Effect of complete striate muscle paralysis upon the learning process.

Abstract

Psychology has long been vexed by a persistent controversy concerning the fundamental nature of the learning process. One group of psychologists has held to the intra-cerebral view that the trial-and-error process of learning is represented physiologically by a sort of 'battledore and shuttlecock' process which is limited entirely to the cerebrum. This theory is also implied in the writings of most physiologists and neurologists. Other psychologists have suggested a contrasting peripheral view, to the effect that learning of necessity involves an effector response. The assumption usually made is that the response sets up proprioceptive impulses which play some essential part in bringing about a concatenation of reflex arcs constituting the total response; however, it has also been suggested that some purely motor element is essential to consciousness and therefore to learning.Various indirect methods have been employed in an attempt to solve this problem. Of these, one is the attempt to measure sub-vocal speech during thinking by obtaining records of movements of the throat, larynx, tongue and lips. Such investigations have been carried out by Thorson (17), Clark (3), and others, and the results in general seem to confirm William James' observation (12) that it is very hard to think 'bubble' with the mouth open. A more accurate method of investigating the motor responses occurring concurrently with mental states has been used by Jacobson,(9,10,11), who was able to show that imagining a given movement was always associated with electrical changes in the appropriate body part. Furthermore, Jacobson has shown in more recent work that various substitute responses may occur if the appropriate response is impossible.

Connectionism and Classical Conditioning

“…Subsequent studies (e.g., Girden, 1940;Solomon & Turner, 1962) have challenged some of the conclusions drawn by Harlow and Stagner (1933). For example, Solomon and Turner demonstrated what when dogs were under the influence of curare they could learn to discriminate tones that were signals of subsequent shocks from tones that were never associated with shocks.…”

“…Harlow and Stagner (1933) called theories in which such a response was mandatory peripheral, and theories in which such a response was not necessary intra-cerebral. They conducted a number of experiments in which cats and dogs were conditioned when under the influence of curare.…”

Time Perception and Conditioning an Autonomic Response in Human Infants

“…Research with infrahuman Ss has demonstrated rather consistently the conditionability of the autonomically regulated pupillary reflex (Gerall & Obrist, 1962;Girden, 1942;Harlow, 1940;Harlow & Stagner, 1933). On the other hand, studies with adult human Ss have failed to provide clear evidence of pupillary reflex conditionability.…”

On the role of responses in Pavlovian acquisition.

“…Table 1 summarizes classic response-prevention studies, most of them reviewed by Solomon and Turner (1962). An early, relatively large study by Harlow and Stagner (1933) failed to demonstrate CR acquisition when CS-US experiences were given to animals paralyzed by curare, seemingly supporting the notion that CR performance is necessary for acquisition. However, in a remarkable series of studies, Girden established the following: 1) under curare, muscular contractions can be produced, although they are minimal and often do not cause overt movements; 2) these contractions can be conditioned similarly to normal contractions; 3) contractions conditioned under curare disappear once the animal recovers, but reappear if it is again drugged (Girden, 1940(Girden, , 1942(Girden, , 1947Girden & Culler, 1937).…”

“…However, in a remarkable series of studies, Girden established the following: 1) under curare, muscular contractions can be produced, although they are minimal and often do not cause overt movements; 2) these contractions can be conditioned similarly to normal contractions; 3) contractions conditioned under curare disappear once the animal recovers, but reappear if it is again drugged (Girden, 1940(Girden, , 1942(Girden, , 1947Girden & Culler, 1937). Given these findings, Harlow and Stagner's (1933) failure came to be attributed to drugged animals performing different CRs than non-drugged animals, rather than no CRs, and the original question remained unsettled. Solomon and Turner (1962) and Leaf (1964) attempted to make progress by using d-tubocurarine, a curare variety unavailable to Girden that was not expected to impair transfer between the drugged and non-drugged states (based on reports from brave human volunteers: Prescott, Organe, & Rowbotham, 1946;Smith, Brown, Toman, & Goodman, 1947).…”