Stimulus-response relation

In a more general way, the two major driving forces for the design of novel micellar systems are the control over morphology (spheres, vesicles, rods, tubules etc. with controlled size) and function (stimulus-responsive materials, biological functions). Both of these aspects are intimately related since a given morphology can induce a specific function. 

Huber, M.T., and Braun, H.A. Stimulus-response curves of a neuronal model for noisy subthreshold oscillations and related spike generation. Phys. Rev. E 2006 73 04129. 

In principle it might be a Pavlovian habit related to the establishement of a direct association between a Pavlovian CS and an UR (see Cardinal et ah, 2004). Another possibility is that automatic responding is an instrumental habit related to learning of an instrumental stimulus-response (S-R) association. An instrumental habit is more likely to account for the relative flexibility of the behavior as indicated by the ability to rapidly switch to an explicit goal-oriented mode when the automatic responding is impaired. 

Law of Initiative Values. This law, which was first developed by Joseph Wilder, states that the magnitude of a response to an experimental stimulus is related to the prestimulus level. Wilder argued that this framework described the effects of activating drugs such as adrenalin on various autonomic variables. Higher initial levels were observed to be associated with smaller increases in the activating stimulus. 

Examples of fiiis type include all the different evoked responses (auditory, somatosensory, visual, etc.) and event-related potentials recorded in response to controlled stimuli administered to the body (or any biological system in general). These signals usually reveal functional characteristics of specific pathways in the body. For instance, evoked resptmses to peripheral somatosensory stimu-laticHi reveal the performance of the somatosensory pathway leading to sensory cortex. A segment of cmtical somatosensory evoked potential is shown in Fig. 18.1fi that was obtained after averaging 1(X) stimulus-response pairs. Evoked responses or event-related potentials are usually superimposed... 

To increase efficiency, many companies adopted the learning theory s stimulus/response model of behavior modification, where the employees who worked the fastest and produced the most results were rewarded with raises, promotions, or other positive reinforcers [3]. This relates to our discussion on rewards and doing a job faster to keep being rewarded. 

The new tool to investigate the neural structure of stimulus-response sequences was the computer. Now it was possible to measure the reaction times by using special programs, to compute the elementary times and the pathway structures from these reaction times, to evaluate the results statistically, to simulate the results, and to write this text. It was this instrument which permitted to save large amounts of data and evaluate them by special software written for this purpose. Thus it was possible to compute the time quanta and the pathways and to understand each reaction time as an integer multiple of this time quantum (plus a constant value). Computers were also used to record the event-related potentials. Two of the both fundamental parameters of this work (the time quantum called elementary time and the length of the linear pathway) have been confirmed by event-related potentials. 

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