Development of Neurophysiological Procedures for the Detection of Organic Contaminants in Water.

Abstract

Rats were conditioned to press a bar if they detected contaminant (2, 6 dichlorophenol) in water, and to restrain if the water was not contaminated. The conditioning resulted from the application of an electrical brain stimulation (EBS) to the Medial Forebrain Bundle (MFB) of the rat's brain (positive reinforcement) if he pressed correctly, and presentation of a loud noxious noise if he pressed incorrectly. All rats were successfully conditioned to detect the contaminant with high levels of accuracy ranging from 87-100%. All rats were initially trained to detect contaminants at 1750 PPB. Thresholds were determined by continually training rats at decreased concentrations. Several rats were successfully conditioned to detect 2,6 dichlorophenol at a concentration of 8.8 PPB, and 1 rat at 5.8 PPB. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 24, 1978
Accession Number
ADA060406

Entities

People

  • Curt D. Weinstein
  • Sidney Weinstein

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Animals
  • Biomedical Research
  • Connective Tissue
  • Detection
  • Discrimination
  • Dura Mater
  • Ear
  • Electrodes
  • Environmental Pollutants
  • Environmental Protection
  • Health
  • Laboratory Animals
  • Medical Personnel
  • Neural Pathways
  • Surgery
  • Training

Fields of Study

  • Biology
  • Psychology

Readers

  • Environmental Engineering
  • Neural Network Machine Learning.
  • Neuroscience