David S. Phillips

Effects of early alcohol exposure upon adult learning ability and taste preferences

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of preweaning exposure to alcohol upon adult learning ability and taste preferences. Two groups of rats, one whose mothers drank only water and one whose mothers drank only wine, were tested as adults for their ability to form learning sets and for their preference between water and wine. Animals whose mothers drank wine performed below the level of control animals with regard to learning set formation and consistently drank more wine than the controls.

Effects of olfactory bulb ablation on visual discrimination

Abstract The purpose of this study was to assess the possible role of olfactory cues in a situation designed to test visual discrimination. Three groups of rats were tested on visual discrimination problems where the relevance of olfactory cues was varied. Animals tested under conditions where both visual and olfactory cues led to the same response displayed learning set formation similar to that reported by other investigators. Normal animals tested under conditions where visual and olfactory cues led to conflicting responses also gave evidence of learning set formation; however, their performance was consistently poorer than that of the group where both cues led to the same response. Animals who had had their olfactory bulbs ablated show no evidence of learning set formation.

Ear‐Lobe Creases and Heart Disease

In 50 patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and 38 controls, comparative data on age, sex, serum cholesterol level, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, smoking habits, and ear‐lobe creases were analyzed statistically. After adjustment for age differences, the factors which chiefly distinguished the two groups were the incidences of smoking, obesity, diabetes, and ear‐lobe creases. Of these, the ear‐lobe crease seemed to be correlated best with CHD, and may prove to be a useful diagnostic sign.

Cortical projections of ascending nonspecific systems.

Abstract Areal distributions on cerebral cortex of several types of non specific activity were compared in cat. Spontaneous spindle bursts in pentobarbital and cerveau isole preparations, nonspecific cortical association responses evoked by peripheral stimuli in the chloralosed animal, and short latency cortical responses evoked by single shock stimulation of the midbrain reticular formation were all found to have essentially identical cortical distributions. These occurred in four major foci, two on the middle suprasylvian gyrus, one on the anterior lateral gyrus, and one on pericruciate cortex surrounding the cruciate sulcus.

Effects of olfactory bulb ablation upon heart rate

Abstract The intent of this study was to investigate the influence of the olfactory system upon heart rate changes in the rat. Heart rate was measured before and during the presentation of a tone and difference scores were computed. Normal animals and sham operated animals both showed an initial decrease in heart rate to the tone but they quickly adapted to this stimulus. No difference was noted between these two groups. Animals which had had their olfactory bulbs ablated also showed a decrease in heart rate to the initial tone presentations. While the size of this response decreased over trials, the lesioned animals were still responding at a level significantly different from the controls after 20 trials.

Olfactory cues in visual discrimination problems

Abstract The purpose of this study was to assess the possible role of olfactory cues in a situation designed to test visual behavior. Two groups of rats were tested on visual discrimination problems where the relevance of olfactory cues was varied. Animals tested under conditions where both visual and olfactory cues led to the same response displayed learning set formation similar to that reported by other investigators. Animals tested under conditions where the visual and olfactory cues led to conflicting responses also demonstrated learning set formation; however, their performance was consistently at a lower level than that of the group where both cues led to the same response.

Heart rate conditioning of anosmic rats

Abstract The intent of this study was to investigate the influence of the olfactory system upon heart rate changes in the rat using a classical conditioning paradigm. Normal, nerve sectioned, and lesioned animals were given 20 CS-alone trials followed by 30 conditioning trials. All animals showed a decrease in heart rate to the first few presentations of the CS but after 20 trials the control animals had habituated to this stimulus while the nerve sectioned and lesioned animals had not. All three groups of animals demonstrated heart rate conditioning with the controls showing the greatest effect followed by the nerve sectioned animals and then the lesioned animals.

Effects of scheduling on the communicative assessment of aphasic patients

This study determined the influence of morning and afternoon scheduling on the assessment of communicative skills of aphasic patients. Eight short-term (3 to 9 months post-onset) and eight long-term (12 or more months post-onset) aphasic subjects were administered 11 tests from the Porch Index of Communicative Ability (PICA) at specified times in the morning (A.M.) and afternoon (P.M.). Order of scheduling (A.M. first, P.M. second; P.M. first, A.M. second) was determined randomly but balanced between groups. Results indicated an absence of significant main effects for onset, scheduling, and test order; however, significant interactions between the scheduling and test-order factors were evidenced on the naming and auditory identification tests and on all overall measures. Analyses of these interactions revealed that patients scheduled first in the A.M. decreased their mean scores when assessed a second time in the P.M., whereas those scheduled first in the P.M., increased their scores when seen a second time in the A.M. Findings suggest that aphasic patients can be expected to do better on morning than afternoon assessments regardless of the order in which they are scheduled. Clinically, this indicates a need for consistency in the scheduling of periodic assessments for individual aphasic patients.

Recovery of cortical responses following localized cooling in the thalamus.

Abstract Evoked potentials to somatic stimuli were recorded in the 4 cortical association areas of the cat before, during, and after localized cooling in the centromedian area of the thalamus. The effect of duration and degree of cooling on the time course of recovery of cortical responses was examined. Thalamic cooling produced decreases in peak-to-peak cortical evoked potentials ranging from 50–100%. If the temperature was 10°C or above then recovery usually occurred within 2 min. With cooling temperatures to 5–10°C for 20 min or less the responses showed complete recovery in about 6–8 min. When temperatures of 0–4°C were maintained for 20–30 min recovery of amplitude, waveform, and latency sometimes required 30 min. No irreversible effects from cooling down to cryoprobe tip temperatures of 0°C were ever observed. It was concluded that only a few minutes is required for recovery in the medial thalamus following low temperature or long duration cooling.

Fecundity, natality, and weight as a function of prenatal alcohol consumption and age of the mother

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible interaction between prenatal exposure to alcohol and the age of the mother upon offspring. Two groups of female rats, one who drank only water and one who drank only wine, were mated four times. The fecundity, natality, and weights of the pups were examined. It was concluded that in the rat moderate amounts of alcohol do not affect fecundity but that natality is affected. Birth weight of the pups is also affected by maternal alcohol consumption but not by the age of the mother.