Cortical evoked potentials as indicators of auditory-visual cross-modal association in young adults.

Pavlov J Biol Sci. 1990 Oct-Dec;25(4):201-6

Authors: Bruneau N, Roux S, Garreau B, Martineau J, Lelord G

Auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) were studied from scalp locations Cz and Oz on 37 adults aged 20-22 years during sensori-sensorial association of a weak sound (S) and a strong flash of light (L). After sound alone repetition (habituation), S-L association modified AEP: first, it caused a generalized orienting response expressed as increasing of Cz and Oz amplitude AEPs. Then, this pattern gave way to an activation limited to the Oz lead: the increase of amplitude was then concomitant with shortened latencies when compared to sound-alone-habituated responses. Inter-individual differences were observed since these occipital modifications were recorded only on 26 subjects. The other 11 subjects did not exhibit any occipital modifications following S-L association. For them, the main modification was a strong decrease of Cz AEP induced by S-L association. These two groups also differed in their capacity to ignore irrelevant stimuli which is higher in the first group (AEP amplitude habituation with sound-alone repetition) than in the second one (no AEP habituation).

PMID: 2075030 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Arousal and paired-associate learning. Evidence refuting the action decrement theory of Walker and Tarte (1963).

Pavlov J Biol Sci. 1990 Oct-Dec;25(4):195-200

Authors: Schürer-Necker E

Walker and Tarte (1963) postulate that at short retention intervals high arousal paired-associates are reproduced more poorly than low arousal items. Walker and colleagues believe that this hypothesis is confirmed by their paired-associate learning studies. However, results of these paired-associate learning studies are position confounded artifacts. Better recall of low arousal items at short-term retention is caused by the coincidence of the recency effect and low arousal at the end of the trial. When these position effects are controlled there is no action decrement for the high arousal paired-associates. To test this assumption, the Kleinsmith and Kaplan study (1963) was replicated and two other variations were conducted. In these three studies with 76 subjects, which were tested at two minutes or 1 week, the action decrement occurs only when the two position effects coincide.

PMID: 2075029 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Auditory stimulus intensity gradients and response to methylphenidate in ADD children.

Pavlov J Biol Sci. 1990 Oct-Dec;25(4):180-94

Authors: Ackerman PT, Dykman RA, Oglesby DM

Using an auditory stimulus intensity paradigm, we obtained both event related potentials (ERPs) and press and release reaction times (RT) from a large sample of children with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). The ERP gradients to three tone intensities were used to classify the children as augmenters (steep gradients), moderates, or reducers (shallow or negative gradients). The RT data were used to classify the children as strong or sensitive, following neo-Pavlovian guidelines. The children were then cross-classified on these two dimensions and compared on cognitive, behavioral, and performance measures. The groups were also compared in response to two dosage levels of methylphenidate. Based on prior studies, we hypothesized that: 1. ERP augmenters would respond as well to the low as high dose but that reducers would respond better to high than low dose; and II. sensitive types (RT measure) would do better on the higher dose and strong types on the low dose. The first hypothesis was confirmed on a performance task but not on behavioral ratings. At the lower dose, augmenters improved most and reducers least on a 10-minute coding task presumed to require sustained attention. There was no support for the second hypothesis either in ratings or performance. The ERP augmentation measure was significantly related to teacher rated attentiveness; i.e., reducers and moderates were rated more adversely. The RT sensitivity measure tended to be related to achievement; i.e., strong types had lower reading and spelling scores. The ERP and RT sensitivity measures were not significantly correlated.

PMID: 2075028 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Contextual conditioning. A comparison of eastern and western views.

Pavlov J Biol Sci. 1990 Oct-Dec;25(4):174-9

Authors: Lachnit H, Kimmel HD

Eastern and Western interpretations of contextual control of phasic conditional responses (transswitching) are contrasted. The Eastern (Asratyan, 1965) approach emphasizes the role of the tonic conditional stimulus and the (hypothetical) tonic response it evokes. The Western (Lachnit, 1986) approach emphasizes the role of compound conditional stimuli. Although Lachnit showed that transswitching-like results can be obtained without a tonic stimulus, attempts to simulate transswitching experiments using a computer model of the Rescorla-Wagner theory (Kimmel and Lachnit, 1988) have shown that predictions from the theory approximate empirical results in human classical conditioning only when the tonic stimulus is given far greater weight than the phasic stimulus. In other words, only when the Rescorla-Wagner theory is made more like Asratyan's theory, can the compound conditional stimulus approach account for real empirical transswitching data.

PMID: 2075027 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

The second signal system as conceived by Pavlov and his disciples.

Pavlov J Biol Sci. 1990 Oct-Dec;25(4):163-73

Authors: Windholz G

Pavlov clearly formulated his ideas on the second signal system (specifically, language) in the 1930s. This occurred in conjunction with his interest in interspecies differences and in the study of human neuroses. Pavlov proposed that conditional reflexes signal concrete reality while symbolic-language provides abstractions of reality. Phylogenetically, language emerged in the humans because this form of communication had survival value to the species. Pavlov's disciples L. A. Orbeli and N. I. Krasnogorskiĭ had considered the ontogenetic development of language. The experimental investigation of A. G. Ivanov-Smolenskiĭ extended Pavlov's empirical study of the function of language in psychopathology. Notwithstanding a sustained interest in language, Pavlov did not develop a theory of language acquisition based upon the conditioning principle. Pavlov's conceptualization of language may not have been original, nor did it contribute significantly to modern linguistics. It is now mainly of historical interest. It was, nevertheless, important to the conceptualization of neuroses within the context of the theory of higher nervous activity and it had far-reaching political implications for Soviet psychology in the immediate post-World War II period.

PMID: 2075026 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Pavlov and the Nobel Prize Award.

Pavlov J Biol Sci. 1990 Oct-Dec;25(4):155-62

Authors: Windholz G, Kuppers JR

When Pavlov was first nominated for the Nobel Prize, he was well recognized by physiologists, especially those concerned with digestion. It appears unlikely that psychological interpretations of his conditional reflex findings had begun to penetrate deeply into the discipline of psychology. The selection in 1904 of Pavlov for the award in physiology or medicine attracted the attention of a broader range of scientists. American psychologists, in particular, probably became more aware of the advantages of incorporating his "objective" conditional reflex method into their investigations. General biographical aspects relating to the award and the effect of the award upon the acceptance of the conditional reflex method by American psychologists are developed in this presentation.

PMID: 2075025 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

The orienting response: stimulus factors and response measures.

Pavlov J Biol Sci. 1990 Jul-Sep;25(3):93-9; discussion 99-103

Authors: Barry RJ

This paper outlines some of the basic ideas of the orienting response (OR) that have developed from the classical writings of E.N. Sokolov, in particular the effects of stimulus novelty, intensity, and significance upon the OR, and predictions about these effects on a range of physiological measures traditionally associated with the OR. Such measures include the GSR, respiration, heart rate, vascular responses, EEG, and pupil diameter. Unfortunately, many of the predictions of classical OR theory do not hold up when such a fine-grain analysis is undertaken. Possible conceptualizations of the discrepancies between Sokolovian predictions and empirical data are considered--should we accept such discrepancies as merely reflecting the imperfect nature of many OR indices, or seek other regularizing principles? Preliminary Process Theory has been proposed as one alternative account of the existing data base, and similarities and differences between it and Sokolovian theory are explored. The need for further investigation of such problems, in the very foundations of OR theory, appears to be of fundamental importance to the future status of the OR. An appendix provides a discussion between Barry and Sokolov on some of these issues.

PMID: 2287529 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Editorial-Observation objectivity and the conflict of ideas.

Pavlov J Biol Sci. 1990 Jul-Sep;25(3):151-2

Authors: Stern JA

PMID: 2287528 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

The orienting response, and future directions of its development.

Pavlov J Biol Sci. 1990 Jul-Sep;25(3):142-50

Authors: Sokolov EN

The orienting response (OR) is a specific behavioral act directed towards extraction of information from the environment. Head and eye movements represent only the tip of the iceberg of internal responses, which includes vascular modifications, EEG changes, and event-related potentials. Two mechanisms of the OR have to be differentiated: voluntary and involuntary. In the event-related potential, such a differentiation is expressed in mismatch negativity (involuntary effect) and processing negativity (voluntary effect). Single unit studies have shown that hippocampal neurones are simulating specific features of the OR as a response to novelty. Repeated presentation of stimuli results in a selective habituation of novelty detectors in hippocampus and of the OR. The trace of a standard stimulus formed at the level of hippocampal neurones matches the features of the standard stimulus and can be called a "neuronal model of the stimulus." The OR is triggered by mismatch between the test stimulus and the elaborated neuronal model, and is activated by verbal instruction, by reinforcement during the initial stage of conditioned reflex elaboration, and by differentiation of signal and non-signal stimuli. A promising new area of practical application of the OR lies in the evaluation of a corridor of optimal functional state for efficient computer-based learning. Registration of the OR and defensive responses can be used for an objective evaluation of the functional state of the student, or, in a wider sense, of the industrial operator. New avenues of OR research are opened by recent techniques that isolate single-trial event related potentials, and their correlation with autonomic and behavioral manifestations of the OR.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

PMID: 2287527 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Applied orienting response research: some examples.

Pavlov J Biol Sci. 1990 Jul-Sep;25(3):132-9; discussion 139-41

Authors: Tremayne P, Barry RJ

The development of orienting response (OR) theory has not been accompanied by many applications of the concept--most research still appears to be lab-based and "pure," rather than "applied." We present some examples from our own work in which the OR perspective has been applied in a wider context. These cover the exploration of processing deficits in autistic children, aspects of the "repression" of anxiety in elite athletes, and the locus of alcohol effects. Such applications of the OR concept in real-life situations seem a logical and, indeed, necessary step in the evolution of this area of psychophysiology.

PMID: 2287526 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Orienting reaction, organizing for action, and emotional processes.

Pavlov J Biol Sci. 1990 Jul-Sep;25(3):123-9; discussion 129-31

Authors: Latash LP

In the first half of the sixties, general notions were formulated concerning the functional role of the orienting reaction (OR) in adaptive activity, its elicitation and habituation. These notions included the following: a) The OR is elicited only by significant changes in a situation. This implies that OR elicitation is preceded by brain processes (usually unconscious) pertaining to the evaluation of the significance of changes according to an existing hierarchy of motivations, attitudes, and goals. Therefore, the OR is of an active (vs. reactive) nature, i.e., is inevitably determined by internal factors of brain activity. b) The OR is not a unitary reaction, but a complex polyfunctional activity, different aspects of which are reflected in different OR components which can be modified rather independently. c) The OR represents the processes of organizing new (non-standard) actions: sensory, motor, or intellectual. OR habituation is a manifestation of attenuation of the active control of an action, and an increase in its automation. Thus, the emphasis in understanding the OR has shifted from a predominantly "sensualistic" platform to a predominantly "actualistic" one. In recent experiments, the role of emotional processes in the elicitation and habituation of components of the OR has been analyzed. Complex relations between the GSR and anxiety were found in a study of patients with acute alcohol withdrawal syndrome treated with different psychopharmacological agents. The study of auditory evoked potential habituation in depressive patients has shown the emotional state influence on sensory aspects of the OR with the participation of the OR brain mechanisms in perceptual defense.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

PMID: 2287525 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

The OR and significance.

Pavlov J Biol Sci. 1990 Jul-Sep;25(3):111-20; discussion 120-2

Authors: Maltzman I

A brief review was conducted of past and current research and theory as well as future implications of the problem of significance and the OR. Research and theory in the field is judged to be at a choice point: advance to interesting and important problems integrated with biobehavioral research or enter a blind alley of pseudo-problems derived from computer metaphors and cognitive folk psychology.

PMID: 2287524 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Individual differences in the orienting response: nonresponding in nonclinical samples.

Pavlov J Biol Sci. 1990 Jul-Sep;25(3):104-8; discussion 109-10

Authors: O'Gorman JG

The complete failure of the electrodermal orienting response (OR), although widely studied in clinical samples, has received little systematic attention in work with healthy adults. The published studies of nonresponding using nonclinical samples are reviewed, with data from three unpublished studies pertinent to the question, to identify the characteristics of nonresponders. The most durable findings to date are that nonresponding shows both trait and state characteristics, and that nonresponders are more likely to be female than male, to show hypoarousal in the electrodermal system but not complete unresponsiveness in this system or low arousal in other systems, and to show higher scores on measures of impulsiveness and antisociality but not to differ from responders in terms of sensation seeking. Most of these data can be reconciled with two different accounts of the OR mechanism. One is that proposed by I. Maltzman which postulates a difference between voluntary and involuntary ORs, and the other is that of J. A. Gray which proposes that the OR is a function of activity in a Behavioural Inhibition System. Taken together, these accounts imply that the OR reflects attentional and affective processes, and that both cognitive style and temperamental differences in the appraisal of threat can lead to electrodermal nonresponding.

PMID: 2287523 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Kupalov's concept of shortened conditional reflexes: psychophysiological and psychopharmacological implications.

Pavlov J Biol Sci. 1990 Apr-Jun;25(2):84-5

Authors: Wyrwicka W

PMID: 2235107 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Reaction time task as unconditional stimulus. Comparing aversive and nonaversive unconditional stimuli.

Pavlov J Biol Sci. 1990 Apr-Jun;25(2):77-83

Authors: Lipp OV, Vaitl D

Nonaversive unconditional stimuli (USs) are seldom used in human classic conditioning of autonomic responses. One major objection to their use is that they produce deficits in electrodermal (ED) second- and third-interval response conditioning. However, a nonaversive reaction time (RT) task that includes feedback of success has been shown to be an effective US while avoiding this disadvantage (Lipp and Vaitl 1988). The present study compared this new RT task (RT-new) with a traditional RT task (RT-old) and with a standard aversive US (shock) in differential classic conditioning of ED, heart rate (HR), and digital pulse volume (DPV) responses. Eight-second-delay differential conditioning was applied in three groups of 12 subjects each. Simple geometric features (square, cross) displayed on a television screen served as conditional stimuli (CS+ and CS-). In acquisition, there were no statistically significant differences among the groups; differential conditioning did occur in HR, first- and second-interval ED responses, and first-interval DPV responses. Separate analyses within each group, however, revealed that there was no second-interval ED conditioning in the RT-old group. During extinction, neither DPV nor second-interval ED conditioning could be obtained, whereas HR and first-interval ED conditioning occurred in each group. In third-interval omission ED responses, RT-old and shock groups exhibited extinction, while response differentiation was maintained in the RT-new group throughout extinction. The RT task including feedback proved to be as reliable a US as a standard aversive US, whereas application of a traditional RT task again yielded some weaknesses in second-interval ED conditioning.

PMID: 2235106 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]