scholarly journals Conditional Control of Instrumental Avoidance by Context Following Extinction

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent D. Campese ◽  
Lauren A. Brannigan ◽  
Joseph E. LeDoux

Using rodents, three training arrangements (i.e., ABB vs. ABA, AAA vs. AAB and ABB vs. ABC) explored whether extinction influences the expression of avoidance in a manner controlled by context. Retention testing following extinction showed that more avoidance responding (i.e., renewal) was observed when extinguished cues were tested outside of the context where they had undergone extinction. In contrast, response rates were significantly lower when stimuli were tested within the context where extinction learning had occurred. These findings add to the emerging literature assessing the role of Pavlovian extinction processes in the development of instrumental avoidance responding by demonstrating conditional control over extinguished responding by context. This study was conducted using a within-subjects approach that minimized the potential for context-outcome associations to bias responding, and thus, reflects hierarchical control over behavior based on the specific associative status of each tested cue in each training context.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cindel White ◽  
John Michael Kelly ◽  
Azim Shariff ◽  
Ara Norenzayan

Four experiments (total N = 3591) examined how thinking about Karma and God increases adherence to social norms that prescribe fairness in anonymous dictator games. We found that (1) thinking about Karma decreased selfishness among karmic believers across religious affiliations, including Hindus, Buddhists, Christians, and non-religious Americans; (2) thinking about God also decreased selfishness among believers in God (but not among non-believers), replicating previous findings; and (3) thinking about both karma and God shifted participants’ initially selfish offers towards fairness (the normatively prosocial response), but had no effect on already fair offers. These supernatural framing effects were obtained and replicated in high-powered, pre-registered experiments and remained robust to several methodological checks, including hypothesis guessing, game familiarity, demographic variables, between- and within-subjects designs, and variation in data exclusion criteria. These results support the role of culturally-elaborated beliefs about supernatural justice as a motivator of believer’s adherence to prosocial norms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4790
Author(s):  
Brenda Imelda Boroel Cervantes ◽  
José Alfonso Jiménez Moreno ◽  
Salvador Ponce Ceballos ◽  
José Sánchez Santamaría

The educational journey in postgraduate programs is linked to the actors, processes and results, setting the tone for different approaches from the perspective of characterization, development and evaluation. It is summarized in a sequential manner in four stages: entry to the program, progress within the program, and the final educational stretch, where the instructor/tutor plays an important part and obtaining the diploma or degree. The goal of this research was to evaluate, using the students’ perceptions, formative experiences as a result of their academic journey in postgraduate programs within education in Northern Mexico. We have used a case study based on the focus groups technique, applied to a sample of cases comprised of students enrolled in their final educational stage. The information was analyzed using inductive data analysis. The main results were grouped into three meta categories: (1) development of professional skills for the successful design of the intervention proposal, which unfolded into four categories; (2) the role of the tutor during the formative process, consisting of four analysis categories and (3) contributions of the teaching staff in their profession, consisting of two categories. These trends also evidence the formative abundance in the personal, academic and social training context of the students.


1986 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roland Gustafson

An experiment was performed testing whether aggressive cues are necessary or only facilitative in increasing aggression to a frustration and whether their role is to “pull out” aggression directly or to add to the experience of displeasure. 20 subjects participated and a modified version of the Buss' “aggression machine” was used in which frustration was manipulated within subjects and aggressive cues between subjects. Frustration was of an arbitrary kind and aggression was defined to subjects to have instrumental value in overcoming the frustrative event Results indicated that (1) frustration alone is a weak antecedent of aggression, (2) at low frustration aggressive cues seem to be necessary for aggression to increase, and (3) aggressive cues apparently elicit aggression directly. Results were discussed in terms of Berkowitz' reformulation of the frustration-aggression hypothesis.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin F. McManus ◽  
Sergio W. Carvalho ◽  
Valerie Trifts

Purpose This study aims to explore the role of brand personality traits in explaining how different levels of brand favorability evoke affect from and forge connections to consumers. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a quantitative approach consisting of within-subjects (Study 1) and between-subjects (Study 2) experimental designs. Mediation analyses were tested using OLS regression with the MEMORE and PROCESS macros. Findings Findings suggest increases in brand excitement and sincerity to be related to differences in positive affect evoked by favorable and unfavorable brands; decreases in brand sincerity to be related to differences in negative affect between favorable and unfavorable brands (Study 1); brand competence and excitement to be related to the relationship between brand favorability and self-brand connection; and brand competence and excitement to best distinguish favorable brands from unfavorable brands (Study 2). Originality/value These results support the importance of brand personality traits that are considered to be universally positive and provide managers with an initial roadmap for which brand personality traits should be prioritized when communicating with consumers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 121 (6) ◽  
pp. 2291-2299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serajul I. Khan ◽  
Charles C. Della Santina ◽  
Americo A. Migliaccio

The role of the otoliths in mammals in the angular vestibuloocular reflex (VOR) has been difficult to determine because there is no surgical technique that can reliably ablate them without damaging the semicircular canals. The Otopetrin1 (Otop1) mouse lacks functioning otoliths because of failure to develop otoconia but seems to have otherwise normal peripheral anatomy and neural circuitry. By using these animals we sought to determine the role of the otoliths in angular VOR baseline function and adaptation. In six Otop1 mice and six control littermates we measured baseline ocular countertilt about the three primary axes in head coordinates; baseline horizontal (rotation about an Earth-vertical axis parallel to the dorsal-ventral axis) and vertical (rotation about an Earth-vertical axis parallel to the interaural axis) sinusoidal (0.2–10 Hz, 20–100°/s) VOR gain (= eye/head velocity); and the horizontal and vertical VOR after gain-increase (1.5×) and gain-decrease (0.5×) adaptation training. Countertilt responses were significantly reduced in Otop1 mice. Baseline horizontal and vertical VOR gains were similar between mouse types, and so was horizontal VOR adaptation. For control mice, vertical VOR adaptation was evident when the testing context, left ear down (LED) or right ear down (RED), was the same as the training context (LED or RED). For Otop1 mice, VOR adaptation was evident regardless of context. Our results suggest that the otolith translational signal does not contribute to the baseline angular VOR, probably because the mouse VOR is highly compensatory, and does not alter the magnitude of adaptation. However, we show that the otoliths are important for gravity context-specific angular VOR adaptation. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This is the first study examining the role of the otoliths (defined here as the utricle and saccule) in adaptation of the angular vestibuloocular reflex (VOR) in an animal model in which the otoliths are reliably inactivated and the semicircular canals preserved. We show that they do not contribute to adaptation of the normal angular VOR. However, the otoliths provide the main cue for gravity context-specific VOR adaptation.


Author(s):  
Mark E. Bouton ◽  
Stephen Maren ◽  
Gavan P McNally

This article reviews the behavioral neuroscience of extinction, the phenomenon in which a behavior that has been acquired through Pavlovian or instrumental (operant) learning decreases in strength when the outcome that reinforced it is removed. Behavioral research indicates that neither Pavlovian nor operant extinction depends substantially on erasure of the original learning, but instead depends on new inhibitory learning that is primarily expressed in the context in which it is learned, as exemplified by the renewal effect. Although the nature of the inhibition may differ in Pavlovian and operant extinction, in either case the decline in responding may depend on both generalization decrement and the correction of prediction error. At the neural level, Pavlovian extinction requires a tripartite neural circuit involving the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus. Synaptic plasticity in the amygdala is essential for extinction learning, and prefrontal cortical inhibition of amygdala neurons encoding fear memories is involved in fear retrieval. Hippocampal-prefrontal circuits mediate fear relapse phenomena, including renewal. Instrumental extinction involves distinct ensembles in corticostriatal, striatopallidal, and striatohypothalamic circuits as well as their thalamic returns for inhibitory (extinction) and excitatory (renewal and other relapse phenomena) control over operant responding. The field has made significant progress in recent decades, although a fully integrated biobehavioral understanding still awaits.


2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 527-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasser S. Ballani ◽  
Haider A. Khan ◽  
Shihab H. Al-Mohannadi ◽  
Fawaz Abu Al-Huda ◽  
Sharjeel Usmani ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 121 (5) ◽  
pp. 892-908
Author(s):  
Marilyn Mendolia

The role of the social context in facial identity recognition and expression recall was investigated by manipulating the sender’s emotional expression and the perceiver’s experienced emotion during encoding. A mixed-design with one manipulated between-subjects factor (perceiver’s experienced emotion) and two within-subjects factors (change in experienced emotion and sender’s emotional expression) was used. Senders’ positive and negative expressions were implicitly encoded while perceivers experienced their baseline emotion and then either a positive or a negative emotion. Facial identity recognition was then tested using senders’ neutral expressions. Memory for senders previously seen expressing positive or negative emotion was facilitated if the perceiver initially encoded the expression while experiencing a positive or a negative emotion, respectively. Furthermore, perceivers were confident of their decisions. This research provides a more detailed understanding of the social context by exploring how the sender–perceiver interaction affects the memory for the sender.


2007 ◽  
Vol 41 (10) ◽  
pp. 1648-1659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin-Joo Lee ◽  
Masha SH Lam ◽  
Amy Rosenberg

Objective: To evaluate the role of chemotherapy and/or rituximab for treatment of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) in solid organ transplantation. Data Sources: A MEDLINE search (1966–May 2007) was conducted using the key words posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder, solid organ transplantation, chemotherapy, and rituximab. References of relevant articles and abstracts from recent hematology, oncology, and transplantation scientific meetings (2004–May 2007) were also reviewed. Study Selection and Data Extraction: Prospective and retrospective studies identified from the data sources were evaluated, and all information deemed relevant was included for this review. Data Synthesis: Overall response rates ranged from 53% to 68%, 25% to 83%, and 74% to 100% for rituximab monotherapy, chemotherapy, and chemotherapy plus rituximab, respectively. Positive response to treatment was influenced by prognostic factors, including presence of Epstein-Barr virus in tumor cells, normal lactate dehydrogenase levels, good performance status, early disease onset after transplantation, and early disease stages. These factors in study patients likely contribute to the variability in response rates seen between treatment options. Severe adverse effects, ranging from grade 3 neutropenia to infection resulting in death, occurred more frequently in patients receiving chemotherapy than in patients receiving only rituximab. Conclusions: Although reduction in immunosuppressive medications remains the first-line therapy for PTLD treatment, many cases do not respond to this treatment alone, especially monomorphic or more aggressive cases of lymphoma. Therefore, it is reasonable to begin active treatment including rituximab and/or chemotherapy initially, along with reduction in immunosuppression in many cases. Further prospective, comparative studies are urgently needed to confirm the efficacy of these treatment strategies as well as to clarify which subset of patients may benefit most from them.


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