Explosives Detection Systems Employing Behaviorally Modified Rats as Sensory Elements
Abstract
The research program was concerned with improving the operational reliability of animals employed as the sensory element in explosives detection systems. Four basic theses were investigated and the research results in each of these areas represented an original contribution to the developing field of biosensor detection systems. The theses are: (A) It is postulated that rats can detect, via their olfactory sensory function, some component of the military explosive 2, 4, 6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) in minute quantities, (B) It is postulated that if A above is true, then proper behavioral conditioning can cause the animals to operantly signal their awareness of the presence of some effluent of TNT in the ambient air, (C) It is postulated that if B is true, then it should be possible to train several subjects simultaneously using a semi-automatic test station employing operant and classical conditioning paradigms, (D) It is postulated that if B is true, then it should be possible to classically condition the test subjects to anticipate the reward that was heretofore forthcoming only as a consequence of an operant. The state of cerebral arousal resulting from the anticipation should then result in an anticipatory resulting from the anticipation should then result in an anticipatory evoked spectral change (AESC) in the cortical electroencephalogram (EEG) of subjects so conditioned. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 18, 1982
- Accession Number
- ADA117293
Entities
People
- R. V. Nolan