Paul:
Thanks for the public comment on that study. I had done a
PsychInfo search for studies on conditioning with paramecia and
that study appeared to be the only one that included appropriate
control conditions. There are several studies which identify
confounds in other studies. So I would guess the question is
still open....
Ken
On Wed, 05 Sep 2001 09:59:20 -0500 Paul Brandon
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> At 8:56 AM -0400 9/5/01, Kenneth M. Steele wrote:
> >Chuck:
> >
> >Classical conditioning of paramecia has been a controversial
> >topic. One problem in the case below is that both the CS and
> >the UCS are the same type of event thus making it difficult to
> >determine whether or not the backing up represents some kind of
> >temporal summation of effects of both stimuli.
> >
> >One needs to run a series of tests to separate true conditioning
> >from pseudoconditioning.
> >
> >Here is a reference to a study that may provide some help on
> >these issues...
> >
> >Hennessey, T. M., Rucker W. B., & McDiarmid, C. G. (1979).
> >Classical conditioning in paramecia. Animal Learning &
> >Behavior, 7, 417-423.
>
> Actually, I have some doubts about that study, since it was done in our
> department and I was helping with it.
> The main observation was done by Todd Hennessey, a grad student of Bill
> Rucker's.
> Since it was a somewhat subjective judgement call on the movement of a
> paramecia in response to a stimulus (vibration -- a microscope slide was
> mounted on a speaker cone) I suspect a strong demand effect.
> As far as I know, this study was never replicated.
> BTW -- Bill Rucker also claimed to have demonstrated operant conditioning
> with the same experimental model.
> Of course, he was also convinced that learning was molecular, and
> (semiseriously) agreed with Aristotle that the brain's main function was
> colling the blood.
>
> * PAUL K. BRANDON [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
> * Psychology Dept Minnesota State University, Mankato *
> * 23 Armstrong Hall, Mankato, MN 56001 ph 507-389-6217 *
> * http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/psych/welcome.html *
>
>
----------------------
Kenneth M. Steele, Ph.D. [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dept. of Psychology
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
USA
