A computer analysis of EEG-intersignal reactions during the development of motoric alimentary conditioned reflexes in dogs

Abstract

The background electrical activity of the neocortex in the interstimulus periods at the stage of generalization during the development of alimentary motor conditioned reflexes (CR) in dogs was the investigational object. It was characterized by the appearance of brief (0.1-0.3 sec) trains of high frequencies (HF), significantly exceeding the adjacent initial baseline in frequency and amplitude. The relative variance index which we had developed made it possible to distinguish this EEG phenomenon in the initial realizations of the background activity when they were inputted into a digital computer. It was not possible to evaluate the parameters of the HF chains by means of a spectral correlation analysis. Nonstandard techniques of computer analysis directed toward the decomposition of the EEG tracing into a system of oscillations and toward the obtaining of the corresponding amplitude-frequency distributions (maps) were developed by us for the purpose of accomplishing this objective. It was demonstrated that HF trains were localized in these maps in specific, quite compact regions.

Study of the EEG phenomenon of high-frequency bursts in the neocortical electrical activity of dogs in the process of alimentary instrumental learning

“…Data have been presented already (Dumenko 1985b(Dumenko , 1988(Dumenko , 1992(Dumenko , 1993(Dumenko , 1995Kozlov 1988, 1989) concerning the dynamics of the power and coherence-phase EA parameters of different neocortical areas at the stage of the well-stabilized motor skill. This stage was characterized by 90-95% manifestation of the positive conditioned responses (CR) and differentiations, as well as by the absence of arbitrary intersignal pedal pressings.…”

“…This value is close to the length of the function graph, therefore it grows with an increase in the number and amplitude of oscillations. We have applied a parameter of specific variation (Dumenko and Kozlov 1993), determined for the differentiable function (process) X(t) on a segment [0, T] by the formula 540 Fig. 1A, B The high-frequency (HF) bursts in the electrical activity (EA) of three neocortical areas (A) and corresponding point maps (B).…”

“…The variational curve (Dumenko and Kozlov 1993) is constructed by means of the specific variation calculation on a sliding window. The obtained values are divided by the specific variation of the whole segment.…”

“…It is well known that the stage of generalization in the conditioning process is characterized by the appearance of arbitrary pedal pressings in the interstimulus intervals in addition to the conditioned motor responses (which are frequently unstable). In an earlier paper (Dumenko and Kozlov 1993) a clear-cut electroencephalographic (EEG) phenomenon was demonstrated in different cortical areas. Interspersed in a background of low-amplitude, widerange EA variations (1-200 Hz, 10-40 µV), short-term (0.2-0.3 s) bursts of synchronized high-frequency (HF) activity appear that substantialy exceed the background dominant variations in voltage and frequency.…”

“…An attempt at analysis of the HF burst was made by Dumenko and Kozlov (1993). The index of relative variation devised by us, which is proportional to the mean steepness of the curve in the analyzed segment, enabled automatic revealing of the HF burst in the initial EEG realizations.…”