Behavioral assessment of visual toxicity.

Abstract

A wide variety of behavioral methods has been employed with animals to assess visual changes induced by drugs or toxicants. The methods range from simple to complex, from broad screening devices to narrowly focused techniques. Their relative advantages for the environmental toxicologist are discussed.Manipulation of stimulus values is an essential ingredient in the identification of specific sensory functions. The percentage of correct choices from a discrete-trial, multiple-choice discrimination procedure is to be preferred to measures of response rate, speed or reaction time when experiments require answers about specifc visual functions.

How operant conditioning can contribute to behavioral toxicology.

“…We can also establish how easily animals detect small increments or decrements-the difference limen. This field is just maturing; three of the contributions to this symposium discuss approaches to the measurement of sensory phenomena (1)(2)(3).…”

“…The six papers that follow demonstrate how animal behaviorists can contribute to the study of toxic substances. Stebbins and Rudy (1), Evans (2), and Wood (3) discuss methods used to study audition, vision, and olfaction, respectively. Thompson and Moerschbaecher (4) present one approach to the study of how animals learn.…”