scholarly journals Conditioning nausea in a laboratory setting: A pilot study

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryne Van Hedger ◽  
Joel S. Cavallo ◽  
Nicholas A. Ruiz ◽  
Harriet de Wit
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Conditioned Place Aversion ◽  
Laboratory Setting ◽  
Chemotherapy Treatment ◽  
Anticipatory Nausea ◽  
Unpaired Group ◽  
Place Aversion ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Two Indices ◽  
Conditioned Responses

AbstractCancer patients can experience nausea as they approach the place where they have received chemotherapy treatment. This nausea is likely the result of Pavlovian conditioning, where the previously neutral environment acquires conditioned properties, in this case conditioned nausea, because its association with feeling ill. To investigate this phenomenon under controlled conditions, we studied the acquisition of conditioned nausea using a distinct environment paired with an emetic drug in healthy young adults. We measured two indices of conditioning: i) conditioned place aversion, and ii) conditioned drug-like (nausea) responses. Healthy volunteers (N=32) first rated their preference for two testing rooms, and then underwent four conditioning sessions in which they received either syrup of ipecac (5 ml) or placebo. A Paired Group (PG; N=17) always received ipecac in their initially preferred room and placebo in the other, while an Unpaired Group (UG; N=15) received ipecac and placebo in both rooms. Conditioned responses were assessed with i) time spent in each room, ii) room liking and preference, and iii) feelings of nausea in each room. There was no evidence of conditioned place aversion as measured by either time spent or ratings of room liking. However, the PG did report a small increase in nausea in the ipecac-paired room. Although the conditioned responses in this study were not robust, this procedure is a first step towards studying conditioned aversive drug responses in humans, which will enable development of future studies to prevent or treat anticipatory nausea.

Dreams of Truck Drivers: A Test of the Continuity Hypothesis of Dreaming

2005 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Schredl ◽  
Arthur Funkhouser ◽  
Nicole Arn
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Truck Drivers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Continuity Hypothesis ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Daytime Activity ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
The One ◽  
Dream Emotions ◽  
The Relationship

Empirical studies largely support the continuity hypothesis of dreaming. The present study investigated the frequency and emotional tone of dreams of truck drivers. On the one hand, the findings of the present study partly support the continuity regarding the time spent with driving/being in the truck and driving dreams and, on the other hand, a close relationship was found between daytime mood (feelings of stress, job satisfaction) and dream emotions, i.e., different dream characteristics were affected by different aspects of daytime activity. The results, thus, indicate that it is necessary to define very clearly how this continuity is to be conceptualized. The approach of formulating a mathematical model (cf. [1]) should be adopted in future studies in order to specify the factors and their magnitude in the relationship between waking and dreaming.

Psychophysical interactions with a double-slit interference pattern: Exploratory evidence of a causal influence

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-88
Author(s):  
Dean Radin ◽  
Helané Wahbeh ◽  
Leena Michel ◽  
Arnaud Delorme
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Data ◽  
Interference Pattern ◽  
Type I Error ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
The Other ◽  
Type I ◽  
Fringe Visibility ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Double Slit

An experiment we conducted from 2012 to 2013, which had not been previously reported, was designed to explore possible psychophysical effects resulting from the interaction of a human mind with a quantum system. Participants focused their attention toward or away from the slits in a double-slit optical system to see if the interference pattern would be affected. Data were collected from 25 people in individual half-hour sessions; each person repeated the test ten times for a total of 250 planned sessions. “Sham” sessions designed to mimic the experimental sessions without observers present were run immediately before and after as controls. Based on the planned analysis, no evidence for a psychophysical effect was found. Because this experiment differed in two essential ways from similar, previously reported double-slit experiments, two exploratory analyses were developed, one based on a simple spectral analysis of the interference pattern and the other based on fringe visibility. For the experimental data, the outcome supported a pattern of results predicted by a causal psychophysical effect, with the spectral metric resulting in a 3.4 sigma effect (p = 0.0003), and the fringe visibility metric resulting in 7 of 22 fringes tested above 2.3 sigma after adjustment for type I error inflation, with one of those fringes at 4.3 sigma above chance (p = 0.00001). The same analyses applied to the sham data showed uniformly null outcomes. Other analyses exploring the potential that these results were due to mundane artifacts, such as fluctuations in temperature or vibration, showed no evidence of such influences. Future studies using the same protocols and analytical methods will be required to determine if these exploratory results are idiosyncratic or reflect a genuine psychophysical influence.

scholarly journals Development of a Selective Extinction through Cognitive Evaluation Paradigm

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birthe Macdonald ◽  
Tom Johnstone
Keyword(s):  
Neutral Stimulus ◽  
The Other ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Extinction Group ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Cognitive Evaluation ◽  
Skin Conductance Responses ◽  
Within Subjects ◽  
Conditioned Responses ◽  
Selective Extinction

In this study we trialled a novel paradigm that aims to bridge the gap between the research into the extinction of conditioned responses and the instructed regulation of emotion via a prescribed strategy. This was done through a process we called Selective Extinction through Cognitive Evaluation (SECE). Participants were conditioned to associate a previously neutral stimulus (letter, CS+) with an aversive burst of white noise (US) and another letter with no aversive event (CS-). In a second phase, the same letters were presented within words belonging to two distinct categories. One group did not receive any more noise bursts during this phase which lead to the extinction of the conditioned responses (extinction group). The other group (SECE group) was told that the CS+ now only carried a risk of the noise occurring when it was presented in one (dangerous), but not the other word category (safe). Affective responses were assessed using skin conductance responses (SCR). We found overall increased SCR’s in response to CS+ (safe and dangerous) compared to CS- trials in the SECE group, and also increased SCR’s in response to dangerous compared to safe CS+ trials. This suggests that the conditioned response (CR) can be reduced through the cognitive evaluation of additional information and it is possible that extinction mechanisms are involved in this process. We did not find any effects in the extinction group. It is possible that extinction was completed too quickly so that any differences between conditions could not be captured. We therefore conducted a second study to pilot an improved paradigm. We visually amended the trials, amended the reinforcement schedule, and changed to a fully within-subjects design. Here we once again found significantly reduced SCR to safe compared to dangerous CS+ trials. Future experiments will use these results as a basis for an improved paradigm to better capture changes in SCR as well as BOLD fMRI in future experiments.

scholarly journals Examining Teachers’ Roles in Online Learning

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Qiang Huang
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
The Other ◽  
Teacher Roles ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Managerial Role ◽  
Learning Contexts ◽  
Diverse Learning ◽  
Enhanced Learning

<p>Online learning has been used in the literature to cover diverse learning contexts ranging from blended learning, distance learning, virtual learning and web-enhanced learning. Many aspects of online learning have become the focuses of research and teacher roles are one of them. The present study, therefore, intends to examine how 153 university students perceived the roles of their teachers in online learning of a blended English course by using a 27-item and 5-Likert-scale questionnaire (the STRI). Results of statistical analyses showed that the Cronbach’s Alpha value of the entire questionnaire was .955 and those of the three sub-roles were all above .891, indicating that both the questionnaire and the three factors of sub-roles were reliable and valid. Further analyses revealed that the three sub-roles of teachers, i.e., the cognitive role, the affective role and the managerial role, were significantly different from each other. Among them, the means of the managerial role was significantly higher than that of the cognitive role while the means of the affective role was the lowest. Results of descriptive statistics also revealed that keeping a record of students’ learning in the managerial role was quite notable for students. The findings suggest that the roles of teachers in online learning as a whole were reduced. However, the managerial role was more notable than the other two roles and the affective role was the least impactful in the online learning context in this study. The researcher believes that these findings may offer some insights to classroom implications and provide the basis for future studies of comparing teacher roles across different educational contexts.</p>

scholarly journals The iron-responsive genome of the chiton Acanthopleura granulata

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca M. Varney ◽  
Daniel I. Speiser ◽  
Carmel McDougall ◽  
Bernard M. Degnan ◽  
Kevin M. Kocot
Keyword(s):  
Iron Transport ◽  
West Indian ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
Major Clade ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Genetic Mechanisms ◽  
Molluscan Evolution ◽  
And Function

ABSTRACTMolluscs biomineralize structures that vary in composition, form, and function, prompting questions about the genetic mechanisms responsible for their production and the evolution of these mechanisms. Chitons (Mollusca, Polyplacophora) are a promising system for studies of biomineralization because they build a range of calcified structures including shell plates and spine- or scale-like sclerites. Chitons also harden the calcified teeth of their rasp-like radula with a coat of iron (as magnetite). Here we present the genome of the West Indian fuzzy chiton Acanthopleura granulata, the first from any aculiferan mollusc. The A. granulata genome contains homologs of many biomineralization genes identified previously in conchiferan molluscs. We expected chitons to lack genes previously identified from pathways conchiferans use to make biominerals like calcite and nacre because chitons do not use these materials in their shells. Surprisingly, the A. granulata genome has homologs of many of these genes, suggesting that the ancestral mollusc had a more diverse biomineralization toolkit than expected. The A. granulata genome has features that may be specialized for iron biomineralization, including a higher proportion of genes regulated directly by iron than other molluscs. A. granulata also produces two isoforms of soma-like ferritin: one is regulated by iron and similar in sequence to the soma-like ferritins of other molluscs, and the other is constitutively translated and is not found in other molluscs. The A. granulata genome is a resource for future studies of molluscan evolution and biomineralization.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTChitons are molluscs that make shell plates, spine- or scale-like sclerites, and iron-coated teeth. Currently, all molluscs with sequenced genomes lie within one major clade (Conchifera). Sequencing the genome of a representative from the other major clade (Aculifera) helps us learn about the origins and evolution of molluscan traits. The genome of the West Indian Fuzzy Chiton, Acanthopleura granulata, reveals chitons have homologs of many genes other molluscs use to make shells, suggesting all molluscs share some shell-making pathways. The genome of A. granulata has more genes that may be regulated directly by iron than other molluscs, and chitons produce a unique isoform of a major iron-transport protein (ferritin), suggesting that chitons have genomic specializations that contribute to their production of iron-coated teeth.

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