Overview

A method of behavioral control which utilizes nutritive sucking as the operant has been evolved in our laboratory. Using this technique we studied the role of arousal and learning in the development of environ­ mental control over earliest feeding behavior. Few of the infants in our studies were able to coordinate their sucking behavior to arbitrary operant-discrimination schedules, but when the individual pattern of suck­ ing was taken into consideration, some infants rapidly adapted to the reinforcement schedule. Data from various reinforcement schedules suggest that earliest mothering involves a mutual adaptation in which the nurturing environment approximates and then entrains the infant's feeding behavior by a perceptive manipulation of the infant's state of arousal. Coordination between the infant and its environment sets the stage for associative learning, which develops following maturation of the infant's discriminative and response capacities. The process of behavioral acquisition begins with unconditioned feeding responses, which are transformed into complex learned behavior through the mediation of an appropriately reinforcing environment. The infants studied showed individual differences in susceptibility to environmental control and in response to frustration. The relative importance of arousal and learning as determinants of infant behavior are discussed and a hypothetical model for the earliest mother-infant relationship is proposed.

Full Product Details

Author:   Joseph Wortis
Publisher:   Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
Imprint:   Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
Edition:   Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1968
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.80cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.510kg
ISBN:  

9781468490749

ISBN 10:   1468490745
Pages:   328
Publication Date:   16 December 2012
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

I: Presidential Address.- 1. Build Thee More Stately Mansions, O My Soul.- II: Psychopharmacology.- 2. Psychotogenic N, N-Dimethylated Indole Amines and Behavior in Schizophrenic Patients.- 3. Dynamic Aspects of Chlorpromazine Metabolism.- 4. In Vivo and in Vitro Interactions of Chlorpromazine and Melanin.- 5. Biochemical Determinants in the Evaluation of Monoamine-Oxidase Inhibitors.- III: Neuropharmacology.- 6. Role of Water in Drug Action on Nerve.- 7. Structural and Histochemical Change in Ventral-Horn Cells Resulting from Sensory Deprivation.- 8. Molecular Pharmacology of Hallucinogens.- IV: Psychopharmacology of Learning and Memory.- 9. Learning and Memory Enhancement by Pemoline and Magnesium Hydroxide (PMH).- 10. Diphenylhydantoin and Procainamide: Normalization of Suboptimal Learning Behavior.- 11. Effect of Vitamin B12 on Neuronal RNA and on Instrumental Conditioning in the Rat.- 12. Ictus and Amnesia.- 13. Effect of Electroconvulsive Therapy on Memory in Depressive Disorders.- 14. Is There an Addressed Memory in the Nervous System? - Academic Address.- V: EEG and Neurophysiology.- 15. Some Electrographic Differences Between Chronic Schizophrenic Patients and Normal Subjects.- 16. Averaged Somatosensory Evoked Responses in Various Psychiatric Disorders.- 17. Correlative Behavioral and Evoked-Potential Analysis of Inhibitory Temporal-Lobe Function.- 18. Coded Stimulation of the Eighth Nerve as a Means of Investigating Auditory Memory.- 19. The Role of Brain Waves in Learning and Other Integrative Functions.- VI: Neurochemistry.- 20. Maturational Changes in Amino Acids in CNS of Different Mammalian Species.- 21. Effects of Early Weaning on Some Free Amino Acids and Acetylcholinesterase Activity of Rat Brain.- 22. Effect of Thyroid-Hormone Levels on 35S-Sulfate Pools in Mature and Senile Rat Brain.- VII: Behavior and Conditioning.- 23. Reciprocal Relations Between Autonomic and Somatic Learning: Visceral and Motor Conditioning.- 24. Appetites, Aversions, and Addictions: A Model for Visceral Memory.- 25. Trace Reflex Formation in Senescence and Senility.- 26. The Effect of Arousal and of Learning upon Sucking Behavior in the Newborn.- VIII: Symposium: The Biology of Learning and Memory.- Author Index.

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