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Physiology & Behavior May 2009Males and females learn and remember differently at different times in their lives. These differences occur in most species, from invertebrates to humans. We review here... (Review)
Review
Males and females learn and remember differently at different times in their lives. These differences occur in most species, from invertebrates to humans. We review here sex differences as they occur in laboratory rodent species. We focus on classical and operant conditioning paradigms, including classical eyeblink conditioning, fear-conditioning, active avoidance and conditioned taste aversion. Sex differences have been reported during acquisition, retention and extinction in most of these paradigms. In general, females perform better than males in the classical eyeblink conditioning, in fear-potentiated startle and in most operant conditioning tasks, such as the active avoidance test. However, in the classical fear-conditioning paradigm, in certain lever-pressing paradigms and in the conditioned taste aversion, males outperform females or are more resistant to extinction. Most sex differences in conditioning are dependent on organizational effects of gonadal hormones during early development of the brain, in addition to modulation by activational effects during puberty and adulthood. Critically, sex differences in performance account for some of the reported effects on learning and these are discussed throughout the review. Because so many mental disorders are more prevalent in one sex than the other, it is important to consider sex differences in learning when applying animal models of learning for these disorders. Finally, we discuss how sex differences in learning continue to alter the brain throughout the lifespan. Thus, sex differences in learning are not only mediated by sex differences in the brain, but also contribute to them.
Topics: Animals; Avoidance Learning; Blinking; Conditioning, Classical; Conditioning, Operant; Fear; Female; Humans; Male; Memory; Sex Characteristics; Taste
PubMed: 19272397
DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2009.02.035 -
Systematic Reviews Jul 2018'Pain rewarded' is a hypothesis wherein acute pain sufferers are exposed to reinforcers and punishers from their environment that shape their behaviour, i.e. pain... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
BACKGROUND
'Pain rewarded' is a hypothesis wherein acute pain sufferers are exposed to reinforcers and punishers from their environment that shape their behaviour, i.e. pain responses. Such a point of view has been taken for granted by many clinicians and researchers although existing evidence has not yet been systematically summarized. This planned systematic review and meta-analysis is aiming to summarize the research findings on pain modulation (hyperalgesic effect) and pain elicitation (allodynic effect) resulting from operant conditioning procedures in healthy humans.
METHODS
The systematic review will be performed by searching for articles indexed in PubMed database, Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Web of Science™, ScienceDirect, EBSCO database, PsycINFO, MEDLINE, PsycARTICLES and CINAHL. Studies will be included if they investigate healthy humans, exposed to modulation or elicitation of a pain experience induced by operant conditioning. Studies will be screened for eligibility and risk of bias by two independent assessors. Narrative and meta-analytical syntheses are planned.
DISCUSSION
Data will be pooled and analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively (if possible) in order to advance the understanding of pain mechanisms, especially the development of chronic pain. This systematic review will guide the planning of future experiments and research by summarizing important technical details of conditioning procedures in healthy humans.
SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION
PROSPERO CRD42017051763.
Topics: Chronic Pain; Conditioning, Operant; Healthy Volunteers; Humans; Hyperalgesia; Reward
PubMed: 30016996
DOI: 10.1186/s13643-018-0765-y -
Neuron Oct 2013An enduring and richly elaborated dichotomy in cognitive neuroscience is that of reflective versus reflexive decision making and choice. Other literatures refer to the... (Review)
Review
An enduring and richly elaborated dichotomy in cognitive neuroscience is that of reflective versus reflexive decision making and choice. Other literatures refer to the two ends of what is likely to be a spectrum with terms such as goal-directed versus habitual, model-based versus model-free or prospective versus retrospective. One of the most rigorous traditions of experimental work in the field started with studies in rodents and graduated via human versions and enrichments of those experiments to a current state in which new paradigms are probing and challenging the very heart of the distinction. We review four generations of work in this tradition and provide pointers to the forefront of the field's fifth generation.
Topics: Animals; Brain; Conditioning, Operant; Goals; Habits; Humans; Models, Psychological
PubMed: 24139036
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2013.09.007 -
The Journal of Pain Aug 2019Learning processes have been discussed in the context of pain chronicity for decades. Particularly, operant conditioning has been used to experimentally induce and... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
Learning processes have been discussed in the context of pain chronicity for decades. Particularly, operant conditioning has been used to experimentally induce and modulate pain in healthy humans. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, research findings on pain facilitation (hyperalgesic effect) and pain elicitation (allodynic effect) are evaluated. The review was performed according to the PRISMA guideline and an a priori published protocol. Nine databases were searched for relevant publications: PubMed, Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Web of Science, ScienceDirect, EBSCO, PsycINFO, MEDLINE, PsycARTICLES, and CINAHL. Studies were included if they investigated pain-free humans, exposed to an operant conditioning procedure of pain. Two independent assessors screened publications against eligibility criteria and assessed the risk of bias with the Cochrane risk of bias scale. A total of 3155 records were screened, of which 8 were included in the qualitative (401 participants) and 5 into the quantitative (110 participants) synthesis. Results showed that hyperalgesic (standardized mean difference = -0.80, 95% confidence interval = -1.33 to -0.27, P = .003) and allodynic effects (standardized mean difference = -1.27, 95% confidence interval = -2.46 to -0.08, P = .04) can be induced in healthy humans, indicating that pain can be shaped by contingencies of reinforcement. However, the uncertainty of the effect is relatively high, mostly owing to the small number of included studies, demand characteristics, and the risk of bias. This is especially relevant for studies on allodynic effects where the decrease in nociception should be more rigorously controlled. PERSPECTIVE: Operant conditioning can be a mechanism of pain chronicity. All experimental studies investigating this hypothesis have been identified and summarized. It has been demonstrated that allodynic and hyperalgesic effects can be induced by operant conditioning.
Topics: Chronic Pain; Conditioning, Operant; Humans; Hyperalgesia; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Reinforcement, Psychology
PubMed: 30690165
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpain.2019.01.009 -
Behaviour Research and Therapy Sep 2023The memories for past autobiographical experiences that we share can influence relationship formation and consolidation with important implications for our mental...
The memories for past autobiographical experiences that we share can influence relationship formation and consolidation with important implications for our mental health. However, little is known about how people's responses to our memories can influence subsequent memory sharing. Previous research examined how operant processes (i.e., punishment with aversive sounds) influence the sharing of memories for specific events from our past. Understanding the (social) mechanisms associated with difficulty sharing specific autobiographical memories is important given the association between these difficulties and a range of psychiatric diagnoses. We investigate the effects of verbal and non-verbal social operants on the willingness to share specific autobiographical memories. Participants shared memories with a confederate who coded their memories as specific or non-specific and responded in either an engaged/attentive, dismissive manner or gave no feedback depending on participants' assigned condition. Participants who were reinforced for sharing specific memories and punished for sharing non-specific memories, were more likely to share specific than non-specific memories compared to those who received no feedback. Reinforcement alone was not sufficient for modifying specificity. The ways that we respond to people when they share memories with us can influence their subsequent willingness to share specific events from their past.
Topics: Humans; Memory, Episodic; Conditioning, Operant; Reinforcement, Psychology; Affect; Mental Disorders
PubMed: 37598525
DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2023.104385 -
Neurotherapeutics : the Journal of the... Jul 2018Neurological disorders, such as spinal cord injury, stroke, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, and multiple sclerosis cause motor impairments that are a huge burden... (Review)
Review
Neurological disorders, such as spinal cord injury, stroke, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, and multiple sclerosis cause motor impairments that are a huge burden at the individual, family, and societal levels. Spinal reflex abnormalities contribute to these impairments. Spinal reflex measurements play important roles in characterizing and monitoring neurological disorders and their associated motor impairments, such as spasticity, which affects nearly half of those with neurological disorders. Spinal reflexes can also serve as therapeutic targets themselves. Operant conditioning protocols can target beneficial plasticity to key reflex pathways; they can thereby trigger wider plasticity that improves impaired motor skills, such as locomotion. These protocols may complement standard therapies such as locomotor training and enhance functional recovery. This paper reviews the value of spinal reflexes and the therapeutic promise of spinal reflex operant conditioning protocols; it also considers the complex process of translating this promise into clinical reality.
Topics: Animals; Conditioning, Operant; Humans; Neuronal Plasticity; Reflex; Spinal Cord Injuries
PubMed: 29987761
DOI: 10.1007/s13311-018-0643-2 -
Journal of Neurophysiology Mar 2023Operant conditioning of a spinal monosynaptic pathway using the Hoffman reflex (H-reflex) is well established in animal and human studies. There is a subset within the...
Operant conditioning of a spinal monosynaptic pathway using the Hoffman reflex (H-reflex) is well established in animal and human studies. There is a subset within the human population (∼20% nonresponders) who are unable to up train this pathway suggesting some distinct or unique identifying characteristics. Importantly, females, who have a nine times higher rate of injury during human performance activities than men, have been understudied in areas of CNS neuroplasticity. Our long-term goal is to understand if innate ability to rapidly up train the H-reflex is predictive of future performance-based injury among females. In this study, we primarily determined whether healthy, young females could rapidly increase the H-reflex within a single session of operant conditioning and secondarily determined if electro-physiological, humoral, cognitive, anthropometric, or anxiety biomarkers distinguished the responders from nonresponders. Eighteen females (mean age: 24) participated in the study. Overall, females showed a group main effect for up training the H-reflex ( < 0.05). Of the cohort, 10 of 18 females met the criteria for up training the H-reflex (responders). The responders showed lower levels of estradiol ( < 0.05). A multivariate stepwise regression model supported that extracellular to intracellular water ratio (ECW/ICW) and H-max/M-max ratio explained 60% of the variation in up training among females. These findings support that females can acutely upregulate the H-reflex with training and that electro-physiological and hormonal factors may be associated with the up training. Young females who acutely increase their H-reflexes with operant conditioning had lower levels of estradiol. However, the best predictors of those who could up-train the H-reflex were baseline H-reflex excitability (H-max/M-max) and extracellular to intracellular water ratio (ECW/ICW). Future studies are warranted to understand the complex relationship between operant conditioning, human performance, and injury among active young females.
Topics: Male; Animals; Humans; Female; Young Adult; Adult; H-Reflex; Conditioning, Operant; Spinal Cord Injuries; Neuronal Plasticity; Electromyography
PubMed: 36791051
DOI: 10.1152/jn.00188.2022 -
PLoS Computational Biology Nov 2022Adapting one's behavior to environmental conditions and past experience is a key trait of living systems. In the biological world, there is evidence for adaptive...
Adapting one's behavior to environmental conditions and past experience is a key trait of living systems. In the biological world, there is evidence for adaptive behaviors such as learning even in naturally occurring, non-neural, single-celled organisms. In the bioengineered world, advances in synthetic cell engineering and biorobotics have created the possibility of implementing lifelike systems engineered from the bottom up. This will require the development of programmable control circuitry for such biomimetic systems that is capable of realizing such non-trivial and adaptive behavior, including modification of subsequent behavior in response to environmental feedback. To this end, we report the design of novel stochastic chemical reaction networks capable of probabilistic decision-making in response to stimuli. We show that a simple chemical reaction network motif can be tuned to produce arbitrary decision probabilities when choosing between two or more responses to a stimulus signal. We further show that simple feedback mechanisms from the environment can modify these probabilities over time, enabling the system to adapt its behavior dynamically in response to positive or negative reinforcement based on its decisions. This system thus acts as a form of operant conditioning of the chemical circuit, in the sense that feedback provided based on decisions taken by the circuit form the basis of the learning process. Our work thus demonstrates that simple chemical systems can be used to implement lifelike behavior in engineered biomimetic systems.
Topics: Conditioning, Operant; Learning; Adaptation, Psychological; Artificial Cells; Biomimetics
PubMed: 36399506
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010676 -
International Review of Neurobiology 2016In this chapter, we review the effects of global null mutant and overexpressing transgenic mouse lines on voluntary self-administration of alcohol. We examine... (Review)
Review
In this chapter, we review the effects of global null mutant and overexpressing transgenic mouse lines on voluntary self-administration of alcohol. We examine approximately 200 publications pertaining to the effects of 155 mouse genes on alcohol consumption in different drinking models. The targeted genes vary in function and include neurotransmitter, ion channel, neuroimmune, and neuropeptide signaling systems. The alcohol self-administration models include operant conditioning, two- and four-bottle choice continuous and intermittent access, drinking in the dark limited access, chronic intermittent ethanol, and scheduled high alcohol consumption tests. Comparisons of different drinking models using the same mutant mice are potentially the most informative, and we will highlight those examples. More mutants have been tested for continuous two-bottle choice consumption than any other test; of the 137 mouse genes examined using this model, 97 (72%) altered drinking in at least one sex. Overall, the effects of genetic manipulations on alcohol drinking often depend on the sex of the mice, alcohol concentration and time of access, genetic background, as well as the drinking test.
Topics: Alcohol Drinking; Alcoholism; Animals; Choice Behavior; Conditioning, Operant; Disease Models, Animal; Ethanol; Mice; Mice, Transgenic; Self Administration; Sex Characteristics
PubMed: 27055617
DOI: 10.1016/bs.irn.2016.02.014 -
Molecular Psychiatry Jan 2017Research on avoidance conditioning began in the late 1930s as a way to use laboratory experiments to better understand uncontrollable fear and anxiety. Avoidance was... (Review)
Review
Research on avoidance conditioning began in the late 1930s as a way to use laboratory experiments to better understand uncontrollable fear and anxiety. Avoidance was initially conceived of as a two-factor learning process in which fear is first acquired through Pavlovian aversive conditioning (so-called fear conditioning), and then behaviors that reduce the fear aroused by the Pavlovian conditioned stimulus are reinforced through instrumental conditioning. Over the years, criticisms of both the avoidance paradigm and the two-factor fear theory arose. By the mid-1980s, avoidance had fallen out of favor as an experimental model relevant to fear and anxiety. However, recent progress in understanding the neural basis of Pavlovian conditioning has stimulated a new wave of research on avoidance. This new work has fostered new insights into contributions of not only Pavlovian and instrumental learning but also habit learning, to avoidance, and has suggested that the reinforcing event underlying the instrumental phase should be conceived in terms of cellular and molecular events in specific circuits rather than in terms of vague notions of fear reduction. In our approach, defensive reactions (freezing), actions (avoidance) and habits (habitual avoidance) are viewed as being controlled by unique circuits that operate nonconsciously in the control of behavior, and that are distinct from the circuits that give rise to conscious feelings of fear and anxiety. These refinements, we suggest, overcome older criticisms, justifying the value of the new wave of research on avoidance, and offering a fresh perspective on the clinical implications of this work.
Topics: Animals; Anxiety; Avoidance Learning; Conditioning, Classical; Conditioning, Operant; Conditioning, Psychological; Fear; Humans; Reinforcement, Psychology
PubMed: 27752080
DOI: 10.1038/mp.2016.166