Visual evoked potential augmenting/reducing slopes in cats—2. Correlations with behavior

The Psychobiological Model for Impulsive Unsocialized Sensation Seeking: A Comparative Approach

“…Previous studies [17,18] had already estab lished the usefulness of this psychophysiological trait as a marker for behavioral differences among cats which strongly suggested a feline analogue of sensation seeking trait. In cats, EP augmenting was related to explorative ness, approach to novel stimuli, activity, aggressiveness, and disinhibition.…”

“…The RHA rats have been shown to be more exploratory and less fearful in a novel environment (openfield), more prone to drink alcohol when given the choice, more tolerant of a barbiturate drug, and more likely to become aggressive when shocked than the RLA rats. Like augmenting cats in the Saxton et al [18] study, the RHA rats had difficulty in inhibiting a bar-press response for reward on a differential reinforcement for low rate of response schedule which penalizes an impulsive response made before the elapse of a specified time period [19], The RHAs are less sensitive to low levels of brain stimula tion but respond avidly to high levels of intensity, whereas the RLAs respond to low levels of stimulation but escape from high levels given the opportunity. Human sensation seekers are also attracted to novel and intense experiences and sensations, tend to be heavy drinkers, if not alcohol ics, and the more antisocial tvpes tend to be aggressive [2,3].…”

P-Impulsive Sensation Seeking and Its Behavioral, Psychophysiological and Biochemical Correlates

“…The P 1 -N 1 com ponent of the EP, used to measure augmenting-reducing, is clearly identifiable in cats and rats as well as humans [37], Correlational studies in cats have shown that augmenter cats are more curious, active, exploratory, and approach novel stimuli more readily than reducer cats who are less impulsive and more inhib ited [38][39][40], Augmenter cats tested in an operant experi ment adapted quickly to the strange experimental situa tion and rapidly developed high rates of response on a fixed interval schedule. But on another schedule requiring restraint of response at a low rate the EP-reducing cats performed better than the EP augmenters.…”

Recent Developments in an Animal Model of Visual Evoked Potential Augmenting/Reducing and Sensation Seeking Behavior

“…It was demon strated that the complex waveforms of VEPs recorded from the cerebral cortex of each cat were idiosyncratic VEP A ugm enting/R educingand Sensation Seeking and remarkably stable over a 20-month period ( fig. 2) [8], as were their behavioral traits [9], An additional result, which further established the par allel between human and animal with respect to the rela tionship between sensation seeking and VEP augmenting/ reducing, was the finding in the cat of an inverse relation ship between augmenting/reducing slopes and perfor mance scores on a differential rate of low responding (DRL) operant task [9]. On this task, after a response is rewarded, another response during a set DRL interval (e.g.…”

“…lb), as was seen in most of the human studies. Subsequently, Saxton et al [8,9] investigated more detailed aspects of the relationship between the sensation seeking trait and its physiological correlates (VEP augmenting and reducing). It was demon strated that the complex waveforms of VEPs recorded from the cerebral cortex of each cat were idiosyncratic VEP A ugm enting/R educingand Sensation Seeking and remarkably stable over a 20-month period ( fig.…”