Abstract
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.
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Mekhedova, A.Y., Ghadirian, A.M. The influence of experimental neurosis on the conditional reflexes and the content of blood catecholamines and acetylcholine in dogs. Pav. J. Biol. Sci. 14, 79–85 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03001822
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03001822