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PubMed1980

Delayed-alternation performance after selective lesions within the prefrontal cortex of the cat.

On the basis of new neuroanatomical findings on relationships between subregions of the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus and the prefrontal cortex of the cat, it was attempted to investigate the relative importance of prefrontal subfields with the aim of obtaining evidence in favor of a functional inequality of different prefrontal subfields. Four areas, named presylvian (PRS), proreal (PR), dorsomedial (DM), and orbito-insular (OI) sectors, were ablated successfully in 30 adult animals. Performance of a 10-sec delayed-alternation task was compared pre- and postoperatively. Furthermore, most of the cats had to learn an extension of this task postoperatively, using a 20-sec delay period, and lastly, these animals were subjected to an extinction test. Significant performance differences were obtained between cats of different groups in all three tasks. Lesions of subregion PR, and even more of subregion PRS, led to severe behavioral deterioration, whereas lesions of subregion OI were without effect, when compared with the behavior of a sham-operated control group. PRS-cats, furthermore, showed motor disturbances during the first postoperative week. The results obtained suggest that it is possible to subdivide the cat's prefrontal cortex functionally. In addition, it is hypothesized that behavioral changes in cats of groups PRS and PR are due to an inability to use kinesthetic information properly.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Behavioral thermoregulation, core temperature, and motor activity: simultaneous quantitative assessment in rats after dopamine and prostaglandin E1.

These studies were designed to determine the dose-response autonomic and behavioral thermoregulatory effects and the motor effects of dopamine (DA) and prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) injected into the lateral cerebral ventricles of rats. These studies were made possible with a computer-controlled thermocline that permits freely moving rats to select preferred ambient temperatures ranging between 7 and 39 degrees C. All rats were studied with the thermocline gradient both on and off to control for nonspecific effects. PGE1 (0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1.0 micrograms) produced a dose-related increase in core temperature and produced a dose-related selection of warmer ambient temperatures. Dopamine (0, 50, 100, 200, 400 micrograms) produced a dose-related hypothermia and cold-seeking behavior. Without the gradient, DA-injected rats did not become as hypothermic as in the gradient-on condition. When the gradient was available, rats showed a significant rebound increase in core temperature 50-80 min after DA which did not occur when the gradient was off. Overall, DA induced increases in motor activity, but, during the first 10 min after injection while the gradient was on, the rats made stable selections of cool ambient temperatures and showed reduced activity. Conversely, the behavioral effect of PGE1 did not facilitate the autonomically mediated heat gain. These results emphasize the necessity of creating behavioral options for animals in order to fully evaluate drug effects on thermoregulation.

Alprostadil↗
PubMed2001

Rhesus monkeys know when they remember.

Humans are consciously aware of some memories and can make verbal reports about these memories. Other memories cannot be brought to consciousness, even though they influence behavior. This conspicuous difference in access to memories is central in taxonomies of human memory systems but has been difficult to document in animal studies, suggesting that some forms of memory may be unique to humans. Here I show that rhesus macaque monkeys can report the presence or absence of memory. Although it is probably impossible to document subjective, conscious properties of memory in nonverbal animals, this result objectively demonstrates an important functional parallel with human conscious memory. Animals able to discern the presence and absence of memory should improve accuracy if allowed to decline memory tests when they have forgotten, and should decline tests most frequently when memory is attenuated experimentally. One of two monkeys examined unequivocally met these criteria under all test conditions, whereas the second monkey met them in all but one case. Probe tests were used to rule out "cueing" by a wide variety of environmental and behavioral stimuli, leaving detection of the absence of memory per se as the most likely mechanism underlying the monkeys' abilities to selectively decline memory tests when they had forgotten.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Evaluation of a brief stimulus preference assessment.

We evaluated the utility of a brief (5-min) stimulus preference assessment for individuals with developmental disabilities. Participants had noncontingent (free) access to an array of stimuli and could interact with any of the stimuli at any time. Stimuli were never withdrawn or withheld from the participants during a 5-min session. In Experiment 1, the brief preference assessment was conducted for 10 participants to identify differentially preferred stimuli, and reinforcer assessments were conducted to test the reinforcing efficacy of those stimuli identified as highly preferred. In Experiment 2, a comparison was conducted between the brief preference assessment and a commonly used paired-stimulus preference assessment. Collectively, results demonstrated that the brief preference assessment identified stimuli that functioned as reinforcers for a simple operant response, identified preferred stimuli that were differentially effective as reinforcers compared to nonpreferred stimuli, was associated with fewer problem behaviors, and required less time to complete than a commonly used paired-stimulus preference assessment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

What can animal models tell us about human sexual response?

In all species, sexual behavior is directed by a complex interplay between steroid hormone actions in the brain that give rise to sexual arousability and experience with sexual reward that gives rise to expectations of competent sexual activity, including sexual arousal, desire, and performance. Sexual experience allows animals to form instrumental and Pavlovian associations that predict sexual outcome and thereby directs the strength of sexual responding. Although the study of animal sexual behavior by neuroendocrinologists has traditionally been concerned with mechanisms of copulatory responding, more recent use of conditioning and preference paradigms, and a focus on environmental circumstances and experience, has revealed behaviors and processes that resemble human sexual responses. In this paper, we review behavioral paradigms used with rodents and other species that are analogous or homologous to human sexual arousal, desire, reward, and inhibition. The extent to which these behavioral paradigms offer predictive validity and practicality as preclinical tools and models is discussed. Identification of common neurochemical and neuroanatomical substrates of sexual responding between animals and humans suggests that the evolution of sexual behavior has been highly conserved and indicates that animal models of human sexual response can be used successfully as preclinical tools.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Thirty-two years of selection of rats by ethanol preference: UChA and UChB strains.

An overview of the development of two strains of rats with low and high consumption of ethanol is reported. Voluntary consumption of water and various concentrations of ethanol solution were studied in these strains as a function of diet, supplementation with vitamin B complex components, housing conditions and coefficient of heredity. Both distribution factor of the consumption of ethanol in hybrids and the course of voluntary intake of ethanol have been described. In addition, a comparison was made between these rat strains developed for low and high preference to ethanol drinking in reference to their voluntary intake of ethanol, water and food. The metabolic concomitant to these two strains has been studied in relationship to ethanol metabolism and to other substrates, i.e., acetate, pyruvate, glucose, citrate and fructose. Behavioral studies were also performed. This included the measurements of duration of ethanol narcosis and evaluation of tolerance to ethanol drinking.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Chronic administration of flumazenil increases life span and protects rats from age-related loss of cognitive functions: a benzodiazepine/GABAergic hypothesis of brain aging.

Under barrier condition and with ad lib access to food and water, 20 Fischer-344 rats were chronically treated for 10 months with the benzodiazepine (BDZ) antagonist, flumazenil (FL; 4 mg/kg/day in drinking water acidified to pH = 3.0), beginning at the age of 13 months, while the group of 20 control age-matched rats received plain acidified water. The life span of the first 8 deceased rats treated with FL was significantly longer than that of the first 8 deceased rats in the age-matched control group. In tests for spontaneous ambulation and exploratory behavior in the Holeboard apparatus, conducted during the 3rd and the 8th month of treatment, the FL group, relative to controls, had significantly higher scores for the ambulation and exploratory behavior. In tests for unrewarded spontaneous alternation in the T maze, conducted at days 7, 39, 42, and 47 through 54 after drug withdrawal, i.e., at the age of 24-25 months, the FL-exposed group, compared to age-matched controls, showed a significantly higher percent of alternating choices, a behavior that was statistically comparable to that of the "young" 6-month-old controls. In the Radial Maze tests conducted 2 months after drug withdrawal, the FL group made significantly less "working memory" errors and "reference memory" errors, relative to the age-matched 25-month-old control group, a performance that was comparable to that of the young 7-month-old control group. In conclusion, chronic FL significantly protected rats from age-related loss of cognitive functions. It is postulated that the age-related alterations in brain function may be attributable to the negative metabolic/trophic influences of the "endogenous" benzodiazepine (BDZ) ligands and/or those ingested with food. A BDZ/GABAergic hypothesis of brain aging has been formulated which assumes that age-related and abnormally strong BDZ/GABAergic influences promote neurodegeneration by suppressing trophic functions of the aminergic and peptidergic neurons through opening of chloride channels in soma membrane and axon terminals, causing excessive hyperpolarizing and depolarizing inhibition, respectively. The review of human clinical and animal data indicates that FL has nootropic actions by enhancing vigilance cognitive and habituation processes.

Aging↗
PubMed1995

Subcutaneous injections of the tachykinin senktide reduce alcohol intake in alcohol-preferring rats.

The present study evaluated the effect of SC injections of the selective NK3 tachykinin agonist, Suc-[Asp6,MePhe8]substance P(6-11), also referred to as senktide (SENK), on 8% alcohol intake in genetically selected alcohol-preferring rats. Animals were offered access to 8% ethanol for 2 h/day (between 1800 and 2000 h) and to tap water for 4 h/day (between 1800 and 2200 h); SENK was injected 10 min before access to fluids. The peptide significantly reduced alcohol intake at doses of 125 and 250 micrograms/kg, but not at 62.5 micrograms/kg. The reduction in alcohol intake was accompanied by a sharp increase in water intake, so that total fluid intake was never significantly modified. The same SC doses of SENK did not modify water intake in rats with access to water, as the only fluid, for 4 h/day. In food-deprived rats food intake was not altered by 125 micrograms/kg, whereas 250 micrograms/kg produced a reduction in food intake that was smaller in intensity and shorter lasting than the reduction in alcohol intake. The same doses of SENK did not modify 0.1% saccharin intake, nor did they elicit major competing behaviors. The results of the present study are in keeping with those obtained following central injection of NK3 agonists, and show that a behaviorally selective reduction of alcohol intake can be evoked also by peripheral administration of SENK.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed1998

Impulsivity and history of drug dependence.

Impulsivity was contrasted between 32 subjects with a history of drug-dependence (DRUG+) and 26 subjects with no drug use history (DRUG-) using both behavioral and self-report measures. The hypothesis was that the DRUG+ group would be more impulsive than the DRUG- group. Subjects in the DRUG+ group self-reported more of a tendency toward impulsivity than the DRUG- group in the situations posed in questionnaires. In the behavioural paradigm involving a choice between a smaller intermediate reward and a larger but delayed reward, DRUG+ subjects selected the impulsive option more often, but these differences were not significant. The DRUG+ and DRUG- groups did differ on the mean delay interval for the larger reward, indicating less ability to tolerate longer delays for the larger reward. A frequency distribution of delay intervals for the larger reward indicated that DRUG+ subjects were more likely to maintain very short intervals and less likely to maintain longer intervals.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Evidence for anatomical specificity for the reinforcing effects of SP in the nucleus basalis magnocellularis.

Previous studies have shown that substance P (SP) exerts reinforcing effects following injection into the region of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis (NBM) in rats. The aim of the present study was to further characterize this effect by examining its anatomical specificity. Reinforcing effects of SP were assessed following unilateral microinjection into the NBM or into the nearby rostral part of the ventral pallidum (VP), using conditioned place preference as an index for reinforcement. Intracranial injection of SP was performed through small diameter glass micropipettes which allowed precise delivery of SP in minute quantities. A single microinjection of SP (0.2 and 1 ng) into the NBM produced a conditioned place preference, whereas injection of SP into the rostral VP failed to alter the preference behavior. The results confirm that SP has reinforcing effects when administered into the NBM and provide evidence that these effects are brain-site specific.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

The need for consumer behavior analysis in health care coverage decisions.

Demographic analysis has been the primary form of analysis connected with health care coverage decisions. This paper reviews past demographic research and shows the need to use behavioral analyses for health care coverage policy decisions. A behavioral model based research study is presented and a case is made for integrated study into why consumers make health care coverage decisions.

Arkansas↗
PubMed2002

Decisions, decisions: analysis of age, cohort, and time of testing on framing of risky decision options.

Decision making in uncertain environments is a daily challenge faced by adults of all ages. Framing decision options as either gains or losses is a common method of altering decision-making behavior. In the experiment reported here, benchmark decision-making data collected in the 1970s by Tversky and Kahneman (1981, 1988) were compared with data collected from current samples of young and older adults to determine whether behavior was consistent across time. Although differences did emerge between the benchmark and the present samples, the effect of framing on decision behavior was relatively stable. The present findings suggest that adults of all ages are susceptible to framing effects. Results also indicated that apparent age differences might be better explained by an analysis of cohort and time-of-testing effects. Actual or potential applications of this research include an understanding of how framing might influence the decision-making behavior of people of all ages in a number of applied contexts, such as product warning interactions and medical decision scenarios.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Concurrent changes in regional cholinergic parameters and nest odor preference in the early postnatal rat after lead exposure.

The effect of pre- and postnatal lead ingestion on choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity, muscarinic cholinergic receptors (mACHR) and on nest odor preference, was investigated in the early postnatal male rat. Long Evans dams were given either 0.15% [LL = low lead] or 0.25% [ML = moderate lead] lead acetate (controls, 0.125% or 0.075% sodium acetate) in their drinking solution from the first day of pregnancy and during lactation. Mean blood lead levels were 55 micrograms/100ml at postnatal day [PN] 6 in ML-treated offspring and 35 micrograms/100ml at PN 9 in LL-treated pups. General health of pups and dams was not affected. Lead-treated offspring showed a reduced preference for or ability to identify the smell of home bedding, when tested at PN 9. A decrease in binding (Bmax) of [3H]N-methyl- scopolamine (NMS) was detected in olfactory bulb and in visual cortex of LL-treated rats at PN 9; the affinity (KD) was unchanged. On the other hand, ChAT-activity of ML-treated offspring was significantly increased in olfactory bulb at PN 6. These results suggest that stage-specific behaviors depending on sensory functions and cholinergic projection systems in related brain areas are sensitive to pre- and postnatal lead exposure.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Effectiveness and persistence of precurrent mediating behavior in delayed matching to sample and oddity matching with children.

Two kinds of mediating behavior were compared with respect to their effectiveness in variable-delay matching-to-sample and oddity-matching tasks. Each of four 5-year-old children was trained to emit either differential or common mediating responses. The differential mediating response consisted of pressing a specific computer key corresponding to either of two possible sample stimuli (a red or a green square). The common mediating response consisted of pressing one of the two response keys regardless of the sample. The differential-response subjects did not show the typical, delay-related decrease in matching-to-sample performance that characterized the behavior of common-response subjects. An oddity-matching task was then introduced, and subjects were instructed to use the mediating keys however they preferred, including not at all. Differential-response subjects continued to respond on the originally trained mediating keys in response to sample presentation and later reversed their choice responding, thus accommodating the oddity-matching requirements. Common-response subjects continued to emit the previously trained mediating response and experienced limited success in oddity matching. Results were interpreted in terms of stimulus control, instructional control, and experimental history.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1994

A semiautomated test apparatus for studying partner preference behavior in the rat.

A semiautomated three-compartment box (3CB) for studying partner preference behavior of rats is described. This apparatus automatically records the rat's time spent in each compartment, as well as the locomotor activity (i.e., the number of visits an animal pays to each compartment). Software was developed for calculating partner preference scores. Behavioral testing in the semiautomated 3CB, which is a modification of an earlier version, is less time consuming and less laborious. Three 3CBs can be observed simultaneously by two trained observers, and the behavioral interactions of three experimental animals with the stimulus animals can be observed and scored by hand. The use of the new apparatus was validated by studying adult partner preference behavior of neonatally ATD-treated male rats. The collected data fully corroborate previous results, obtained in the earlier version of the 3CB, again revealing the behavioral bisexual nature of these ATD males. A new finding was the much higher locomotor activity of the ATD males compared to controls.

Androstatrienes↗
PubMed2004

Human group behavior: the ideal free distribution in a three-patch situation.

A group of 15 college students was exposed to repeated trials of a task in which money was available for choosing among three colors (blue, red, and green). The amount of winning tokens for each color was varied across phases to test whether group distribution would track the ratio of winning tokens between patches. Confirming previous reports on ideal free performance in humans, group choice proved sensitive to the available resources but tended to undermatch the ratio of winning tokens. The difference-equalization rule of Sokolowski, Tonneau, and Freixa i Baqué [Psychonom. Bull. Rev. 6 (1999) 157] gave a satisfactory fit to the data.

Choice Behavior↗
PubMed1990

Patterns of social preference across different social contexts in golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia).

We investigated the role of mutual and circumstantial factors in maintaining exclusive social relationships in a New World primate. Four breeding pairs of golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia rosalia) were allowed to interact with their mate or an unfamiliar, opposite-sex adult in each of 4 different social contexts: in view of the mate, out of the mate's view, with only the mate present, and with only the unfamiliar animal present. Males and females were in proximity to, approached, and sniffed their mates significantly more often than they did unfamiliar tamarins. These behaviors suggest a preference for the familiar mate. However, when mates were absent, tamarins demonstrated significantly higher levels of approach and sniffs toward unfamiliar animals. These patterns of behavior indicate that circumstantial factors, such as social context, may regulate social interactions between paired tamarins and unfamiliar, opposite-sex conspecifics.

Aggression↗