Habituation Process Research Articles

Horse Behavior, Physiology and Emotions during Habituation to a Treadmill.

Simple SummaryTreadmills have become a popular and important tool in various aspects of equestrianism. Habituation to treadmill locomotion has been investigated mainly in the biomechanic aspect. The behavioral aspect of habituation was seldom described; therefore, it was not clear if the habituation process was the same in horses with different temperaments and emotional responses to the handler. We assessed the results horses got in the novel object test, the handling test, and both positive and negative emotional response tests, and their connection with behavior-related features of the habituation process. The four principal components in the examined horses were identified: “Flightiness,” “Freeziness,” “Curiosity,” and “Timidity”. We found that the features of Flightiness gradually decreased during habituation. A part of them increased again when the horses started a new challenge. Features of Freeziness and Curiosity showed strong stability throughout the whole habituation. Features of Timidity strongly increased when the treadmill was introduced; thus, the challenge was completely changed. The first entrance and work on a treadmill seemed to cause fright responses. We conclude that the habituation process should be adapted to the horse’s temperament and emotionality. Such findings will improve handler safety and lead to increased horse welfare during habituation.A treadmill is an important tool in the equine analysis of gait, lameness, and hoof balance, as well as for the evaluation of horse rehabilitation or poor performance including dynamic endoscopy. Before all of these uses, horses have to be habituated to a treadmill locomotion. We used principal component analysis to evaluate the relationship between aspects of the horse’s temperament and emotional response, and progress in the behavioral habituation to a treadmill. Fourteen horses were tested, by the same familiar handler, using the novel object test, the handling test, and both positive and negative emotional response tests. Then, four stages of gradual habituation of the first work on a treadmill were conducted. Each time, the horse’s behavior was filmed. Data obtained from ethograms and heart rate measurements were tested. Four principal components were identified in examined horses: “Flightiness”, “Freeziness”, “Curiosity”, and “Timidity”. Flightiness was connected with nervousness, agitation by new objects, and easy excitability, and gradually decreased of features during habituation. Timidity was associated with a lack of courage and stress in new situations, and those features strongly increased when the treadmill was introduced. Freeziness and Curiosity features showed strong stability throughout the whole habituation. The results of this study provide evidence for a connection between temperament, emotional response, and habituation process in a horse.

Considering Habit in Research on Travel Mode Choice: A Literature Review with a Two-Level Methodology

This study used sources from selected databases to provide an overview of the role of habit in choosing a mode of travel. The articles were selected from two levels. The first included selected studies that considered the psychological aspects of travel mode choice and travel mode change. These created the context for the issues of mode choice and the change of travel mode. The second level was narrower and included studies that were directly focused on the role of habit in travel mode choice or that took the role of habit into account. These studies were used as the core of the review. Subsequently, the topic of habit and travel mode choice was divided into four fields: the theoretical definition of the concept of habit, both in general and in the context of travel mode choice; the theoretical bases of the selected studies; follow-up strategies for transport-mode change; and the measurements and methods used in the field. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) is the most often used theory for explaining the travel mode choice. Other approaches include the Norm Activation Model and the Value Belief Norm Theory. The aim for other approaches is usually to trigger conscious choice processes, but most reaearchers believe that travel mode choices are automatic and habitual when made in a stable context. The Comprehensive Action Determination Model is a promising theoretical integration that may be used in future research. It integrates assumptions of the TPB, Norm Activation Model, theoretical habit conception, and ipsative behaviour theory in order to build on habitual processes, intention processes, situation effects, and personal and social norms. As habit seems to have the most important role in the choice of travel modes and the possible changes, it should also be considered for mode-choice models in the automation era.

Alcohol Hangover Does Not Alter the Application of Model-Based and Model-Free Learning Strategies

Frequent alcohol binges shift behavior from goal-directed to habitual processing modes. This shift in reward-associated learning strategies plays a key role in the development and maintenance of alcohol use disorders and seems to persist during (early stages of) sobriety in at-risk drinkers. Yet still, it has remained unclear whether this phenomenon might be associated with alcohol hangover and thus also be found in social drinkers. In an experimental crossover design, n = 25 healthy young male participants performed a two-step decision-making task once sober and once hungover (i.e., when reaching sobriety after consuming 2.6 g of alcohol per estimated liter of total body water). This task allows the separation of effortful model-based and computationally less demanding model-free learning strategies. The experimental induction of alcohol hangover was successful, but we found no significant hangover effects on model-based and model-free learning scores, the balance between model-free and model-based valuation (ω), or perseveration tendencies (π). Bayesian analyses provided positive evidence for the null hypothesis for all measures except π (anecdotal evidence for the null hypothesis). Taken together, alcohol hangover, which results from a single binge drinking episode, does not impair the application of effortful and computationally costly model-based learning strategies and/or increase model-free learning strategies. This supports the notion that the behavioral deficits observed in at-risk drinkers are most likely not caused by the immediate aftereffects of individual binge drinking events.

Goal-oriented and habitual decisions: Neural signatures of model-based and model-free learning

Human decision-making is mainly driven by two fundamental learning processes: a slow, deliberative, goal-directed model-based process that maps out the potential outcomes of all options and a rapid habitual model-free process that enables reflexive repetition of previously successful choices. Although many model-informed neuroimaging studies have examined the neural correlates of model-based and model-free learning, the concordant activity among these two processes remains unclear. We used quantitative meta-analyses of functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments to identify the concordant activity pertaining to model-based and model-free learning over a range of reward-related paradigms. We found that: 1) both processes yielded concordant ventral striatum activity, 2) model-based learning activated the medial prefrontal cortex and orbital frontal cortex, and 3) model-free learning specifically activated the left globus pallidus and right caudate head. Our findings suggest that model-free and model-based decision making engage overlapping yet distinct neural regions. These stereotaxic maps improve our understanding of how deliberative goal-directed and reflexive habitual learning are implemented in the brain.

A brief introduction to the COM-B Model of behaviour and the PRIME Theory of motivation

The COM-B model of behaviour is widely used to identify what needs to change in order for a behaviour change intervention to be effective. It identifies three factors that need to be present for any behaviour to occur: capability, opportunity and motivation. These factors interact over time so that behaviour can be seen as part of a dynamic system with positive and negative feedback loops. Motivation is a core part of the model and the PRIME Theory of motivation provides a framework for understanding how reflective thought processes (Planning and Evaluation processes) and emotional and habitual processes (Motive and Impulse/inhibition processes) interact at every moment leading to behaviour (Responses) at that moment.

Virtue’s Embodied Malleability: the Plasticity of Habit and the Double-Law of Habituation

This paper urges contemporary Business Ethicists to reconsider the relationship between habit and virtue in the light of recent debates between contemporary philosophers and scientists. Synthesizing insights from current Neuroscience, from twentieth century American Pragmatism and from nineteenth century French Aristotelianism, this emergent intellectual tradition proposes a dynamic account of habit’s embodiment which we will first describe and then advocate. Two recurring suggestions within this habit renaissance are of particular relevance to Business Ethicists: firstly, that there is a ‘plastic’ structure pertaining to habit and, secondly, that there is a processual ‘double-law of habituation’. Taken together, these accounts of habit and habituation provide virtue ethicists with a basis for claiming analytic and pragmatic authority within applied ethics debates in general and within Business Ethics debates in particular. We develop this argument in three steps. Firstly, we elaborate upon why habits are said to be plastic and why the process of habituation is said to be characterised by a double-law. Secondly, we distinguish this account of habit’s relationship to virtue from, and where necessary defend it against, the influential articulations of the habit: virtue relationship provided by situationism, by deontology and by communitarianism, respectively. Finally, we draw practical lessons from the initial elaborations made in the argument’s first step, and the subsequent clarifications provided in its second step, by announcing seven characteristics of highly effective virtue habituation projects.

Early Childhood Metacognitive Learning among Students of Early Childhood Teacher Education

The purpose of this research is to describe the ability of Early Childhood Teacher Education students to carry out Early Childhood metacognitive learning.By using the developmental research method that refers to the Dick and Carey's model, the following research results are obtained: Based on the teaching of thinking, teaching for thinking and teaching about thinking, early childhood metacognitive learning is planned so that the method and media used are clear, to train students' thinking ability. The implementation of early childhood metacognitive learning is assessed from the teacher's perception, namely students of Early Childhood Education as prospective teachers and from children's perceptions. From the teacher's perception it is believed that early childhood metacognitive learning can start at the age of 2 years old. From the children's perception, early childhood metacognitive learning occurs because of the process of habituation and imitation.

Optogenetically induced cellular habituation in non-neuronal cells.

Habituation, defined as the reversible decrement of a response during repetitive stimulation, is widely established as a form of non-associative learning. Though more commonly ascribed to neural cells and systems, habituation has also been observed in single aneural cells, although evidence is limited. Considering the generalizability of the habituation process, we tested the degree to which organism-level behavioral and single cell manifestations were similar. Human embryonic kidney (HEK) cells that overexpressed an optogenetic actuator were photostimulated to test the effect of different stimulation protocols on cell responses. Depolarization induced by the photocurrent decreased successively over the stimulation protocol and the effect was reversible upon withdrawal of the stimulus. In addition to frequency- and intensity-dependent effects, the history of stimulations on the cells impacted subsequent depolarization in response to further stimulation. We identified tetraethylammonium (TEA)-sensitive native K+ channels as one of the mediators of this habituation phenotype. Finally, we used a theoretical model of habituation to elucidate some mechanistic aspects of the habituation response. In conclusion, we affirm that habituation is a time- and state-dependent biological strategy that can be adopted also by individual non-neuronal cells in response to repetitive stimuli.

Construction of Krui Community Knowledge on Repong Damar Culture in Lampung’s West Coast

The research context with the theme of the social construction of repong damar culture has been carried out in various fields of science. The research was also conducted in a variety of different perspectives and focus to produce different findings and theorizations. This research is considered important because it is in line with the current shift in the local culture that is currently happening a lot. In many ways, local culture is often positioned opposite the thinking of the younger generation who consider it outdated. This research was motivated by the repong damar culture that existed in Lampung’s Saibatin community, Pesisir Barat District, Lampung. Resin cultivation in Lampung society Saibatin has become a hereditary practice and lasts for generations. The practice of resin which has been around for a long time eventually became a habit that was very attached to the Saibatin Lampung community. The purpose of this study was to find out how the damar cultivation practices can be formed and what kind of social construction then made the practice of resin cultivation to survive today. This study uses a qualitative method with an ethnographic approach. Also, this study also uses the theory of Social Construction from Peter L. Berger. Data collection techniques used in this study were interviews, observation, and documentation. The results of the study on the Social Construction of Repong Damar in Saibatin Lampung Community, Pesisir Barat District, Lampung showed that the practice of damar cultivation was formed around the beginning of the 1827s, which began with two main factors, namely after crop failure from cloves and pepper on the West Coast. Furthermore, the trigger for the emergence of this practice was also due to the actions of a trader who initially traded to Singapore while looking at market commodities that had high economic value. Upon returning the merchant to the West Coast, he recounted that gum resin had a high economic value which was sought after by traders from other countries as materials for making paints, cosmetics, and lighting. The Saibatin Lampung community then used the information and manifested the actions taken by traders by conducting large-scale resin cultivation. Subsequent developments, from the past until now several aspects make the practice of resin can continue to survive, including the existence of a process of habituation, legitimacy, and the process of socialization to the family and the environment.

Evaluation of sympathetic sudomotor responses to auditory stimuli in children with autism spectrum disorders

Aim and Objective:Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) being a complex neurological and developmental disorder is also associated with autonomic nervous system dysfunction. Sudomotor nerve function is one highly sensitive index of sympathetic cholinergic activity and can be evaluated by measuring sympathetic skin response (SSR) to various stimuli. Studies reporting SSR to auditory stimulus among ASDs are limited and to the extent of our knowledge not assessed in the Indian scenario. The objective of the study was to assess and compare sympathetic sudomotor activity by evaluating SSR to auditory stimuli in children with and without ASDs.Materials and Methods:A total of eighty individuals were enrolled in the study, including forty children with ASD and forty typically developing (TD) children. SSR to auditory stimulus was assessed using a digitized data acquisition unit in a soundproof room, maintained at 23°C. SSR indices such as latent period (s), amplitude (mv), and habituation were analyzed and compared using appropriate statistical tests between the groups. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results:Habituation for SSR was statistically significantly lower (P < 0.001) in children with ASD (0.43 [0.21, 0.61]) compared to TD children (0.78 [0.65, 0.95]). Latent period was also statistically significantly higher in children with ASD (1.67 [1.37, 2.02]) compared to TD children (1.41 [1.2, 1.72]). However, there was no significant difference in amplitude values between the groups.Conclusions:Children with ASDs exhibited slower habituation of SSR to auditory stimuli compared to healthy controls. This slower habituation process might be due to the persistent predominant state of sympathetic nerves, which, in turn, contributes to the atypical emotional and behavioral traits prevailing in ASDs.

Habituation of the cardiovascular response to restraint stress is inhibited by exposure to other stressor stimuli and exercise training.

This study evaluated the effect of exposure to either a chronic variable stress (CVS) protocol or social isolation, as well as treadmill exercise training, in the habituation of the cardiovascular response upon repeated exposure to restraint stress in rats. The habituation of the corticosterone response to repeated restraint stress was also evaluated. For this, animals were subjected to either acute or 10 daily sessions of 60 min of restraint stress. CVS and social isolation protocols lasted for 10 consecutive days, whereas treadmill training was performed for 1 h per day, 5 days per week for 8 weeks. We observed that the increase in serum corticosterone was reduced during both the stress and the recovery period of the 10th session of restraint. Habituation of the cardiovascular response was identified in terms of a faster return of heart rate to baseline values during the recovery period of the 10th session of restraint. The increase in blood pressure and the decrease in tail skin temperature were similar at the 1st and 10th session of restraint. Exposure to CVS, social isolation or treadmill exercise training inhibited the habituation of the restraint-evoked tachycardia. Additionally, CVS increased the blood pressure response at the 10th session of restraint, whereas social isolation enhanced both the tachycardia during the first session and the drop in skin temperature at the 10th session of restraint. Taken together, these findings provide new evidence that pathologies evoked by stress might be related to impairment in the habituation process to homotypic stressors.

Interactive Media Development of Procedures for Prayer (Tara Shalat) Based on Adobe Flash in Improving the Skills of Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Prayers

This research aims to develop interactive learning media for adobe flash-based prayer procedures/Tara (Tata Cara Shalat). Interactive media can develop prayer skills that are taught in the habituation process since the first grade of Madrasah Ibtidaiyah (MI). This research used development research (RD) methods. The development process in this study reached the stage of the formative evaluation process consisting of three steps, namely individual prototype material trials, small group trials, and field tryouts. This field trial involved subjects in a larger class, involving 15-30 (a whole class of learners) or larger groups, namely the available classes. The results of this field trial were used to make a product, material, or final design revisions. Interactive learning media can solve the problem of prayer skills regarding recitation and movement of prayer. Thus, interactive learning media made it easier for students to understand the procedures for prayer quickly; besides, the learning process will be more enjoyable

Penguatan Peran Guru di Era Digital Melalui Program Pembelajaran Inspiratif

This article aims to describe how to strengthen the role of teachers in the digital age through inspirational learning programs. This research uses a qualitative approach with literature study. Data both primary and secondary are collected and then analyzed and presented descriptively. The findings of the analysis reveal that in an effort to strengthen the role of teachers in the digital era through inspirational learning programs, it is more optimal to pay attention to four things: first, to strengthen the cultivation of character through example, habituation, reinforcement, and internalization in the learning process; secondly, creating a classroom management system that empowers through quantum teaching; third, optimizing the process of habituation and literacy development in the classroom and its integration in learning; and fourth, using blended learning methods in learning.

Pendidikan Akhlak Menurut Ibn Miskawaih dan Relevansinya terhadap Pendidikan Karakter Bangsa

The extraordinary development and explosion of science and information technology should also be accompanied by attention to education, especially moral education so that character education has lately been echoed as forming emotional intelligence of individuals, especially in the world of education being able to become a shield to be able to survive in the face of challenges of the times. Along with these problems Ibn Miskawaih in the book "Tahdzib Al Akhlaq Wa tathhir al A'raq" defines the value of moral education with a mental state that is able to encourage someone to do an act spontaneously, without the need for consideration and thought. The state of the soul (morals) is divided into two categories, namely: Innate from birth (heredity / naturalyah), and morality that is produced through the process of training and habituation. While character education has a goal to straighten out various negative child behaviors into positive ones. The alignment process which is interpreted as a behavior correction is understood as a pedagogical process, then accompanied by an exemplary school and home environment, and a habituation process. Therefore the relevance of the concept of Ibn Miskawaih Moral Education with Nation Character Education includes: 1. The objectives contained in the moral education according to Ibn Miskawaih and the goals contained in Nation Character Education are the formation of noble morals. 2. The methods and materials used by Ibn Miskawaih in the concept of moral education are also in accordance with those contained in Nation Character Education. This is the point of relevance between the two concepts, namely the objectives, methods, and curriculum.

A New Option for On-Site Drying of Power Transformer: Mobile Vapor Phase Drying

On-site drying power transformer is becoming a habitual process for transformer reparation, refurbishment, reassembly, or maintenance. However, papers reporting existing drying methods in practice admit that those are the alternatives to vapor phase drying (VPD) in workshop. This letter introduces a new drying method that can fulfill VPD of power transformer at site. This letter also presents the drying performances of the new technology with same results of stationary VPD plant. A case is also shared briefly that 2 units of 1230 MVA/750 kV power transformers were dried both in workshop and in field.

Prolonged and unprolonged complex febrile seizures differently affect frontal theta brain activity

ObjectiveStudies have identified mild but persistent cognitive and functional deficits, which could be linked to each other, in children with complex febrile seizures (FS). Our aim was to investigate differences in brain activity in children with a history of complex FS, through a study paradigm notably associated with the development of learning capacities and using electroencephalographic (EEG) signal. To further increase our understanding of these differences, complex FS were studied separately depending on their type. MethodEEG was recorded in 43 children with past FS. Brain activity associated with auditory learning was investigated using a habituation paradigm, in which repetition suppression (RS) is typically found following stimulus repetition. Auditory stimuli were repeated three times, and each presentation were analysed separately in the time-frequency (TF) domain. A mixed-analysis of variance was used to assess differences in spectral power between stimulus repetition and FS type (simple vs complex prolonged; CP vs complex unprolonged; CUP). ResultsRepetition effects were found in the 3–6 Hz during 150–600 ms time window after stimulus onset at frontal sites (F(2, 40) = 5.645, p = 0.007, η2p = 0.220). Moreover, an interaction effect between stimulus repetition and FS type (F(4, 80) = 2.607, p = 0.042, η2p = 0.115) was found. Children with CP FS showed greater increase in spectral power in response to the first stimulus presentation, while children with CUP FS failed to show a RS pattern. SignificanceOur results show distinct abnormalities in brain activity to a habituation paradigm. We argue that these changes suggest children with CP FS may be hyperexcitable, while children with CUP FS show impaired habituation processes. Still, these differences may be associated with other clinical features linked to complex FS as well. Hence, the role of these differences in complex FS incidence and prognosis should be the subject of future studies.

Urban living predicts behavioural response in a neotropical raptor

Behaviour is expected to be one of the most important factors driving urban living of bird species because it largely determines how animals interact with their environments. The contribution of different behavioural traits as facilitators of contemporary process of bird colonization of urban environments, however, is still unclear. Here we examined the differences in three behavioural traits: neophobia (avoidance of a new object) and solving success and solving latency of a problem solving test related to obtain food, in rural and urban living individuals of a common diurnal Neotropical raptor, the chimango caracara (Phalcoboenus chimango). Moreover, for solving success and solving latency behaviours, we tested the plasticity (i.e., habituation) in birds. Urban and rural chimangos showed similar neophobia of a new object. All chimangos showed an improvement in their output in problem-solving test as the five-day testing passed but urban chimangos showed higher solving capabilities than rural conspecifics as they were more successful in solving the problem test. More, urban birds shown lower solving latency than rural, as they were able to improve their test performance by opening doors in less time as the day passed; in rural birds this relation was not so abrupt. In addition, those individuals that opened more doors, opened these faster too. Lastly, both solving success and latency showed very low individual consistency (repeatability < 0.275). Our results provide evidence of plasticity in solving capabilities of chimango caracaras which reveal that a habituation process in these behavioural traits could be associated to establishment of birds in urban environments.

The Effect of Cultural Differences in Psychophysiological Stress Response in High Education Context: A Pilot Study.

The simulation scenarios are increasingly being used to assess professional competences in health sciences at university level. The objective of this study was to explore the effect of differences in the stress psychophysiological response of Psychology degree students from Spain and Colombia undergoing to clinical practice. Multiple psychophysiological measures were obtained in a sample of 25 Colombian and Spanish Psychology students undergoing to simulation scenario. Differences in the initial level of stress and habituation process as reported by self-reported and psychophysiological measurements as discussed. Differences in stress-related psychological traits are also analyzed and further discussed.

Redefining habits and linking habits with other implicit processes

In their commentaries on Hagger (2019), Gardner, Rebar, and Lally (2019) and Phillips (2019) provide welcome debate on the conceptualization and operation of habits in physical activity. In this response, I extend their comments by (i) calling for a redefining of habits to encompass contemporary views of habit, and (ii) suggesting that descriptions of physical activity habits should make reference to their relations with other implicit constructs that reflect automatic processes. Specifically, I contend that extant definitions of habits for complex behaviors like physical activity should move away from definitions of unitary responses to specific cues or contexts, and focus on ‘macro’ expressions of the behavior that comprise multiple sub-actions, which can each be controlled by habitual or deliberative processing. It may also be useful for definitions to make the distinction between habitual instigation and execution, affording greater precision in descriptions of the processes that generate habitual behaviors. Finally, physical activity habits as cue-action relations are unlikely to be enacted in the absence of activation of other implicit processes, consistent with behavioral schema. Recognizing this, I contend that descriptions of habit should accommodate these links, and that they may be useful in elaborating on the processes by which habits determine subsequent physical activity behavior.

Pavlovian-To-Instrumental Transfer and Alcohol Consumption in Young Male Social Drinkers: Behavioral, Neural and Polygenic Correlates

In animals and humans, behavior can be influenced by irrelevant stimuli, a phenomenon called Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT). In subjects with substance use disorder, PIT is even enhanced with functional activation in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) and amygdala. While we observed enhanced behavioral and neural PIT effects in alcohol-dependent subjects, we here aimed to determine whether behavioral PIT is enhanced in young men with high-risk compared to low-risk drinking and subsequently related functional activation in an a-priori region of interest encompassing the NAcc and amygdala and related to polygenic risk for alcohol consumption. A representative sample of 18-year old men (n = 1937) was contacted: 445 were screened, 209 assessed: resulting in 191 valid behavioral, 139 imaging and 157 genetic datasets. None of the subjects fulfilled criteria for alcohol dependence according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV-TextRevision (DSM-IV-TR). We measured how instrumental responding for rewards was influenced by background Pavlovian conditioned stimuli predicting action-independent rewards and losses. Behavioral PIT was enhanced in high-compared to low-risk drinkers (b = 0.09, SE = 0.03, z = 2.7, p < 0.009). Across all subjects, we observed PIT-related neural blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal in the right amygdala (t = 3.25, pSVC = 0.04, x = 26, y = −6, z = −12), but not in NAcc. The strength of the behavioral PIT effect was positively correlated with polygenic risk for alcohol consumption (rs = 0.17, p = 0.032). We conclude that behavioral PIT and polygenic risk for alcohol consumption might be a biomarker for a subclinical phenotype of risky alcohol consumption, even if no drug-related stimulus is present. The association between behavioral PIT effects and the amygdala might point to habitual processes related to out PIT task. In non-dependent young social drinkers, the amygdala rather than the NAcc is activated during PIT; possible different involvement in association with disease trajectory should be investigated in future studies.