The influence of experimental neurosis on the conditional reflexes and the content of blood catecholamines and acetylcholine in dogs.
Using experimental neurosis as a model, we investigated the mode of adaptive behavior, conditional reflexes and the blood level of neuromediators in four dogs placed in certain versus uncertain conditions in a Pavlovian laboratory. The research consisted of a two year training program with predictable (ordered partial reinforcement) followed by unpredictable (probabilistic reinforcement) situations. As a result, there was a decline in the acetylcholine as compared to a rise of catecholamine levels of the peripheral blood of some of these dogs. There were varied autonomic responses indicating a possible individual response specificity. In one dog, there was a disappearance of motor defense reflexes. The results support the hypothesis that probabilistic reinforcement following ordered partial reinforcement contributed to the dogs' neurotic disintegration, i.e., uncertainty is a cause of neurotic development.
D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000097:blood*; D000313:Adrenal Medulla / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology; D002395:Catecholamines / Q000097:blood*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D004285:Dogs; D004837:Epinephrine / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000097:blood; D012055:Reinforcement Schedule; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology
D002395:Catecholamines; D000109:Acetylcholine; D009638:Norepinephrine; D004837:Epinephrine
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