Effects of Spatial Separation of Stimulus, Response, and Reward in Discrimination Learning by Children

1971 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 978 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig T. Ramey ◽  
L. R. Goulet
2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Soler ◽  
Sanghee Yun ◽  
Ryan P. Reynolds ◽  
Cody W. Whoolery ◽  
Fionya H. Tran ◽  
...  

Astronauts during interplanetary missions will be exposed to galactic cosmic radiation, including charged particles like 56Fe. Most preclinical studies with mature, “astronaut-aged” rodents suggest space radiation diminishes performance in classical hippocampal- and prefrontal cortex-dependent tasks. However, a rodent cognitive touchscreen battery unexpectedly revealed 56Fe radiation improves the performance of C57BL/6J male mice in a hippocampal-dependent task (discrimination learning) without changing performance in a striatal-dependent task (rule-based learning). As there are conflicting results on whether the female rodent brain is preferentially injured by or resistant to charged particle exposure, and as the proportion of female vs. male astronauts is increasing, further study on how charged particles influence the touchscreen cognitive performance of female mice is warranted. We hypothesized that, similar to mature male mice, mature female C57BL/6J mice exposed to fractionated whole-body 56Fe irradiation (3 × 6.7cGy 56Fe over 5 days, 600 MeV/n) would improve performance vs. Sham conditions in touchscreen tasks relevant to hippocampal and prefrontal cortical function [e.g., location discrimination reversal (LDR) and extinction, respectively]. In LDR, 56Fe female mice more accurately discriminated two discrete conditioned stimuli relative to Sham mice, suggesting improved hippocampal function. However, 56Fe and Sham female mice acquired a new simple stimulus-response behavior and extinguished this acquired behavior at similar rates, suggesting similar prefrontal cortical function. Based on prior work on multiple memory systems, we next tested whether improved hippocampal-dependent function (discrimination learning) came at the expense of striatal stimulus-response rule-based habit learning (visuomotor conditional learning). Interestingly, 56Fe female mice took more days to reach criteria in this striatal-dependent rule-based test relative to Sham mice. Together, our data support the idea of competition between memory systems, as an 56Fe-induced decrease in striatal-based learning is associated with enhanced hippocampal-based learning. These data emphasize the power of using a touchscreen-based battery to advance our understanding of the effects of space radiation on mission critical cognitive function in females, and underscore the importance of preclinical space radiation risk studies measuring multiple cognitive processes, thereby preventing NASA’s risk assessments from being based on a single cognitive domain.


1962 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 935-938 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary I. Otteson ◽  
Charles L. Sheridan ◽  
Donald R. Meyer

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Soler ◽  
Sanghee Yun ◽  
Ryan P Raynolds ◽  
Cody W Whoolery ◽  
Fionya H Tran ◽  
...  

Astronauts during interplanetary missions will be exposed to galactic cosmic radiation, including charged particles like 56Fe. Preclinical studies with mature rodents suggest space radiation diminishes performance in classical hippocampal- and prefrontal cortex-dependent tasks. However, a rodent cognitive touchscreen battery unexpectedly revealed 56Fe radiation improves the performance of C57BL/6J male mice in a hippocampal-dependent task (discrimination learning) without changing performance in a striatal-dependent task (rule-based learning). As other preclinical work suggests the female rodent brain may be relatively resistant to charged particle-induced injury, and as the proportion of female vs. male astronauts is increasing, further study on how charged particles influence the touchscreen cognitive performance of female mice is warranted. We hypothesized that similar to mature male mice, mature female C57BL/6J mice exposed to whole-body 56Fe irradiation (3 x 6.7cGy 56Fe over 5 days, 600MeV/n) would improve performance vs.Sham conditions in touchscreen tasks relevant to hippocampal and prefrontal cortical function (e.g. location discrimination [LD] reversal and extinction, respectively). In LD, 56Fe female mice more accurately discriminated two discrete conditioned stimuli relative to Sham mice, suggesting improved hippocampal function. However, 56Fe and Sham female mice acquired a new simple stimulus-response behavior and extinguished this acquired behavior at similar rates, suggesting similar prefrontal cortical function. Based on prior work on multiple memory systems, we next tested whether improved hippocampal-dependent function (discrimination learning) came at the expense of striatal rule-based learning (visuomotor conditional learning). Interestingly, 56Fe female mice took more days to reach criteria in this striatal-dependent rule-based test relative to Sham mice. Together, our data support the idea of competition between memory systems, as a 56Fe-induced decrease in striatal-based learning is associated with enhanced hippocampal-based learning. These data emphasize the power of using a touchscreen-based battery to advance our understanding of the effects of space radiation on mission-critical cognitive function in females, and underscore the importance of preclinical space radiation risk studies measuring multiple cognitive processes, thereby preventing NASA risk assessments from being based on a single cognitive domain.


1991 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wesley C. Becker

<span>The schism between operant behavioural and cognitive psychological views is examined with the aim of showing the potentials for their convergence when an instructional perspective is taken. As Lee (1988) points out, part of the problem lies in operant psychologists' use of stimulus-response language when they are really talking about condition-action sequences or means-to-ends. The inaccurate presentation of the operant position by cognitive psychologists is also part of the problem, and for the most part, neither reads the other's literature. With better communication, these problems could be overcome, although underlying philosophies of science might still differ.</span><p>An overtised-operant view of instruction on cognitive processes provides a further basis for closing the schism. Building from the behavioural processes of discrimination learning, chaining, verbal learning, etc., more complex cognitive structures can be described in terms of the more elemental structures from which they are built. Engelmann and Carnine's (1982) theory of instruction provides a key (through overt teaching strategies) in bridging the gap between basic operant principles and higher cognitive structures.</p><p>Operant psychology based interpretations of the changes that occur from being a novice to being an expert also are discussed to demonstrate additional commonalities between behavioural and cognitive positions.</p>


1974 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 1170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire F. Etaugh ◽  
Barbara K. Pope

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