergence movements (studied in six of these children), convergence remains abnormally slow. This supports the interpretation according to which poor binocular yoking of the saccades is linked to the reduced ability to produce fast convergence during the saccade; a learning mechanism based on rapid vergence would help to reduce the abducting-adducting asymmetry of the saccades. An alternative interpretation would be reduced learning ability for monocular adjustment of the saccade signals.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1987

Effects of propentofylline on disorder of learning and memory in rodents.

Effects of a newly synthesized xanthine derivative propentofylline (3,7-dihydro-3-methyl-1-(5-oxohexyl)-7-propyl-1H-purine-2,6-dione) on learning and memory of rodents were examined in the two different paradigms. In a shuttle box active avoidance paradigm, propentofylline (25 mg/kg/day, p.o.) improved the decreased learning ability of 12-month-old spontaneously hypertensive rats. Normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats at a comparable age showed rapid acquisition of avoidance learning, which was not influenced by propentofylline. Step-down passive avoidance task was carried out as the other paradigm. The protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide (CXM) induced amnesia in young adult mice. Propentofylline improved the memory deficit when intraperitoneally administered 30 min before the retention test, and it also prevented the development of amnesia when injected 15 min before CXM. These results suggest that propentofylline ameliorates the disturbed learning and memory.

Amnesia↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Learning characteristics and long-term memory in rhesus macaques].

The use of entropy of choices distribution in studying the processes of learning and long-term memory in rhesus monkeys during differentiation of periodic and non-periodic visual stimuli, showed that the transition from the unlearned state to the learned one proceeds not gradually but in two stages; the first stage--the accumulation of information and externally random behaviour, the second stage--rapid transition to the learned behaviour. For "filters" selective to spatial frequency, the change of stimuli orientation leads to an increase of the behaviour entropy. For "filters" selective to the bar width, the entropy practically does not change. During prolonged storage of acquired information, in the long-term memory, its partial loss takes place leading to an increase of the behaviour entropy. The difference between the entropy determined directly after the learning and that determined again after a prolonged storage of the memorized habit characterizes the quantity of information lost during the storage period.

Animals↗

PubMed1995

The persistence of rapid naming problems in children with reading disabilities: a nine-year follow-up.

In this study 9 children (6 boys, 3 girls) with reading disabilities and specific difficulties in rapid serial naming were followed from age 9 years to age 18 years. This group was taken from an earlier study sample of 82 third-grade children with learning disabilities. Tests of rapid serial naming, reading and spelling, general intelligence, articulation speed, and word fluency were administered to the subjects and to a matched control group (n = 10) in the initial study (at age 9) and in the present follow-up study (at age 18). The results showed that difficulties in both rapid naming and reading and spelling persisted into early adulthood in this subgroup. The development of naming speed is discussed in terms of a deficit model versus a developmental lag model of learning disability.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1996

Reversible changes in hippocampal 3H-AMPA binding following inhibitory avoidance training in the rat.

We have recently shown that inhibitory avoidance training produces a rapid, selective, and learning-specific increase in the number of 3H-AMPA glutamate receptors in several subfields of the dorsal hippocampal formation in the rat. In the present study we investigated the posttraining temporal course of this enhancement by quantitative autoradiography of 3H-AMPA binding. Confirming previous results, rats submitted to a step-down inhibitory avoidance paradigm showed a marked increase (50-90%) in hippocampal 3H-AMPA binding that peaked 2 h posttraining. In CA3 and dentate gyrus this increase persisted for at least 48 h following training. In contrast, 24 h after training the binding of 3H-AMPA in the CA1 subfield did not differ significantly from naive control values. In all hippocampal regions studied, the binding of 3H-AMPA at 168 h posttraining reached control values. No changes were observed in the shocked or free exploration groups in comparison with naive controls. The results suggest that hippocampal AMPA receptors undergo rapid and reversible changes after inhibitory avoidance learning and give further support to the hypothesis that changes in hippocampal AMPA receptors participate in the synaptic plasticity mediating certain forms of learning and memory.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

The role of prefrontal cortex in object-in-place learning in monkeys.

Previous ablation studies in monkeys suggest that prefrontal cortex is involved in a wide range of learning and memory tasks. However, monkeys with crossed unilateral lesions of frontal and temporal cortex are unimpaired at concurrent object-reward association learning but are impaired at conditional learning and the implementation of memory-based performance rules. We trained seven monkeys preoperatively on an associative learning task that required them to associate objects embedded in unique complex scenes with reward. Three monkeys then had crossed unilateral lesions of frontal and inferior temporal cortex and the remaining monkeys had bilateral prefrontal cortex ablation. Both groups were severely impaired postoperatively. These results show that both bilateral prefrontal cortex ablation and frontal-temporal disconnection impair associative learning for objects embedded in scenes. The results provide evidence that the function of frontal-temporal interactions in memory is not limited to conditional learning tasks and memory-dependent performance rules. We propose that rapid object-in-place learning requires the interaction of frontal cortex with inferotemporal cortex because visual object and contextual information which is captured over multiple saccades must be processed as a unique complex event that is extended in time. The present results suggest a role for frontal-temporal interaction in the integration of visual information over time.

Animals↗

PubMed1984

Control of sequential movements: evidence for generalized motor programs.

The neuromotor processes underlying the control of rapid sequential limb movements were investigated. Subjects learned to pronate and supinate their forearms rapidly to four target locations in a specific spatio-temporal pattern under two movement-time conditions. The response sequence was first performed in a total movement time of 600 ms. Subjects were then told to produce the movement as quickly as possible while ignoring any timing pattern that they had previously learned. Electromyographic (EMG) signals were recorded from the biceps brachii and pronator teres muscles. Kinematic and EMG analyses were performed to investigate the temporal characteristics underlying the two movement-time conditions. When subjects produced the response as quickly as possible, average movement time to perform each reversal movement decreased while average peak velocity increased. Average total movement time was reduced by approximately 100 ms. Although movement time decreased, the proportion of total time to perform each movement of the sequence remained essentially invariant between movement-time conditions. Similar results were obtained for velocity. The time at which peak velocity was achieved occurred earlier in absolute time, although when normalized to the proportion of total movement time, the time to reach peak velocity was also invariant. Thus subjects proportionally compressed the entire movement sequence in time. The EMG analysis demonstrated that total EMG time decreased 89 ms on the average when subjects sped up the movement sequence. Thus average burst durations for both the biceps and pronator teres muscles decreased when movement speed increased. When burst durations were normalized to a proportion of total EMG time, the average proportion of time each muscle was active remained invariant. Therefore, the temporal pattern of activity for the biceps and pronator teres muscles were also proportionally compressed. The present experiment provided additional evidence for the structure of generalized motor programs consisting of invariant and variant features. Movement speed was considered a variant feature, which is specified each time the program is executed. Relative timing, the proportion of total time to produce each segment of the response, was considered to be an invariant feature and inherent in the structure of the motor program. Support for the invariance of relative timing was observed at both the kinematic and neuromuscular levels of analyses. Alternative models (9-11, 24) were found inadequate to account for the invariance of relative timing with the variation in movement time observed in the present experiment.

Electromyography↗

PubMed2005

Learning in two contexts: the effects of interference and body size in bumblebees.

We examined the effect of learning a new task on the performance of a previously learned task with the same set of visual cues in bumblebees, Bombus impatiens. Previous studies have shown that given a binary choice at each task, bumblebees do not show retroactive interference, or mistakes in the first task, if the two tasks are in different contexts, feeding and nest location. Here we tested whether adding a third, unrewarded choice to each task affects the performance of bees learning in two contexts. In addition, we examined whether workers differ in their expression of interference and learning ability based on size. Performance of workers at a feeder task was degraded by the introduction of training to a second task at the nest entrance. Mistakes at the feeder were biased toward the color cue that was not rewarding in both tasks; suggesting that irrelevant or background stimuli are more prone to decay or forgetting during interference. With respect to interference, we did not find an effect of body size on the amount of interference; however, size was related to how quickly interference occurred. Among individuals showing retroactive interference, larger bees showed interference earlier in phase 2 than did smaller bees. Overall, larger workers learned each task more rapidly than smaller workers. We conclude that the timing of interference is a tradeoff between acquisition of the new task and performance at a previously learned task. Given that foragers in nature tend to be larger than nest workers, we suggest that size-related learning differences be considered as a factor in division of labor between large and small bumblebees.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Rapid and quantitative detection of the microbial spoilage of meat by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and machine learning.

Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy is a rapid, noninvasive technique with considerable potential for application in the food and related industries. We show here that this technique can be used directly on the surface of food to produce biochemically interpretable "fingerprints." Spoilage in meat is the result of decomposition and the formation of metabolites caused by the growth and enzymatic activity of microorganisms. FT-IR was exploited to measure biochemical changes within the meat substrate, enhancing and accelerating the detection of microbial spoilage. Chicken breasts were purchased from a national retailer, comminuted for 10 s, and left to spoil at room temperature for 24 h. Every hour, FT-IR measurements were taken directly from the meat surface using attenuated total reflectance, and the total viable counts were obtained by classical plating methods. Quantitative interpretation of FT-IR spectra was possible using partial least-squares regression and allowed accurate estimates of bacterial loads to be calculated directly from the meat surface in 60 s. Genetic programming was used to derive rules showing that at levels of 10(7) bacteria.g(-1) the main biochemical indicator of spoilage was the onset of proteolysis. Thus, using FT-IR we were able to acquire a metabolic snapshot and quantify, noninvasively, the microbial loads of food samples accurately and rapidly in 60 s, directly from the sample surface. We believe this approach will aid in the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point process for the assessment of the microbiological safety of food at the production, processing, manufacturing, packaging, and storage levels.

Artificial Intelligence↗

PubMed2006

Altered navigational strategy use and visuospatial deficits in hAPP transgenic mice.

Navigation deficits are prominent in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and transgenic mice expressing familial AD-mutant hAPP and A beta peptides. To determine the impact of strategy use on these deficits, we assessed hAPP and nontransgenic mice in a cross maze that can be solved by allocentric (world-based) or egocentric (self-based) strategies. Most nontransgenic mice used allocentric strategies, whereas half of hAPP mice were egocentric. At 3 months, all mice learned the cross maze rapidly; at 6 months, only allocentric hAPP mice were impaired. At 3 and 6 months, hAPP mice had reduced hippocampal Fos expression, which correlated with cross maze learning in older mice. Striatal pCREB expression was unaltered in hAPP mice, suggesting striatal sparing. We conclude that egocentric strategy use may be an earlier indicator of hAPP/A beta-induced hippocampal impairment than spatial learning deficits. Persistent use of allocentric strategies when egocentric strategies are available is maladaptive when there is hippocampal damage. Interventions promoting flexibility in selecting learning strategies might help circumvent otherwise debilitating navigational deficits caused by AD-related hippocampal dysfunction.

Amyloid beta-Peptides↗

PubMed2006

A computational theory of hippocampal function, and empirical tests of the theory.

The main aim of the paper is to present an up-to-date computational theory of hippocampal function and the predictions it makes about the different subregions (dentate gyrus, CA3 and CA1), and to examine behavioral and electrophysiological data that address the functions of the hippocampus and particularly its subregions. Based on the computational proposal that the dentate gyrus produces sparse representations by competitive learning and via the mossy fiber pathway forces new representations on the CA3 during learning (encoding), it has been shown behaviorally that the dentate gyrus supports spatial pattern separation during learning. Based on the computational proposal that CA3-CA3 autoassociative networks are important for episodic memory, it has been shown behaviorally that the CA3 supports spatial rapid one-trial learning, learning of arbitrary associations where space is a component, pattern completion, spatial short-term memory, and sequence learning by associations formed between successive items. The concept that the CA1 recodes information from CA3 and sets up associatively learned backprojections to neocortex to allow subsequent retrieval of information to neocortex, is consistent with findings on consolidation. Behaviorally, the CA1 is implicated in processing temporal information as shown by investigations requiring temporal order pattern separation and associations across time; computationally this could involve temporal decay memory, and temporal sequence memory which might also require CA3. The perforant path input to DG is implicated in learning, to CA3 in retrieval from CA3, and to CA1 in retrieval after longer time intervals ("intermediate-term memory").

Animals↗