Objective sensory physiology of behavioral reactions

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Objective sensory physiology of behavioral reactions describes procedures for determining objective behavioral performance .

With the help of conditioning methods in objective sensory physiology (behavioral biology | behavioral physiology), the dependence of the absolute visual threshold on the wavelength of the stimulating light and thus the absorption curves of the visual pigments used by various mammals, birds, frogs, fish and cuttlefish were examined.

Many of the subjectively sensory physiological laws can be demonstrated in animal experiments via stimulus-behavioral reactions . On the other hand, one can also approach the objective sensory physiological method in humans within the framework of experimental psychology via verbal stimulus-response behavior and recognition tests.

With the help of the conditioned action ( operant conditioning ) one can quantitatively determine the visual threshold and the dark adaptation in animal experiments via the behavioral result. The conditional action is a learning process in which certain behavioral components are linked to the associated drive and accompanying stimuli.

example

In an automatic Skinner box, you reward the targeted pecking of a pigeon on key A whenever it sees a light stimulus, and targeted pecking on key B when no light stimulus is perceived. With the help of such discrimination learning through the reinforcement with food grains, the ability to differentiate between light that has just been perceived and light stimulus that is no longer effective at the threshold can be tested:

When the light stimulus is initially offered, the pigeon will peck button A several times, which automatically reduces the stimulus light intensity. When the brightness has fallen below the stimulus threshold, the pigeon picks button B until the stimulus light intensity is above the threshold again. By pressing the two buttons, the pigeon will set the light intensity, which fluctuates around the absolute visual threshold.

With this experimental set-up, changes in the visual threshold over time can now also be objectified, e.g. B. the time course of dark adaptation. After the transition from bright to low room lighting, the pigeon first sets a high and then an increasingly lower threshold stimulus strength. The sensitivity of the visual organ, which can be registered via the behavior of the pigeon, increases by a factor of around 100. The objective dark adaptation curve of the animal determined in this way resembles the subjective dark adaptation curve of humans obtained through questioning in terms of time and amplitude.

The concerted use of objective and subjective methods is essential for researching higher levels of perception.