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Spatial memory tests in research into animal cognition
15 PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL EMOTIONAL EFFECTOR
CHARACTERIZATION PATTERNS
OF
Bloch, S. and Lemeignan, M. Universite P. et M. Curie, Institut des Neurosciences-CNRS, Laboratoire de Neurochimie-Anatomie, 9 Quai St Bernard, 75005 Paris, France Prototypical respiratory-facial-postural configurations were previously found to be specific for each of six basic emotions: anger, fear, joy, sadness, erotic love and tenderness. These ‘emotional effector patterns’ can be learned and reproduced at will. Their correct reproduction will activate different elements of the corresponding emotional system, inducing specific sets of autonomic changes, leading to the corresponding subjective experience and conveying a vivid and genuine emotional message to the observer. The use of precise actions to activate (and de-activate) specific emotional systems appears a good experimental model for studying controlled emotional states.
ONE-DIMENSIONAL
TRACKING
AND EEG DC SHIFTS
Z. Bohdanecky, M. Indra, T. Radil Institute of Physiology, Czechoslovak Prague, Czechoslovakia
Academy
of Sciences,
EEG slow potentials recorded during a one-dimensional tracking task can be characterized by some specific changes related to the instants of tracking errors or their correction. To assess this situation in detail the adaptive linear regression method was adopted. This approach is based on evaluation of linear regression slopes calculated for averaged EEG epochs lasting one second with only one particular event, either error or its correction, located exactly in the center of this epoch. Nine right-handed subjects participated in this tracking task, where two types of movements (continuous vs. discontinuous) were applied. Ag/AgCI electrodes were positioned on 0,, O,, C,, C, referenced to linked ears. The recordings were amplified by DC MIKI amplifying system and processed by PP04 (DC 11-34) computer. The results indicate significant DC changes (P < 0.05) on electrodes 0, and C, during correction and on 0, position during error commission.
INHIBITION SELECTIVE RAT
OF CONDITIONED LESIONS OF THE
FREEZING AMYGDALA
Ambrogi Lorenzini C., C. Bucherelli, chetti, G. Tassoni Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiologiche, di Firenze, Firenze, Italy
freezing being defined as total motor inhibition ending when voluntary movements are performed. The lesions were caused by stereotaxic administration of ibotenic acid. Wistar rats, aged 60 days, were employed as experimental subjects (IBO group, 19 rats), and as sham-operated controls (SO group, 13 rats). Starting 20 days after surgery, both groups of rats received one inescapable footshock (0.8 mA, 3 set) daily for 7 consecutive days, in the light-dark box apparatus. It was shown that conditioned freezing was significantly shorter in the IBO group than in the SO group (P < 0.001). Actually. the rats of the IBO group exhibited almost no freezing. The results confirm and amplify previous findings, indicating that the nucleus basolateralis of the amygdala plays a role in the expression of fear symptoms, and possibly in the process of activation of the fear system.
SPATIAL MEMORY MAL COGNITION J. Bures, 0. Buresova Institute of Physiology, Prague, Czechoslovakia
IN RESEARCH
Czechoslovak
Academy
INTO
ANI-
of Sciences,
Orientation in space is an essential prerequisite of nesting, foraging, territory defense, predator avoidance and of other vitally important activities of animals. Laboratory studies of these behaviors have been greatly advanced in the past decade by introduction of new powerful techniques, represented mainly by Olton’s radial maze, Morris’s water maze and their various analogs. It is generally agreed that spatial memory is mediated by neural representation of the outside world in the vertebrate forebrain (hippocampus, neocortex) but the exact nature of this representation remains obscure. Various alternatives include cognitive maps, path integration, snapshot memory and klinokinesis. The cognitive map concept is supported by the following experimental evidence: 1. Low efficiency of klinokinesis based on comparison of the memorized target scene with current sensory input. 2. The capability of rats to generate optimal trajectories connecting a multitude of targets in the most parsimonious way. 3. More controversially the possibility of indicating the target position in the cognitive map in a symbolic way, without visiting the real target. It is concluded that spatial memory combines mechanisms of different complexity, but that cognitive maps are indispensable for effective solution of demanding navigational problems.
AFTER IN THE DISRUPTION OF INTRACEREBRAL
S. Falchini, Universita
TESTS
BY
A. Gia-
degli Studi
The effects of lesions of the nucleus basolateralis amygdala on conditioned post-shock freezing were
TASTE AVERSION LEARNING INJECTION OF TETRODOTOXIN
of the studied,
J. Bures, S. lvanova Institute of Physiology, Czechoslovakia
Academy
of
Sciences,
Prague,
Acquisition of conditioned taste aversion (CTA) is remarkable for its unique resistance to disruptive procedures (e.g., anes-
CHARACTERIZATION PATTERNS
OF
Bloch, S. and Lemeignan, M. Universite P. et M. Curie, Institut des Neurosciences-CNRS, Laboratoire de Neurochimie-Anatomie, 9 Quai St Bernard, 75005 Paris, France Prototypical respiratory-facial-postural configurations were previously found to be specific for each of six basic emotions: anger, fear, joy, sadness, erotic love and tenderness. These ‘emotional effector patterns’ can be learned and reproduced at will. Their correct reproduction will activate different elements of the corresponding emotional system, inducing specific sets of autonomic changes, leading to the corresponding subjective experience and conveying a vivid and genuine emotional message to the observer. The use of precise actions to activate (and de-activate) specific emotional systems appears a good experimental model for studying controlled emotional states.
ONE-DIMENSIONAL
TRACKING
AND EEG DC SHIFTS
Z. Bohdanecky, M. Indra, T. Radil Institute of Physiology, Czechoslovak Prague, Czechoslovakia
Academy
of Sciences,
EEG slow potentials recorded during a one-dimensional tracking task can be characterized by some specific changes related to the instants of tracking errors or their correction. To assess this situation in detail the adaptive linear regression method was adopted. This approach is based on evaluation of linear regression slopes calculated for averaged EEG epochs lasting one second with only one particular event, either error or its correction, located exactly in the center of this epoch. Nine right-handed subjects participated in this tracking task, where two types of movements (continuous vs. discontinuous) were applied. Ag/AgCI electrodes were positioned on 0,, O,, C,, C, referenced to linked ears. The recordings were amplified by DC MIKI amplifying system and processed by PP04 (DC 11-34) computer. The results indicate significant DC changes (P < 0.05) on electrodes 0, and C, during correction and on 0, position during error commission.
INHIBITION SELECTIVE RAT
OF CONDITIONED LESIONS OF THE
FREEZING AMYGDALA
Ambrogi Lorenzini C., C. Bucherelli, chetti, G. Tassoni Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiologiche, di Firenze, Firenze, Italy
freezing being defined as total motor inhibition ending when voluntary movements are performed. The lesions were caused by stereotaxic administration of ibotenic acid. Wistar rats, aged 60 days, were employed as experimental subjects (IBO group, 19 rats), and as sham-operated controls (SO group, 13 rats). Starting 20 days after surgery, both groups of rats received one inescapable footshock (0.8 mA, 3 set) daily for 7 consecutive days, in the light-dark box apparatus. It was shown that conditioned freezing was significantly shorter in the IBO group than in the SO group (P < 0.001). Actually. the rats of the IBO group exhibited almost no freezing. The results confirm and amplify previous findings, indicating that the nucleus basolateralis of the amygdala plays a role in the expression of fear symptoms, and possibly in the process of activation of the fear system.
SPATIAL MEMORY MAL COGNITION J. Bures, 0. Buresova Institute of Physiology, Prague, Czechoslovakia
IN RESEARCH
Czechoslovak
Academy
INTO
ANI-
of Sciences,
Orientation in space is an essential prerequisite of nesting, foraging, territory defense, predator avoidance and of other vitally important activities of animals. Laboratory studies of these behaviors have been greatly advanced in the past decade by introduction of new powerful techniques, represented mainly by Olton’s radial maze, Morris’s water maze and their various analogs. It is generally agreed that spatial memory is mediated by neural representation of the outside world in the vertebrate forebrain (hippocampus, neocortex) but the exact nature of this representation remains obscure. Various alternatives include cognitive maps, path integration, snapshot memory and klinokinesis. The cognitive map concept is supported by the following experimental evidence: 1. Low efficiency of klinokinesis based on comparison of the memorized target scene with current sensory input. 2. The capability of rats to generate optimal trajectories connecting a multitude of targets in the most parsimonious way. 3. More controversially the possibility of indicating the target position in the cognitive map in a symbolic way, without visiting the real target. It is concluded that spatial memory combines mechanisms of different complexity, but that cognitive maps are indispensable for effective solution of demanding navigational problems.
AFTER IN THE DISRUPTION OF INTRACEREBRAL
S. Falchini, Universita
TESTS
BY
A. Gia-
degli Studi
The effects of lesions of the nucleus basolateralis amygdala on conditioned post-shock freezing were
TASTE AVERSION LEARNING INJECTION OF TETRODOTOXIN
of the studied,
J. Bures, S. lvanova Institute of Physiology, Czechoslovakia
Academy
of
Sciences,
Prague,
Acquisition of conditioned taste aversion (CTA) is remarkable for its unique resistance to disruptive procedures (e.g., anes-