Inference of refractory period, temporal summation, and adaptation from behavior in chronic implants: Midbrain pain systems

Richard S. Kestenbaum, J. Anthony Deutsch, Edgar E. Coons

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Indicated that the same poststimulation excitability pattern as that classically evidenced from responses of neurons to a test pulse administered at a parametrically varied interval after a conditioning pulse was also evidenced in escape responding of 19 male Sprague-Dawley rats intracranially stimulated by a similar train of pulse pairs. Rate of lever pressing to achieve 3-sec rests from this stimulation indicated, as a function of the intrapair interval, that 3 sizes of midbrain fibers may conduct the aversive signal and that synaptic integration of pain conforms to Stevens's power law of 1969 cranially as well as elsewhere. Predicted minor shifts in refractoriness accompanied variation in pulse-pair frequency and voltage. The value of the double-pulse technique in identifying fiber and synaptic mechanisms mediating electrically elicited behavior is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)412-428
Number of pages17
JournalJournal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology
Volume83
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1973

Keywords

  • intracranial stimulation by train of pulse pairs in central pain systems, poststimulation excitability evidenced in instrumental escape responding, rats

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

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