A DEVICE FOR THE PARTIAL RESTRAINT OF RATS IN OPERANT CONDITIONING STUDIES<sup>1</sup>

Hall, Robert D.; Clayton, Richard J.; Mark, Roger G.

doi:10.1901/jeab.1966.9-143

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…A "stock" was added to the restrainer described by Hall, Clayton, and Mark (1966) to prevent grooming, since movements of the forepaws across the face added greatly to the noise in the photodiode signal. Rats were adapted to the restrainer for various periods, but never less than a week, before data were collected.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Some properties of conditioned and unconditioned eyelid reflexes in the albino rat

Hall

1973

Behav. Res. Meth. & Instru.

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GENERAL METHODSSubjects Male albino rats, descendants of the Sprague-Dawley strain and weighing 250-350 g, were Ss. Individual Ss, 40 in all, were sometimes used in more than one experiment. Miller, 1967), the rat has not been used in studies of eyelid responses. The size of this species and its reluctance to accept restraint have made the measurement of eyelid responses difficult. But it seemed that if this difficulty could be overcome, all of those attributes that make the rat such a good laboratory S would make it most valuable to a long-term research program requiring many animals and experiments of many kinds. The difficulties have not been overcome completely, but the results below are encouraging in this respect and bear on several problems in the study of eyelid responses. Eyelid responses in the rat were recorded as electromyographic activity (EMG) or as movements detected by a photoelectric technique. Spontaneous blinks, startle responses to acoustic stimuli, unconditioned responses to air puffs, and conditioned responses based on the corneal reflex were recorded under a variety of conditions. Special attention was given to topographical and temporal characteristics of the responses. Some relationships between the EMG and eyelid movements are described, as well as changes in eyelid responses related to habituation, conditioning, and various stimulus manipulations. In addition to the substantive findings, the study suggests that the rat may yet become a useful S in the study of eyelid conditioning.One attractive feature of eyelid reflexes that has gone almost unnoticed is a relative simplicity that might well recommend them for analysis at the neuronal level. Eyelid responses are accomplished primarily by two small muscles, orbicularis oculi and levator palpebrae superioris, and they are to a considerable degree independent of other behavior. Although clearly influenced by eye and head movements, they seem less entangled in most postural and movement activities than responses of the skeletal musculature mediated by the spinal cord. Woody and his associates (Engle & Woody, 1972;Woody, 1970; Woody & Brozek, 1969a, b, c; Woody, Vassilevsky, & Engel, 1970; Woody & Yarowsky, 1972), with their studies of the glabella reflex in cats, have been the first to recognize these advantages of eyelid reflexes and the possibilities they afford in electrophysiological inquiries into the neural substrate of conditioning. The experiments on the rat described in this paper were undertaken as part of a program initiated with the same intent, to use eyelid reflexes to study neural events underlying conditioned responses.Except for a few early conditioning studies (Biel & Wickens, 1941; Hughes & Schlosberg, 1938) Measurement of EyelidResponsesThe eyelid electromyogram (EMG) was recorded from two stainless steel Teflon-insulated stranded wires, 125 /Jm in diam, implanted subcutaneously in the upper lid. The EMG was filtered to eliminate potential changes below 10 Hz. It was also integrated, following full-wave rectificat...

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Some properties of conditioned and unconditioned eyelid reflexes in the albino rat

Hall

1973

Behav. Res. Meth. & Instru.

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“…The animal's eyes would always be oriented toward the display, maximizing the detection of visual stimuli. This restraint may also prove beneficial in situations in which general limitations on movement are necessary, such as physiological studies in which excessive activity could interfere with physiological recording (Hall et al, 1966).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In spite of their potential advantages, these devices appear to be have been used limitedly, in studies of aversive control (e.g., Azrin, Hopwood, & Powell, 1967;Dallemagne & Richelle, 1970) and in studies involving physiological recording (Hall et al, 1966). One can only speculate that problems of adapting animals to restraining systems, daily placement in and removal from the restraint, concerns that restraint systems would induce stress, and lack of a commercially available restraint system have been major factors in selection of the operant chamber over a restraining device.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The restraint combines the design concepts of an early device developed by Hall, Clayton, and Mark (1966) and a commercially available Acrylic Restrainer marketed by Harvard Bioscience (cat 52-0916). Development of our restraint incorporating a response operandum and computer control system has yielded a rat model for the study of high-resistance exercise as an operant and its effects on muscle tissue.…”

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An animal restraint for the study of high-resistance operants in the rat

Beneke

Timson

1990

Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers

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An animal restraint system and response operandum suitable for the study of operant behavior in the rat is described. This system combined with an inexpensive Commodore microcomputer and Psychronix interface is well-suited for the study of response parameters. Rats voluntarily entered the restraint, showed no observable signs of excess stress, and were easily extricated at the end of the experimental session. A lever-pressing operant with an adjustable force requirement was readily shaped using automated procedures. Although this system was designed for the study of high-resistance operants, it has potential advantages for other operant applications, including studies of visual discrimination and experiments requiring restraint due to physiological recording.With few exceptions, an unrestrained animal model has been used in studies of operant behavior with the rat. The vast majority of these studies have been conducted in experimental chambers that are similar in concept if not in details of design to the original operant chambers utilized by B. F. Skinner (e.g., Skinner, 1938). Although the original apparatus design may have been primarily influenced by the desire to save labor (Skinner, 1979), this unrestrained animal approach has advantages that have left it virtually unchanged for over 50 years. In addition to reduced experimenter labor, these include the selection of the leverpress operant that has sufficient spontaneous occurrence to be readily conditioned, yet with not so high a frequency as to obscure the effects of reinforcement (Skinner, 1938). In the confines of the operant chamber, competing behaviors are limited, and stimuli are readily controllable.The use of a restrained animal model has at least three potential advantages over the standard operant chamber for general studies of operant behavior: enhancement of stimulus control, elimination of competing behaviors, and restriction of response topography, The major advantage of the restraint in our laboratory lies in the ability of the experimenter to study operants having a specific topography. In our research, we have been concerned with the development of an animal model for studying the effects of high-resistance exercise. In addition to being interested in the variables controlling rate, duration, magnitude, and intensity of high-resistance operants, one of us (B.F. T.) is an exercise physiologist interested in cellular mechaBenjamin F. Tirnson is now in

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“…Surface electrodes have been used with rats, for example, for recording physiological reactions (Ferraro, Silver, and Snapper, 1965) and licking responses (DeBold, Miller, and Jensen, 1965), as well as for delivering shock as a punisher (Bijou, 1942) and as the unconditioned stimuli in the conditioned suppression procedure (Hall, Clayton, and Mark, 1966). Since the rat will remove a surface electrode that delivers aversive shock, DeBold et al (1965) and Bijou (1942) physically restrained the rat to prevent it from removing the electrodes; but, as Bijou found for one of his restraining devices, "Holder A", excessive restraint interfered with operant responding.…”

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A RAT CHAMBER AND ELECTRODE PROCEDURE FOR AVOIDANCE CONDITIONING¹

Azrin

Hopwood

Powell

1967

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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A method was developed for studying the reactions of rats to aversive shock. The distinctive features were the design of the chamber and a method of restraint that allowed the use of surface electrodes to deliver the shock. Advantages of this method were: (1) accurate specification of the shock actually received by the rat; (2) elimination of all unauthorized escape or avoidance reactions; (3) elimination of the shock scramblers and floor grids required with foot-shock; and, (4) rapid acquisition of performance under various avoidance procedures and various frequencies of shock delivery.The extensive use of rats for shock-escape and shock-avoidance studies has been accompanied by concern for improved methods of shock delivery (see Dinsmoor, 1966). Ideally, the shock received should be specifiable as to intensity, duration, and bodily locus and should not be modified by any unauthorized escape or avoidance reactions by the rat. The most common method is to deliver shock through the electrified rods of the floor of the experimental chamber.One problem in using electrified rods is that the feces of the animal can cause an electrical short circuit across the rods. Skinner and Campbell (1947) described a method of reducing this problem by mechanically dislodging the feces; Dinsmoor (1958) described a floor-rod arrangement that permitted sufficient spacing between rods to prevent the electrical short circuit.A second problem is that the rat can stand only on rods of the same electrical polarity and thereby avoid shock. A widely adopted solution was devised initially by Skinner and Campbell (1947), who developed a "scrambling" circuit that repeatedly changed the polarity of each grid. As Sloan (1964) has

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A DEVICE FOR THE PARTIAL RESTRAINT OF RATS IN OPERANT CONDITIONING STUDIES¹

Cited by 14 publications

References 6 publications

Some properties of conditioned and unconditioned eyelid reflexes in the albino rat

Some properties of conditioned and unconditioned eyelid reflexes in the albino rat

An animal restraint for the study of high-resistance operants in the rat

A RAT CHAMBER AND ELECTRODE PROCEDURE FOR AVOIDANCE CONDITIONING¹

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A DEVICE FOR THE PARTIAL RESTRAINT OF RATS IN OPERANT CONDITIONING STUDIES1

Cited by 14 publications

References 6 publications

Some properties of conditioned and unconditioned eyelid reflexes in the albino rat

Some properties of conditioned and unconditioned eyelid reflexes in the albino rat

An animal restraint for the study of high-resistance operants in the rat

A RAT CHAMBER AND ELECTRODE PROCEDURE FOR AVOIDANCE CONDITIONING1

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Product

Resources

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A DEVICE FOR THE PARTIAL RESTRAINT OF RATS IN OPERANT CONDITIONING STUDIES¹

A RAT CHAMBER AND ELECTRODE PROCEDURE FOR AVOIDANCE CONDITIONING¹