scholarly journals Words putting pain in motion: the generalization of pain-related fear within an artificial stimulus category

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc P. Bennett ◽  
Ann Meulders ◽  
Frank Baeyens ◽  
Johan W. S. Vlaeyen
Keyword(s):  
Stimulus Category ◽  
Artificial Stimulus

Transitions from avoidance: Reinforcing competing behaviors reduces generalized avoidance in new contexts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Patrick Bennett ◽  
Bryan Roche ◽  
Simon Dymond ◽  
Frank Baeyens ◽  
Bram Vervliet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conditioned Stimulus ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Behavioral Responses ◽  
Matching To Sample ◽  
Diagnostic Feature ◽  
Stimulus Category ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Avoidance Behaviors ◽  
Artificial Stimulus ◽  
Generalization Stimulus

Generalized avoidance behaviors are a common diagnostic feature of anxiety-related disorders and a barrier to affecting changes in anxiety during therapy. However, strategies to mitigate generalized avoidance are under-investigated. Even less attention is given to reducing the category-based generalization of avoidance. We therefore investigated the potential of an operant-based approach. Specifically, it was examined if reinforcing competing (non-avoidance) behaviors to threat-predictive cues would interfere with expression of generalized avoidance. Using a matching-to-sample task, artificial stimulus categories were established using physically dissimilar nonsense shapes. A member of one category (conditioned stimulus; CS1) was then associated with an aversive outcome in an Acquisition context, unless an avoidance response was made. Next, competing behaviors were reinforced in response to the CS1 in new contexts. Lastly, we tested for the generalization of avoidance to another member of the stimulus category (generalization stimulus; GS1) in both a Novel context and the Acquisition context. The selective generalization of avoidance to GS1 was observed, but only in the Acquisition context. In the Novel context, the generalization of avoidance to GSs was significantly reduced. A comparison group (Experiment 2), which did not learn any competing behaviors, avoided GS1 in both contexts. These findings suggest that reinforcing competing behavioral responses to threat-predictive cues can lead to reductions in generalized avoidance. This study is among the first study to demonstrate sustained reductions in generalized avoidance resulting from operant-based protocols, and the clinical and research implications are discussed.

scholarly journals Transitions from avoidance: Reinforcing competing behaviours reduces generalised avoidance in new contexts

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (12) ◽  
pp. 2119-2131
Author(s):  
Marc P Bennett ◽  
Bryan Roche ◽  
Simon Dymond ◽  
Frank Baeyens ◽  
Bram Vervliet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conditioned Stimulus ◽  
Avoidance Response ◽  
Comparison Group ◽  
Matching To Sample ◽  
Diagnostic Feature ◽  
Stimulus Category ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Behavioural Responses ◽  
Artificial Stimulus

Generalised avoidance behaviours are a common diagnostic feature of anxiety-related disorders and a barrier to affecting changes in anxiety during therapy. However, strategies to mitigate generalised avoidance are under-investigated. Even less attention is given to reducing the category-based generalisation of avoidance. We therefore investigated the potential of an operant-based approach. Specifically, it was examined whether reinforcing competing (non-avoidance) behaviours to threat-predictive cues would interfere with the expression of generalised avoidance. Using a matching-to-sample task, artificial stimulus categories were established using physically dissimilar nonsense shapes. A member of one category (conditioned stimulus; CS1) was then associated with an aversive outcome in an Acquisition context, unless an avoidance response was made. Next, competing behaviours were reinforced in response to the CS1 in new contexts. Finally, we tested for the generalisation of avoidance to another member of the stimulus category (generalisation stimulus; GS1) in both a Novel context and the Acquisition context. The selective generalisation of avoidance to GS1 was observed, but only in the Acquisition context. In the Novel context, the generalisation of avoidance to GSs was significantly reduced. A comparison group (Experiment 2), which did not learn any competing behaviours, avoided GS1 in both contexts. These findings suggest that reinforcing competing behavioural responses to threat-predictive cues can lead to reductions in generalised avoidance. This study is among the first study to demonstrate sustained reductions in generalised avoidance resulting from operant-based protocols, and the clinical and research implications are discussed.

Self-Prioritization Beyond Perception

2015 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 415-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Schäfer ◽  
Dirk Wentura ◽  
Christian Frings
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Stimulus Category ◽  
Abstract Concept ◽  
Conceptual Level ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Stimulus Features ◽  
Relevant Word ◽  
Word Shape

Abstract. Recently, Sui, He, and Humphreys (2012) introduced a new paradigm to measure perceptual self-prioritization processes. It seems that arbitrarily tagging shapes to self-relevant words (I, my, me, and so on) leads to speeded verification times when matching self-relevant word shape pairings (e.g., me – triangle) as compared to non-self-relevant word shape pairings (e.g., stranger – circle). In order to analyze the level at which self-prioritization takes place we analyzed whether the self-prioritization effect is due to a tagging of the self-relevant label and the particular associated shape or due to a tagging of the self with an abstract concept. In two experiments participants showed standard self-prioritization effects with varying stimulus features or different exemplars of a particular stimulus-category suggesting that self-prioritization also works at a conceptual level.

scholarly journals Endogenous memory reactivation during sleep in humans is clocked by slow oscillation-spindle complexes

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Schreiner ◽  
Marit Petzka ◽  
Tobias Staudigl ◽  
Bernhard P. Staresina
Keyword(s):  
Memory Function ◽  
Nrem Sleep ◽  
Stimulus Category ◽  
Learning Material ◽  
Memory Reactivation ◽  
Eeg Recordings ◽  
Surface Eeg ◽  
Function Of Sleep ◽  
Prior Experiences

AbstractSleep is thought to support memory consolidation via reactivation of prior experiences, with particular electrophysiological sleep signatures (slow oscillations (SOs) and sleep spindles) gating the information flow between relevant brain areas. However, empirical evidence for a role of endogenous memory reactivation (i.e., without experimentally delivered memory cues) for consolidation in humans is lacking. Here, we devised a paradigm in which participants acquired associative memories before taking a nap. Multivariate decoding was then used to capture endogenous memory reactivation during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep in surface EEG recordings. Our results reveal reactivation of learning material during SO-spindle complexes, with the precision of SO-spindle coupling predicting reactivation strength. Critically, reactivation strength (i.e. classifier evidence in favor of the previously studied stimulus category) in turn predicts the level of consolidation across participants. These results elucidate the memory function of sleep in humans and emphasize the importance of SOs and spindles in clocking endogenous consolidation processes.

Learning as a Function of Subliminal Reinforcements

1963 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 387-398
Author(s):  
Austin Jones ◽  
Melvin Manis ◽  
Bernard Weiner
Keyword(s):  
Relative Frequency ◽  
Probability Learning ◽  
Linear Trend ◽  
Stimulus Category ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
Significant Linear Trend ◽  
Tachistoscopic Presentation ◽  
Stimulus Classes ◽  
Learning Trials ◽  
Correct Discrimination

Three studies were conducted to assess the effects of subliminal reinforcements on learning. In the first two, Ss were given a discrimination task in which five geometric forms, repeated over 100 trials, were to be assigned to one of two categories. The categories were unbalanced; four geometric forms comprised one category, the remaining form the other. Response was required on each trial. Immediately after each response, the appropriate reinforcing word, “Right” or “Wrong,” was flashed at a subliminal brightness-contrast In Exp. I, under low motivation (without money incentives), Ss showed no learning of the correct discrimination, nor any evidence of probability learning with respect to relative frequency of stimulus categories. In Exp. II, the above procedure was replicated with money as the incentive. There again was no evidence of discrimination learning, i.e., acquisition of the correct response. There was, however, a significant linear trend ( p < .05) in the proportion of responses made to the more frequent stimulus category; Ss showed an increasing tendency to “match” the relative frequency of their two classes of response with the corresponding two stimulus classes. In Exp. III, Ss who were motivated by a money incentive attempted to guess whether E was thinking of an odd or an even number. Following each response, Ss were reinforced by tachistoscopic presentation of the word “Right” or “Wrong,” at time intervals which were too brief to permit recognition; half of the Ss were positively reinforced for emitting the response “Odd,” and half for the response “Even.” After 100 learning trials had been completed, the reinforcement contingencies were switched for an additional 20 trials, e.g., Ss who had been reinforced for “Odd” were now reinforced for “Even.” Ss in Exp. III showed no evidence of probability learning. Some possible explanations for the conflicting results of Exps. II and III were discussed.

Spain and the War

1917 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles H. Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Food Products ◽  
Agricultural Products ◽  
Cost Of Living ◽  
Agricultural Resources ◽  
Artificial Stimulus ◽  
The Cost ◽  
At Home

Like other neutral nations of Europe, Spain has been tremendously affected by the war. Though she has not been brought into such close contact with the great struggle as have Holland and the Scandinavian countries, because of her distance from the battlefields and the comparative insignificance of her commercial interests, she has nevertheless felt and is still feeling a great strain, the chief characteristics of which are economic. The cost of living in Spain has increased several fold. This is due in part to the difficulty in obtaining both manfactured articles and coal for her own industries and in part to the great scarcity of agricultural products: the result of the short-sighted policy followed up to the present of exporting food products which should have been retained at home. Though possessed of a greater arable area in proportion to her population than any other country in Europe except Russia, the methods of agricultural production in Spain are wofully deficient. As a result of her own backwardness and her failure to develop either her industrial or her agricultural resources, Spain is now suffering, to a lesser degree possibly, the same inconveniences which are disturbing Germany, France and England: namely, a scarcity of food; and she does not possess the artificial stimulus which those countries have to aid in overcoming it.

scholarly journals Neural differentiation is moderated by age in scene- but not face-selective cortical regions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabina Srokova ◽  
Paul F. Hill ◽  
Joshua D. Koen ◽  
Danielle R. King ◽  
Michael D. Rugg
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Neural Differentiation ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Retrosplenial Cortex ◽  
Stimulus Category ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Pattern Similarity ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
Neural Selectivity ◽  
Parahippocampal Place Area

AbstractThe aging brain is characterized by neural dedifferentiation – an apparent decrease in the functional selectivity of category-selective cortical regions. Age-related reductions in neural differentiation have been proposed to play a causal role in cognitive aging. Recent findings suggest, however, that age-related dedifferentiation is not equally evident for all stimulus categories and, additionally, that the relationship between neural differentiation and cognitive performance is not moderated by age. In light of these findings, in the present experiment younger and older human adults (males and females) underwent fMRI as they studied words paired with images of scenes or faces prior to a subsequent memory task. Neural selectivity was measured in two scene-selective (parahippocampal place area and retrosplenial cortex) and two face-selective (fusiform and occipital face areas) regions of interest using both a univariate differentiation index and multivoxel pattern similarity analysis. Both methods provided highly convergent results which revealed evidence of age-related reductions in neural dedifferentiation in scene-selective but not face-selective cortical regions. Additionally, neural differentiation in the parahippocampal place area demonstrated a positive, age-invariant relationship with subsequent source memory performance (recall of the image category paired with each recognized test word). These findings extend prior findings suggesting that age-related neural dedifferentiation is not a ubiquitous phenomenon, and that the specificity of neural responses to scenes is predictive subsequent memory performance independently of age.Significance StatementIncreasing age is associated with reduced neural specificity in cortical regions that are selectively responsive to a given perceptual stimulus category (age-related neural dedifferentiation), a phenomenon which has been proposed to contribute to cognitive aging. Recent findings reveal that age-related neural dedifferentiation is not present for all types of visual stimulus categories, and the factors which determine when the phenomenon arises remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that scene- but not face-selective cortical regions exhibit age-related neural dedifferentiation during an attentionally-demanding task. Additionally, we report that higher neural selectivity in the scene-selective ‘parahippocampal place area’ is associated with better memory performance after controlling for variance associated with age group, adding to evidence that neural differentiation impacts cognition across the adult lifespan.

scholarly journals Response bias reflects individual differences in sensory encoding

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dobromir Rahnev
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Response Bias ◽  
Stimulus Category ◽  
Optimal Criterion ◽  
Sensory Encoding ◽  
Choice Tasks ◽  
Subject Difference

Humans exhibit substantial biases in their decision making even in simple 2-choice tasks but the origin of these biases remains unclear. We hypothesized that one source of bias could be individual differences in sensory encoding. Specifically, if one stimulus category gives rise to an internal evidence distribution with higher variability, then responses should optimally be biased against that stimulus category. Therefore, response bias may reflect a previously unappreciated subject-to-subject difference in the shape of the internal evidence distributions. We tested this possibility by analyzing data from three different 2-choice tasks (N = 443, 443, 498). We found that, for all three tasks, response bias moved in the direction of the optimal criterion determined by each subject’s idiosyncratic internal evidence variability. These results demonstrate that seemingly random variations in response bias can be driven by individual differences in sensory encoding and are thus partly explained by normative strategies.

Target Detection by Opponent Coding in Monkey Prefrontal Cortex

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 751-760 ◽  
Author(s):  
Makoto Kusunoki ◽  
Natasha Sigala ◽  
Hamed Nili ◽  
David Gaffan ◽  
John Duncan
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Target Detection ◽  
Neural Model ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Stimulus Category ◽  
Flexible Control ◽  
Cell Groups ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Monkey Prefrontal Cortex

The pFC plays a key role in flexible, context-specific decision making. One proposal [Machens, C. K., Romo, R., & Brody, C. D. Flexible control of mutual inhibition: A neural model of two-interval discrimination. Science, 307, 1121–1124, 2005] is that prefrontal cells may be dynamically organized into opponent coding circuits, with competitive groups of cells coding opposite behavioral decisions. Here, we show evidence for extensive, temporally evolving opponent organization in the monkey pFC during a cued target detection task. More than a half of all randomly selected cells discriminated stimulus category in this task. The largest set showed target-positive activity, with the strongest responses to the current target, intermediate activity for a nontarget that was a target on other trials, and lowest activity for nontargets never associated with the target category. Second most frequent was a reverse, antitarget pattern. In the ventrolateral frontal cortex, opponent organization was strongly established in phasic responses at stimulus onset; later, such activity was widely spread across dorsolateral and ventrolateral sites. Task-specific organization into opponent cell groups may be a general feature of prefrontal decision making.

Chronicle

1934 ◽  
Vol 30 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 803-808
Keyword(s):  
Electric Current ◽  
Quantitative Relationship ◽  
Chemical Processes ◽  
Artificial Stimulus ◽  
Oxidative Processes

Chemical processes in nerves. The comparatively small number of observations that have been made on chemical processes in nerves has until recently been reduced to the use of electric current as an artificial stimulus, as the most convenient and accessible to control the strength of the stimulation. In 1932 Prof. Schmidt reported that he had succeeded in finding a quantitative relationship between the increase of oxidative processes in the nerves and the strength of the electric current irritation.

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