Response Patterns and Cardiovascular Effects During Response Sequence Acquisition by Humans

Abstract

The effects of temporal delays imposed between successive responses and of vitamin C administration were examined on the acquisition of response sequences and on cardiovascular reactivity during sequence acquisition. Thirteen adult subjects (6 female, 7 male), in good health, gave written consent prior to participating in 12 weekly 45-min sessions. Points, exchanged for money after each session, were presented when subjects completed 15-response sequences on a touch-sensitive three-response keypad. A position counter increased from 0 to 14 as subjects emitted correct responses in the sequence. Four novel 15-response sequences were presented each session. No delays were imposed between successive responses during the acquisition of one sequence; delays were imposed immediately following each response during the acquisition of a second sequence, thereby delaying response feedback; delays were imposed following feedback during acquisition of a third sequence, resulting in the removal of the stimulus correlated with sequence position; and, as a control condition, delays were imposed following feedback, but stimuli correlated with sequence position were reinstated prior to the next response during acquisition of a fourth sequence. Subjects were exposed to one of two delay durations (0.2 and 0.5 or 0.5 and 1.0 s) each session, and delay durations alternated every session. During Weeks 5 to 8, subjects received 3 grams of vitamin C per day, whereas during Weeks 1 to 4 and 9 to 12, subjects received placebo under single-blind conditions. All subjects acquired the sequences, as evidenced by decreasing percentages of incorrect responses across trials. When temporal delays were imposed between successive responses during sequence acquisition, acquisition efficiency was enhanced. Examination of response latencies suggested that the status of preceding responses (i.e., correct or incorrect) rather than the status of the position counter influenced subsequent responding. Cardiovascular effects were inversely related to the length of the temporal delay. Neither cardiovascular reactivity or sequence acquisition were related to vitamin C administration.

Performance effects of drugs of abuse: A methodological survey

“…Oral amphetamine administration decreased food intake, improved accuracy of performance on some work tasks, and increased verbal interaction, cigarette smoking, and verbal ratings of drug effect (Kelly et al, 1991). The relative potency comparisons, in this case, suggested that the doses that were affecting performance also had significant effects on other dimensions of human behavior.…”

Handbook of Research Methods in Human Operant Behavior

“…To increase the likelihood that subjects would continue until the end of the experiment, they were informed at the start that the amount of money they earned each day would be recorded, but they would be paid in one lump sum at the end of the experiment. In studies where subjects receive many sessions over a period of weeks, it is a common practice to withhold at least part of their earnings, which are forfeited if the subject does not complete the experiment (e.g., Baum, 1975;Kelly, Fischman, Foltin, & Brady, 1991;Logue, Forzano, & Tobin, 1992; see Pilgrim, Chapter 2, for a discussion). Figure 5.3 shows the apparatus used by .…”

“…Studies of sustained attention, or vigilance (Holland, 1958), often involve simple discrimination procedures. Moreover, vigilance tasks have been used to assess cognitive side effects of psychotropic and antiepileptic medications in clinical and normal populations of adults and children (see reviews by Rapport & Kelly, 1991;Wittenborn, 1978). Finally, higher-order performances studied within simple discrimination procedures include learning set, stimulus generalization, abstraction, and functional stimulus classes.…”

Efeitos de mudanças sucessivas na definição de produto agregado em metacontingências

“…O procedimento de Aquisição Repetida foi desenvolvido por Boren, em 1963(Boren e Devine, 1968Thompson, 1971;Hursh, 1977) e foi consolidado na área experimental por meio de estudos realizados sobre os efeitos de substâncias farmacológicas e/ou lesões cerebrais, utilizando-se principalmente de animais nãohumanos como sujeitos (Bickel, Higgins & Griffiths, 1989;Bickel, Higgins & Hughes, 1991;Harting & McMillan, 1976;Higgins, Woodward & Henningfield, 1989;Moerschbaecher, Boren, Schrot & Fontes, 1979;Peele & Baron, 1988;Thompson, 1973Thompson, , 1974Thompson, , 1975Thompson, , 1980, 1981Thompson, Moerschbaecher & Winsauer, 1983) e respostas emitidas em sequência (Boren, 1969;Boren & Devine, 1968;Kelly, Fischman, Foltin & Brady, 1991;Santos, 2010;Schrot, Boren & Moerschbaecher, 1976;Snodgrass & McMillan, 1989 Outros estudos envolvendo aquisição repetida enquanto procedimento foram feitos sobre estados de transição (Thompson, 1971), reforço condicionado (Hursh, 1977), discriminação condicional (Moerschbaecher, Boren & Schrot, 1978;Snodgrass & McMillan, 1989), comportamento governado por regras (Vaughan, 1985), radiação ionizante (Vasconcelos, 1999) e investigação de variáveis que afetam a aprendizagem humana por meio de um software (Dermer & Dermer, 2000). Algumas poucas pesquisas sobre o tema foram realizadas com crianças com desenvolvimento neurotípico e atípico (Santos, 2010).…”