Types Of Behavioral Responses Research Articles

The Effect of a Selective α 2-Adrenoceptor Antagonist on Pain Behavior of the Rat Varies, Depending on Experimental Parameters

Effects of atipamezole, an α 2-adrenoceptor antagonist, in various acute pain tests were studied in the rat. Atipamezole (at doses ⩾0.1 mg/kg IP) and idazoxan, another α 2-adrenoceptor antagonist (2.5 mg/kg, IP), increased licking latency in the hot-plate test. Bilateral administration of atipamezole (10 μg) into the locus coeruleus did not increase licking latency in the hot-plate test. Medetomidine (an α 2-adrenoceptor agonist; 1–3 mg/kg) or repeated preexposures to the testing apparatus reversed the effect of atipamezole (1.5 mg/kg) in the hot-plate test. Atipamezole also increased the latency to mechanically induced licking/biting response at a dose of 1.5 mg/kg, but not at lower doses. In the heat-induced tail-flick test, in contrast, atipamezole at doses of 0.1 and 1.5 mg/kg produced a medetomidine-reversible decrease of response latencies. This facilitation of the tail-flick response disappeared if the intensity of the heat stimulus was high. At a dose range from 0.03 to 1.5 mg/kg atipamezole did not significantly alter the paw withdrawal latency to noxious mechanical stimulation, nor pain behavior in the formalin test. Responses to nociceptive spinal dorsal horn neurons were not modulated by atipamezole (1 mg/kg) in anesthetized spinalized rats. The results indicate that an α 2-adrenoceptor antagonist may have variable effects in behavioral pain tests, depending on habituation of the experimental animals to the testing conditions, the dose of the drug, the type of behavioral response and the submodality or the intensity of the noxious test stimulus. The atipamezole-induced changes in pain behavior observed in this study may rather be explained due to action on motor expression of pain than due to modulation of nociception.

Electroantennogram-Active Components of Maize Silk for Adults of the Western Corn Rootworm (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae)

Volatile silk semiochemicals of maize, Zea mays L., are attractive to adults of Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte. Senescing portions of silks (the brown portion that protrudes from the tip of the ear) are highly electroantennogram (EAG) active, and solvent extracts of these portions of silks were evaluated in a sequential fractionation scheme to isolate and identify the primary EAG-active components. A probability-based computer mass spectral library search indicated the best matches for the compounds in the most EAG-active fractions to be tridecan-2-one, ( E,E )-3,5-octadien-2-one, ( E,Z )-2,6-nonadienal, and ( E )-2-nonenal. EAG, mass spectral, and retention time data of the synthetic compounds were consistent with compounds in the purified EAG-active fractions, The data show strong EAG-responses to tridecan-2-one, ( E,E )-3,5-octadien-2-one, ( E,Z )-2,6-nonadienal, and ( E )-2-nonenal but does not indicate the type of behavioral response (if any) associated with these compounds. EAG tests with related compounds are discussed in terms of structure–EAG activity relationships.

Behavioural responses in oxygen gradients of ciliates from microbial mats

Summary Microaerophilic ciliates which live in the chemocline of marine sediments and of microbial mats orient themselves in O2-gradients where they show a more or less distinct and species-specific preference for an oxygen tension somewhere within the range of 1 to 20% atmospheric saturation. In sufficiently steep O2-gradients some of the species maintain their position within ± 200 μm relative to their preferred pO2-value. Different types of behavioural responses are involved in the orientation in O2-gradients; in steep gradients the “fine tuning” is at least in some cases based on a phobic response which allows the cells to turn 180° when they accidentally leave their optimum zone. This behaviour was studied in detail in the case of the scuticociliate Uronema filificum. In natural sediments ciliates perform diel vertical migrations in response to changes in O2-gradient profiles caused by photosynthetic activity.

THE IMPLICATIONS FOR TAX POLICY OF UNCERTAINTY ABOUT LABOR-SUPPLY AND SAVINGS RESPONSES

Examines what we do and do not know about two types of behavioral responses most critical to the consumption-tax versus income tax debate. Shows how our uncertainty about the sizes of these behavioral responses can be translated into statements of uncertainly about the economic effects of a switch from an income tax to a consumption tax.

The benzodiazepine receptor partial agonist bretazenil and the partial inverse agonist Ro 15-4513: effects on salt preference and aversion in the rat

The general aim of the present series of experiments was to contrast the effects of the benzodiazepine receptor (BZR) partial agonist bretazenil and those of the partial inverse agonist Ro 15-4513 in two-choice tests between saline (0.9% or 1.8%) and water, using water-deprived rats. Since BZR agonists appear to enhance positive hedonic reactions to taste stimuli selectively, it was hypothesized that bretazenil (and a second BZR partial agonist Ro 17-1812) would selectively enhance intake of a preferred 0.9% salt solution, but not necessarily reduce the relative aversion to a more concentrated 1.8% salt solution, in these choice tests. The results were in general agreement with these hypothesis. Despite an earlier finding that Ro 15-4513 abolished sweet taste preference, there was no evidence here that it reduced the relative preference expressed for 0.9% NaCl solution. Moreover, Ro 15-4513 did not enhance the relative avoidance of the 1.8% NaCl solution. The BZR antagonist, flumazenil, had no effect on either salt preference or aversion. These results indicate that the type of taste stimulus (sweet or salt), the type of behavioural response (preference or aversion) and the type of BZR ligand (agonist, antagonist or inverse agonist) interact to determine the observed behavioural consequences in choice tests.

Differential associative conditioning and olfactory discrimination in the spiny lobster Panulirus argus

A differential aversive associative conditioning paradigm was used to assess the ability of the spiny lobster Panulirus argus both to associatively learn not to respond to the odorant stimulus to which it was conditioned and to discriminate between odorants. The paradigm consisted of pairing an aversive stimulus (pseudopredator) with a conditioned chemical stimulus (shrimp mixture). Four artificial mixtures (crab, mullet, oyster, and shrimp), each at 0.05 and 0.5 mM, were presented to the animals prior to, during, and following conditioning to both concentrations of the shrimp mixture. Pre- vs postconditioning changes in three types of behavioral responses (and an index based on a composite of these three behaviors) were used as indicators of learned aversions. Olfactory discrimination abilities were determined by comparing the aversion to the conditioned mixture with the aversions to the three nonconditioned mixtures. A high degree of associative learning was attained after 10 pairings of the pseudopredator with the shrimp mixture over a period of 5 test days. According to the aversion index, animals conditioned to shrimp mixture perceived crab mixture as being more similar to shrimp mixture than were mullet and oyster mixtures, but all three nonconditioned mixtures were perceived as being significantly different from the shrimp mixture. These results are in concordance with results of a cluster analysis based on the mixture compositions, which indicates that shrimp and crab mixtures are compositionally similar, while mullet and oyster mixtures are compositionally distinct from the shrimp mixture.

Visual evoked potential augmenting/reducing slopes in cats—2. Correlations with behavior

Relationships were studied in cats between the augmenting/reducing slopes of visual evoked potentials (VEP) and three types of behavioral responses: learning and performance measures in (1) fixed interval (FI), and (2) differential reinforcement of low rate of response (DRL) bar pressing tasks for food reward, and (3) the effect of noise stress or increasing task difficulty on performance of an FI, DRL or 2 bar discrimination task. The most reliable slope measure (N1 at a medium intensity range) was found to correlate most highly with inhibitory behaviors such that reducers were most successful in controlling bar pressing behavior during an inhibitory DRL task or when stress was introduced. At a higher range of flash intensity slopes tended to be more negative, and the P1 - N1 slopes although more variable correlated most consistently with general temperament. Augmenters at a high intensity range were more active and explaratory, and learmed to bar press more quickly and efficiently.

Orienting and freezing responses in incubating ptarmigan hens

Behavior studies and telemetric recordings of heart and respiration rates were performed on five wild and two captive, incubating, willow ptarmigan hens (Lagopus lagopus lagopus) and on four wild, incubating, Svalbard ptarmigan hens (Lagopus mutus hyperboreus). Sounds and sight of approaching humans, egg predators, or dogs near the nests elicited behavior in the hens which we have interpreted as an orienting response (OR) followed by freezing behavior. During both types of behavioral responses, heart rate was reduced from 204±39 (mean±SE) to 119±26 beats per minute and respiration from 25±2 to 12±3 breaths per minute. In wild incubating willow ptarmigan, further approach led to tachycardia and increased respiration. Some birds maintained freezing behavior, while others became restless before flying off. Two of the four incubating Svalbard ptarmigan hens showed the OR followed by freezing behavior accompanied by decreased heart and respiration rates. The other two birds showed flight response, restless behavior accompanied by increased heart and respiration rates. Flight behavior was also typical for willow ptarmigan incubating in captivity. Repeated auditory provocation of incubating hens caused progressive decrement in behavioral and cardiac responses that is interpreted as habituation of the OR.

Parasitoid–host relationship between Trioxys (Binodoxys) indicus Subba Rao &Sharma (Hymenoptera: Aphidiidae) and Aphis craccivora Koch (Hemiptera: Aphididae): effect of host plants on the area of discovery of the parasitoid

This paper elucidates the effect of different host plants on the area of discovery of the parasitoid Trioxys (Binodoxys) indicus, which decreases linearly with the increase of parasitoid density. This decrease is minimum in aphids reared on Cajanus cajan followed by those reared on Dolichos lablab and Solanum melongena, but the killing power (k value) increases significantly in all the tested host plants, being maximum in aphids reared on C. cajan followed by those reared on D. lablab and S. melongena. However, when the host density increases, the area of discovery and k value (high in C. cajan aphids followed by D. lablab and S. melongena aphids) increases up to 50 hosts and thereafter decreases. The leaf texture of the host plants and the interference between the parasitoids at higher densities is suggested as a cause for this type of behavioural response which is explained by the population model of M. P. Hassell and G. C. Varley. For the suppression of Aphis craccivora population, it is suggested that the parasitoid and the host ratio may be 1:50 and for the mass rearing of the parasitoid, when C. cajan is not available in the field, D. lablab may be used as an alternative host plant.

Immobility reactions: a modified classification.

This theoretical paper sets the stage for subsequent experimental reports on mobility and immobility in the Arkansas Line of Nervous Pointer dogs as contrasted with kennel mates of the normal line. Exactly opposite to the normal animals, the nervous dogs show marked inhibition of heart rate and musculoskeletal responses to man, including reduced ambulation and durable immobility following inversion and brief manual restraint in an open sling. The sling immobility of the nervous dogs (which may not differ basically from their freezing in upright position) might be designated as "tonic immobility" (TI). We hypothesize that such immobility, common in laboratory and natural conditions in many species, should be divided into two classes: hypotonic (cataleptic) and hypertonic (catatonic). We provide examples of such behaviors, particularly in man and dog, and cursorily review TI studies of other species. Neurophysiologic and neurochemical studies which bear on possible immobility mechanisms are briefly noted. We suggest that inconsistencies in reported concommitants of TI might result from failure to discriminate between types of behavioral responses.

The effect of some anti-epilepsy drugs on enhancement of the monoamine-mediated behavioural responses following the administration of electroconvulsive shocks to rats

Daily administration of electroconvulsive shocks (ECS) to rats for 10 days resulted in enhanced 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT). dopamine (DA) and noradrenaline (NA)-mediated behavioural responses. 5-HT and NA-mediated responses were still enhanced after 21 shock-free days. The three types of behavioural responses were also studied in rats give phenytoin sodium, carbamazepine and diazepam every day, alone, or 1 h after ECS administration. Phenytoin did not alter the ECS-induced enhancement of any of the three behaviours. Carbamazepine and diazepam significantly retarded the enhancement in 5-HT and DA-mediated behaviours, although they did not alter the enhancement in NA-mediated behavior.

Invasion of Personal Space as a Function of Age, Sex, and Race

Reactions to the invasion of personal space in terms of age, sex, and race of the invaders were investigated. Children, grouped by sex (male and female), race (black and white), and age (5, 8, and 10 yr. old), invaded the personal space of 192 adults grouped by sex (male and female) and race (black and white). The six types of behavioral responses were: avoidance, aggression, exploratory behavior, facilitative behavior, excess motor activity, and failure to respond. Responses to personal space invasion were not affected by sex. Blacks responded more often than whites but did not differ with regard to any particular type of behavioral response. Age of the invader had a significant effect on type of response given by adults whose personal space was invaded. It was concluded that the age of the invader was much more important than race or sex in determining the response to invasion of personal space.

Some Immediate Effects of Drowsiness and Sleep on Normal Human Performance

Man spends the greater portion of his life in sub-optimum states of consciousness. The paper reviews the experimental literature describing normal human performance at different levels of drowsiness and sleep, as these states are defined by electroencephalographic patterns. Among the types of behavioral responses to stimuli discussed are reflexes, simple movements, detection (i.e. arousal to external stimuli and awareness of internal states), discrimination, learning, and recall. Non-behavioral electroencephalographic responses are also described. Suggestions are made for future research.