Habituation of cell activity in cat postcruciate cortex.

Recorded single cell activity in postcruciate cortex of 50 acutely prepared cats during habituation and classical conditioning. Background firing rate and evoked activity in light (conditioned stimulus) were examined. Based on P. M. Groves and R. F. Thompson's (1970) dual-process theory of habituation, it was hypothesized that neurons which exhibit habituation should also show the best conditioning. Neurons which exhibited response decreases during the habituation series produced slightly larger changes in response during conditioning, but the effect was essentially a maintained early change in response rather than a response development analogous to learning. In contrast, neurons which exhibited response increases during the habituation series produced developmental response changes during conditioning. A single neuron exhibited both increases in response and habituation effects, but these effects were located at different response intervals following the stimulus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)