Intensity Of Electric Shock Research Articles

The effects of avatar customization and virtual human mind perception: A test using Milgram’s paradigm

This study investigated how “teacher” avatar customization and exposure to “learner” virtual humans who display mind-affected participants’ behavior and emotions in a re-creation of Milgram’s obedience experiment. Female participants customized avatars that merged their physical self with hero, antihero, or villain archetypes and then interacted with a mindful or non-mindful virtual human; 82.8% of participants went above the maximum electric shock intensity. Women who customized hero avatars delivered lower voltage shocks to a virtual human compared with those who customized antihero and villain avatars. Virtual humans’ display of mind did not affect shock intensity, guilt, or negative emotion though participants reported increased shame after shocking a mindful versus a non-mindful virtual human. Customizing antihero avatars increased shame and negative affect, especially after interacting with mindful virtual humans. We discuss the implications of these findings for the Proteus effect and Computers Are Social Actors perspective in extreme virtual encounters.

Differential coding of absolute and relative aversive value in the Drosophila brain

Animals use prior experience to assign absolute (good or bad) and relative (better or worse) value to new experience. These learned values guide appropriate later decision making. Even though our understanding of how the valuation system computes absolute value is relatively advanced, the mechanistic underpinnings of relative valuation are unclear. Here, we uncover mechanisms of absolute and relative aversive valuation in Drosophila. Three types of punishment-sensitive dopaminergic neurons (DANs) respond differently to electric shock intensity. During learning, these punishment-sensitive DANs drive intensity-scaled plasticity at their respective mushroom body output neuron (MBON) connections to code absolute aversive value. In contrast, by comparing the absolute value of current and previous aversive experiences, the MBON-DAN network can code relative aversive value by using specific punishment-sensitive DANs and recruiting a specific subtype of reward-coding DANs. Behavioral and physiological experiments revealed that a specific subtype of reward-coding DAN assigns a "better than" value to the lesser of the two aversive experiences. This study therefore highlights how appetitive-aversive system interactions within the MB network can code and compare sequential aversive experiences to learn relative aversive value.

A Non-Lethal Electric Shock Generator with Wireless Control Function

A Non-lethal electric shock generator is presented and tested. This non-lethal electric shock generator without trail wires, is different from Taser series stun guns or Husha TX series electric shock guns which all have trail wires. And the intensity of electric shock can be adjusted by remote control device according to the status of the target. This no-lethal electric shock generator extends the range of application of electric shock from about 9 meters to 30 meters. The manner of using electric shocks of single intensity is also changed by telecontrol adjustment. It can provide electric shocks of different intensities for different conditions, such as different distances from special electrodes to targets, different targets with different clothes and different height or weight. Basic functions of the non-lethal electric shock generator are tested. Results show that the prototype projectile can be launched from a barrel stably, and the flight range is over 30 meters. When it captured the target, it can be triggered via the telecontrol adjustment. The prototype projectile can support a series of pulses at a rate of 20 r/s with the peak voltage of 30kV.

Facilitation of avoidance behaviour in mice chronically treated with heroin or methadone

Although the repercussion of chronic treatment with large amounts of opioids on cognitive performance is a matter of concern, the effects of opioid drugs on passive avoidance learning have been scarcely studied. Here, we analyzed the effects of prolonged administration of heroin and methadone, as well as the impact of suffering repeated episodes of withdrawal on fear-motivated learning using the passive avoidance test. Mice received chronic treatment (39 days) with methadone (10mg/kg/24h), associated or not with repeated withdrawal episodes, or with heroin (5mg/kg/12h). Our results show that, regardless of the type of treatment received, all mice displayed similar basal thermal nociceptive thresholds during 25 days of treatment. In the hot plate test, both methadone and heroin induced antinociception 30min after drug administration. The analgesic effect was absent when measured 4h after heroin and 12h after methadone. Pain behavioural responses elicited by growing intensities of electric shock, applied on day 28th of treatment, were similar in all groups of mice. Our results indicate that chronic opioid treatment had promnesic effects on passive avoidance behaviour in mice, unrelated to changes in the nociceptive state.

Effects of ginkgo leat extracts and dioyridamole injection on the Alzheimer's diseases rats

目的 观察铝致AD模型大鼠脑组织内Aβ神经元的分布,探讨银杏达莫注射液对AD模型大鼠学习记忆力、Aβ42影响.方法所有大鼠均采用30%AlC13灌胃4个月诱导建立AD大鼠模型.治疗组用银杏达莫治疗6个月.在模型建立前后及治疗后通过一次性被动回避试验分别测试大鼠的潜伏期和受电击次数以观察大鼠的学习记忆能力;免疫组织化学PowerVersion二步法测定脑组织内沉积的β-淀粉样蛋白.结果(1)大鼠用银杏达莫治疗6个月后,潜伏期较对照组明显延长(P＜0.01),受电击次数减少(P＜0.01).(2)AlCl3诱导大鼠成功出现了Aβ在脑组织中的沉积,以海马CA1的锥体细胞层及齿状回多形细胞层、内嗅区外主层、颞顶叶Ⅲ、Ⅳ、V层明显.Aβ42阳性反应产物呈棕褐色或棕黄色细颗粒状,位于神经元胞质和突起及其分支.银杏达莫组Aβ42阳性神经元数目明显减少,与AlCl3组比较,差异有显著意义(海马P＜0.05,内嗅区P＜0.05,颞顶叶P＞0.05).结论银杏达莫注射液可以改善AD大鼠的学习记忆,其机制是通过直接或间接抑制或清除海马、内嗅区内Aβ42的沉积来实现的。

The specific dopamine uptake inhibitor GBR 12783 improves learning of inhibitory avoidance and increases hippocampal acetylcholine release

The specific dopamine uptake inhibitor, GBR 12783 was tested on the retention performance of a one-trial passive avoidance test. For a moderate electric shock intensity, GBR 12783 (10 mg/kg), injected before acquisition session, improved retention performance. Scopolamine (0.125–0.5 mg/kg) completely blocked the promnesic effect of GBR 12783. Moreover, GBR 12783 increased hippocampal acetylcholine release in vivo. These data suggest that the promnesic effect of GBR 12783 is mediated by an increase in the septo-hippocampal cholinergic transmission.

ラットの罰事態における非強化選択肢への反応生起

Each of eight rats was located in the experimental chamber mounted with two levers. Lever-pressing to either of the two was maintained by a schedule of food. After that, a punishment schedule of electric shocks was added. Neither the reinforcement nor the punishment schedule was programmed on the other lever, i.e. the non-reinforced alternative. The effect of reinforcement, and the joint effect of reinforcement and punishment on responses to the non-reinforced alternative were compared. During punishment sessions, responses to the non-reinforced alternative occurred significantly more often than during reinforcement sessions. The number of responses to the non-reinforced alternative was negatively correlated with that to the reinforced alternative during punishment sessions. Nevertheless, the occurrence of responses to the non-reinforced alternative was mainly observed during the first few sessions in punishment schedule, or after stepping up the intensity of electric shock. These results were discussed in relation to the two theories and models of punishment. The results imply that the two theories and models of punishment are necessary to explain the effect of punishment.

Factors modulating the effects of teleost telencephalon ablation on retention, relearning, and extinction of instrumental avoidance behavior.

Two experiments on the nature of avoidance behavior in the goldfish are reported. In the first experiment, a master/yoked design was used to determine the degree to which Pavlovian conditioning would generate acquisition of a shuttle response by goldfish. Results indicated that the mere sequence of signal-shock pairings experienced by the avoidance animals is not in this situation sufficient to explain the development of the instrumental avoidance responding. The second experiment was conducted to study the effects of three variables on the retention and extinction of the avoidance response. First, unilateral lesions of the telencephalon produced a transient deficit from which the subjects recovered to normal levels. Retention of the avoidance response after bilateral telencephalon ablation was impaired and never fully recovered with additional training. Second, this deficit was reduced under higher intensities of electric shock. Third, overtraining on the task before the ablation had only a nonsignificant enhancing effect on retention levels. Extinction was always poorer following ablation, independent of the type of ablation, intensity of shock, degree of overtraining, and terminal retention level of performance. The results are discussed in terms of various theories of telencephalic function in fish.

Effects of post-trial injection of β-endorphin on shock-induced fighting are dependent on baseline of fighting

The effects of repeated post-trial administration of 10 micrograms/kg beta-endorphin on the development of mutual fighting in pairs of rats submitted to various intensities of electric shock were investigated. beta-Endorphin blocked the development of fighting responses when a low footshock intensity was used, but facilitated it when a high shock intensity was delivered. A detailed analysis of the relationship between shock intensity, baseline of fighting, and effects of beta-endorphin showed that the effects of beta-endorphin were dependent on the behavioral baseline rather than on shock intensity per se.

Effects of clonidine on operant behavior and electric shock titration in the squirrel monkey: Effects of α 2-adrenoreceptor antagonism

Squirrel monkeys were studied under fixed-interval schedules in which responding was maintained either by food presentation or by termination of stimuli correlated with electric shock delivery, or under a schedule in which responses decreased the intensity of electric shock, which periodically increased in intensity (shock titration). Clonidine-HCl (0.01–1.7 mg/kg) decreased responding under the fixed-interval schedules and increased the intensity at which shock was maintained under the titration schedule. Pretreatment with the α 2-adrenoreceptor antagonist yohimbine-HCl (0.1–1.0 mg/kg) resulted in a 3–10-fold shift to the right in the clonidine dose-response curve. Similar antagonism was seen after pretreatment with small doses of the less selective α-adrenoreceptor antagonist, tolazoline-HCl (3.0, 5.6 mg/kg), but not with the α 1 antagonist prazosin (0.1, 0.3 mg/kg). The effects of clonidine on behavior under these conditions were apparently due to actions at α 2-adrenoreceptor sites.

Endorphin-mediated increases in pain threshold during pregnancy.

Maternal pain thresholds in rats were determined during various stages of pregnancy and parturition by measuring the intensity of electric shock that elicited reflexive jumping. There was a gradual rise in the pain threshold between 16 and 4 days prior to parturition and a more abrupt rise 1 to 2 days before that event. This increase was abolished by long-term administration of the narcotic antagonist naltrexone. The endorphin system is thus an important component of intrinsic mechanisms that modulate responsiveness to aversive stimuli. The data also demonstrate the activation during pregnancy of an endorphin system that is apparently quiescent in nonpregnant female rats treated the same way.

Electric shock delivery system for rhesus monkeys: Its effect on escape responding

The present experiment evaluated a simple chronic electric shock delivery system for rhesus monkeys restrained by a harness and arm arrangement used in experiments involving intravenous drug delivery. Electric shock was delivered via two small electrodes surgically implanted in the lumbar muscle. During experimental sessions, responding on a fixed-ratio 10 schedule terminated the delivery of a train of 100 electric shock pulses and produced a 3 min timeout. A maximum of 19 trials were possible during each daily session. Overall rate of responding increased as electric shock intensity was increased from 0 to 4 mA and the characteristics of responding were similar to previous studies using other systems and species. The results demonstrate that electric shock delivered by the present system is a negative reinforcer. In addition, the system is easy to implant, causes little tissue damage, relatively long-lasting and can be used in experimental situations which involve responding maintained by intravenous drug delivery in rhesus monkeys.

Effects of the Intensity of Electric Shock on Response Suppression During Multiple and Mixed Schedules of Signalled and Unsignallei Electric-Shock Delivery

In three experiments, food-rein forced responding was studied during multiple schedules of signalled and unsignalled electric-shock delivery. Depending upon the shock intensity employed, responding was (a) similarly suppressed in each component, (b) reduced primarily in the component associated with unsignalled shock, or (c) reduced considerably in both components of the multiple schedule. Mild shock intensities, which initially failed to produce differential response suppression, did so when they were reintroduced following exposure to more intense signalled and unsignalled shock. Food-maintained responding was studied during mixed as well as multiple schedules of signalled and unsignalled electric-shock delivery in Experiment 3. During the mixed schedules of food-and-shock delivery, the components were not distinguished by correlated stimuli, remaining either light or dark. While the multiple schedule readily led to differential response suppression, similar levels of response suppression were found in both components during the mixed schedule of signalled and unsignalled shock delivery. These experiments show that differential response suppression during signalled and unsignalled shock is a function of shock intensity and the discriminability of shock and shock-free occasions.

Percent of longitudinal body contraction and latency of response onset in planaria as a function of intensity of electric shock

A videotape technique was used to obtain two quantitative measures of longitudinal body contraction of four planaria (Dugesia dorotocephala) elicited by five shock intensities, delivered four times each over 5 successive days. Percent of longitudinal contraction and response onset latency both increased significantly as a function of shock intensity. Contractions increased with increases in intensity and then tended to reduce at the highest intensity. Latency reduced monotonically with intensity increase. It was concluded that both measures could be used productively in habituation and conditioning studies with planaria.

Stimulus intrusion on fixed-interval responding in the rat: The effects of electric shock intensity, temporal location, and response contingency

After a scalloped lever-press response pattern had developed under a fixed-interval food reinforcement schedule, a 15-sec electric shock was intruded for different groups of rats in the first, second, third, or fourth quarter of each inter-reinforcement interval. Shock intensity was systematically increased for individual rats over 70 sessions, from 0.05 to 1.6 mA. Additional between-groups comparisons involved response-dependent versus clock-dependent fixed-interval schedules, and response-dependent versus response-independent electric shock intrusion. Response rates within each fixed interval prior to, during, and following electric shock intrusion showed regular and reproducible increases and decreases under systematic application of the experimental variables. These results provide further evidence that the functions of a stimulus are determined in part by the parameters of intensity, response contingency, and temporal location with respect to reinforcement.

The role of regression and range effects in determination of the power function for electric shock

A scale for the apparent intensity of electric shock applied to the forearm was derived from cross-modality matching functions relating noise level, number, and force of handgrip to both line length and shock. For each response mode, the effects of psychophysical regression were estimated from the line judgments and used to make adjustments in the corresponding shock judgments. For shocks ranging from (1.0 to 5.5 mA, combined estimates of subjective magnitude were found to grow as the 2.26 power of the stimulating current.

Repeated Suppression and Recovery of Responding Using Response-Produced Electric Shock

The responding of 3 pigeons was stabilized on an FR 60 schedule of reinforcement. Response-produced electric shock, contingent upon the 60th response in each ratio, was introduced and systematically increased until responding was totally suppressed (Shock 1). The electric shock was removed (Recovery 1), then reintroduced following the recovery of responding (Shock 2), and removed again after total suppression (Recovery 2). The relationship between increased intensity of the electric shock and rate of responding was observed to be nonlinear. At several junctures responding increased when the intensity of the electric shock increased, “facilitated” responding. In addition, the responding of each subject under selected intensities of electric shock differed during the two periods when contingent electric shock was programmed.

Somatosensory cortical involvement in responses to noxious stimulation in the cat.

The experiment examines the role of the cerebral cortex in regulating responses to noxious stimulation by studying the effects of cortical ablations in cats on escape from electric shock applied to the foot pads. The latency of escape as a function of shock intensity was measured before and after bilateral ablations of various portions of the cat's somatosensory cerebral cortex. Ablations of the second somatosensory cerebral cortex significantly increased the escape response threshold. If the sulci bordering this region were included in the ablation, the threshold increase was greater and longer-lasting. Ablations of the primary somatosensory cortex increased latencies at most intensities of electric shock, but did not change the response thresholds. Ablations of both primary and second somatosensory cortex increased response thresholds and response latencies. None of these ablations altered the responses, however, if the cat had been overtrained for six to seven months prior to surgery. The results suggest that the second somatosensory region and the sulci bordering the second somatosensory region in the cat cerebral cortex are involved in responses to noxious stimulation.

Extinction of a passive avoidance response in adrenalectomized and demedullated rats

Adrenalectomized, adrenal demedullated, and sham-operated male rats were run on successive daily extinction sessions after one-trial learning of a passive avoidance response. Electric shock intensity on acquisition day was 1.0 mA, and duration was either 1.0, 0.3, or 0.2 sec. Adrenalectomized animals extinguished at a slower rate than both demedullated and sham-operated rats. In addition, they exhibited a progressive increment in response strength during the first extinction trials. Demedullation effects were discrete. The discussion emphasizes the pituitary-adrenal role in fear responding.

A new psychophysical ratio scaling technique: Random production

A new technique for psychophysical scaling, capable of generating a ratio scale for any perceptual continuum that can be used as a response continuum, is described and used to scale subjective force on a handgrip, subjective areal extent, and subjective intensity of electric shock. For these continua, the technique yields psychophysical scales that are very well fit by power functions, but the exponents are somewhat smaller than the exponents obtained for these continua in magnitude estimation scaling.