Technique for exercise to counteract effect of zero gravity on skeletal muscles of rhesus monkeys during extended orbital spacefligh

De Lorge, J.

English

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A ~ECHN~QUE FOR PRODUCING CA HENIC BEHAV 
1N A RHESUS MONKEY" 
John de Lorge 
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery 
MR005.01-0097B 
NASA Order L-27432 
Approved 
Ashton Graybiel, M.D. 
Assistant for Scientific Programs 
Released 
Captain N e W. AI lebach, MC USN 
Officer In Charge 
1 December 1970 
"This research was conducted under the sponsorship of the Office of Advanced Research 
echnology , National Aeronautics and Space Administration, with partia 
RArORY 
E 
SU 
THE PROBLEM 
A technique for exercise to counteract the effect of zero gravity o 
in unrestrained monkeys during extended o 
key was reinforced with both food and foo 
response continuously for 3 to 4 hours. Various manipulations of the frequen 
re!nforcement and signals indicating the availability of food were used to ev 
effect of each on the exercise response and associ 
al spaceflight was e 
sociated stimuli for 
The technique satisfactorily maintained exercise for up to 3 hours. A 50-percent 
reduction in the density of food reinforcement reduced exercise response rates by 
than 25 percent. Removal of a signal that indicated the nonavailability of food had no 
significant permanent effects but did lead to a small increment in the exercise response 
rate. Presenting signals similar to the one that indicated food availability merely con- 
fused the animal and drastically lowered the exercise response rate. 
ACKNOWLEDGMENT 
Grateful appreciation is extended to Mr. E e C. Me vin for his assis 
ducting the sessions e 
-----_-__- 
this study was handled i n  
ished by the Committee o 
cademy of Sciences - N a  
nce with "Priineip 
TROD 
e Experiment (3) unres 
nded period of time. 
lotment of food and water, one of which wi l l  be a high- 
e purpose of the present study was to explore one of many ex- 
t prove feasible for m intaining the physical health of a 
ned rhesus monkeys are to be pi 
monkeys w i l l  be required to pe 
rhesus monkey. 
Since no precedent existed for ascertaining an appropriate amount of exercise for a 
monkey, estimates based on human requisites were made. One of many human exercise 
programs proven adequate to maintain physical fitness was developed by the U. S . Air 
Force and is described by Cooper (1). He has recommended exercises that produce maxi- 
mum aerobic work ca city. Although these exercises seem inappropriate for Q weight- 
less condition because of their reliance on muscle exertion against gravity, certain as- 
pects alllow a prediction of exercises that might be transferable to weightlessness. One 
aspect is that the exercise generally takes place for a continuous period of time, 15 min- 
utes or longer, and the entire body i s  undergoing movement. Based on this characteristic, 
the present study was designed in an attempt to produce a response in the rhesus monkey 
that would involve movement of most of i t s  skeletal muscles and continue for long periods 
of time. In addition, the task was to be transferable to a zerogravity condition where 
the same principles should apply. 
The animal was trained to extend i t s  arms to a reasonable height above i t s  head and 
then to bend down and reach i ts  arms to a position near i t s  feet. The methodology in- 
volved an observing response (4); that is, each t ime the animal performed correctly, the 
response would produce either a signal that food could be obtained by pressing a food 
button, or a signal that food could not be obtained. During the appropriate signal, a 
response on the food button produced food. * The observing response became the exercise 
response since it involved so much effort. To insure continuous responding, the signal 
that indicated food was available followed a variable number of exercise responses. By 
decreasing the frequency of signals, removing the nonfood signa , and rearranging the 
food signal , an analysis of the exercise behavior was accomplished. 
PRO CE D URE 
SUBJEC 
was the subiect. She had been used previously in 
responses on fixed ratio (FR) schedules of food re- 
81 to 91 percent of her ad libitum body weight 
resent study i s  actually a chain of responses. 
1 
was 40 inches high by 32 inches deep by 27 inches wide, 
a sliding door in the 
exiglass buttons, two of . The other two buttons 
rid floor and 6 inches 
ts  are seerron 
terrupted a beam of fight projected across the middle of the chamber. 
221 required on the specific response bec se of her previous history on 
the start of the f i rst  session. s reinforced for each re 
he exercise response 
either at the top or 
n of the opposite pair of 
consisted of the simu 
bottom of the chamber, followed by the simultan 
I ig hted keys. Depression of 
minated the other p ternating response produced either a 5 0 - H ~  click- 
er or a 0.6-second presentation of a 6-Hz clicker. The 50 -H~  clicker remained on until 
fhe food button was presed; hence, i f  constituted a discriminative stimulus for food and 
s a signal of the non- 
e absence of SD had no 
r of keys extinguished the lights on that pair and il lu- 
ed SD. The 6-Hz c 
bil ity of food 
sioned no food; hence, it 
Food button responses in 
consequences e 
the reinforcement sche 
SD and hence food av 
changed to require more 
e By the end of the first 
io of responses to an SD 
var~ed randomly about a mean ratio of 
increased to 10 to 1 e However, this rati 
1 and i s  therefore cal ed a random ratio 
hat is, on the average, every 10 exercise responses resulted in the 
i f  a food button response were made, Exercise re- 
so, on the average, 9 o 
s, the auditory stimulus 
to tell whether or not food was avai 
effort of pressing the food button when food was not 
2 
Figure 1 
t 
2121 about io press the top response keys 
A small light can be seen behind each of the two keys 
3 
Sessions occurred 5 days per week. rly in the experime 
However, the ani ong and water was continuously availab 
ydipsic, and the exer 
as removed and sessio 
se was not maintained 
as reduced to 3 hours. 
of 258 sessions were 3-hour sessions. 
The following measures were obtained throughout the experiment: exercise res 
rate, post reinforcement pause, latency to press the food button following SD, extra re- 
sponses on the food button, reinforcement density, and general activity as measured by 
the photocell The e ercise response rate was calculated from top and bottom responses 
divided by the time e psed from the first exercise response following a food button press 
to the next occurrence of S e D 
After behavior stabilized on the RR 10 schedule a RR 20 schedule was instituted to 
see the effects of reducing the fre uency of food reinforcement. Other manipulations in- 
ercise response. 
uded the substitution of a brief S 'b in place of SA to investigate the effects on the ex- 
RESULTS AND DlSCUSS10N 
he exercise response typica ly consisted of a top key press fol owed by a bottom 
key press followed by a brief pause e The rates were relatively low in terms of responding 
on a simple manipulandum, but, considering the effort necessitated by the 33-inch dis- 
tance between the pairs of keys, these rates might be considered to be quite high. Fig- 
ure 2 illustrates typical cumulative records on the RR 10 and RR 20 schedules from 3-hour , 
sessions. The random ratio schedule adequately maintained the exercise response through- 
out the session, especial y on the RR 10 schedule as evidenced by the consistently high 
rates. The rates were re atively stable but tended to decrease during the terminal hour, 
particularly on the schedule with fewer reinforcements. Exercise response rates deter- 
mined the density of reinforcement but were not entirely dependent on reinforcement ~ 
density. When reinforcement density was decreased by placing the RR 20 schedule in ef- 
fect, response rate decrement did not appear for seven to eight sessions. When reinforce- 
ment density was again increased, response rate increment lagged by about seven sessions. 
The density of reinforcement also affected the post reinforcement pause. 
"nforcement pause was I nger under the RR 10 schedu 
wever, reinforcement I tency, the latency to make 
, was not affected by the schedule change, This I 
most conditions and did not even seem to be affected 
ent withinsession trends e 
under the RR 20 schedule. 
button response following 
easure was very stable in 
length R e ~ n f o ~ c e ~  
atencies tended to average about 1 .O second throughout a sessio with no cons~s t~  
y session ended, the frequency o 
ed. However, the rates of the runs bet ween exercise res 
were not greatly a 
schedule e 
s more evident 
. . - - . . . . 
a: 
d 
5 
cts on the exercise re- 
nine sessions with SA replaced, had not recovered their previous levels. However, in- 
creasing the density of reinforcement by reinstituting the RR 10 schedule led to a recovery 
of response rates over the next eleven sessions. Later, the rate reached and surpassed i t s  
previous high foilowing the last removal of SA. Table I illustrates that the exercise re- 
sponse rates were higher under the RR 10 schedule than under the RR 20 schedule and th 
they tended to be highest in  the absence of SA and lowest when a brief SD was used in 
place of SA. 
The initial effect of S removal on response rate is  seen in Figure 3. The first S 
on the abscissa of a frame he session preceding the change, and the third 
designates the initial session was replaced. No SA denotes the first session 
when SA was removed. SA was removed and replaced three times, twice under the RR 10 
schedule and once under the RR 20 schedule. The circles represent the first occasion, 
triangles represent the second occasion, and the squares represent the third occasion. S 
ed the third time under RR 10 because the experiment was terminated. Un- 
was removed first during the 4-hour sessions and is  shown merely to demon- 
strate that the effect place even when beh s disrupted by polydipsia. Figure 
3 shows that when 
rate; but in the fo 
was removed, the in i  t was a decrement in exercis 
sed i t s  previous leve 
es in each of these conditions, sh 
ed an exercise response, the rate in the 
s t  reinforceme use also reflected 
6 
rious Procedures 
Number of 
Schedule S@SSiQ$iS S 
RR 20 
a i  
a i  
I1 
RR 20 
1% 
la 
I I  
RR 10 
11 
20 
30 
29 
39 
3 
7 
6 
10 
32 
14 
1 
31 
4 
II 
II  
3 
11 
II 
I t  
I1 
I1 
II 
I I  
II 
[IN 
1N 
OUT 
IN 
OUT 
IN 
8 UT 
IN 
IN 
OUT 
BRIEF 
SD 
N 
OU 
14.38 
10.87 
8.88 
14.61 
14.65 
15.16 
17.32 
18.51 
15.08 
17.33 
14.66 
12.35 
12.70 
18.07 
18.8 
7 
I I I I I 1 I I I I I I I I I 
x 
I  
8 
Hence, in the 
discriminative properties e Observa- 
uld most often press the 
"paced " the exercise response e 
the various rates of res 
Figure 4 were obt 
he IRT distributions shown in 
ring the first hour and 
of less than 0.5 
or greater. The cu sponses following a 
ifference in the t 
's would occur i 
n the short intervals, as seen in Figure 4. Yet, even in the absence of 
e was obtained a By this time in the experiment 120 sessions had pass- 
robably had developed a response topography ut was impossible to 
was responsible 
to explain an initia 
ss, this investigator fee 
his ~ ~ t e r p ~ t a t i o n  does 
was removed. However, 
a p ~ u r  in the absence of 
they occasionally did in the present experiment. 
with the same, only briefer, stim- 
these conditions the rates 
tlal three or four sessions 
he response decrement 
cements were not obtain- 
s by pushing the food button. 
r if the stimulus re- 
ed that when the brief 
9 
10 
contradicts the notion th t stimuli contiguous with prim ry reinforcement invari 
velop conditioned reinforcement 
I measures detected few consistent effects. 22'1's gene 
hen response rates were higher. Also, there was a te 
extra responding on the food button 
button responses consistently took p 
hen exercise rates were at a 
e when the brief SD was gi  
se as developed in the present study proved adequate to m 
ic-type behavior. 
cts of the techniqu 
validity of the technique is evi- 
use of an observing 
the random ratio schedule. Although the presence of 
raining of the exercise task, the study demonstrated t 
not necessary for the maintenance of the exercise task and probably had the effect of re- 
tarding maximum res se rates. On the other hand, the random ratio schedule prevente 
ing a food reinforcement and inhibited other pauses Continuous 
the present experiment, could not have occurred without the use 
he random ratio. of a schedule simi 
At least in the present experiment, inserting the brief SD stimulus demonstrate 
er conclusively that any conditioning reinforcing value of a stimulus i s  outweighed 
discriminative properties a This probe provided support for the assumption th 
also of limited reinforcing value. 
The difference in exercise performance as 
ment was in the expected direction and provid 
ment would be needed to produce a given response output on similar t 
future space projects. 
function of the frequency of reinforce- 
an indication of how much reinforce- 
During the entire 258 sessions 2Zl was in adequate health. The task Itsel 
had no deleterious effects. Tasks similar to the present one should prove amen 
more direct physiological assessment of exercise. 
the animal to transmit heart beat and other releve 
I uating physiolog ica measurements using simi l  
emetry devices cod 
ata. Currently our 
ippincott, 1968 e 
Re effecis of brief stimuli presented under multiple schedule of 
second-order schedules e J e exp. Anal. Behavior a 1971, in press. - 
3. for study of extended weightlessness 
ce Administration, 
4, Wyckoff, L e  B., Jr., The role of observing responses in discrimination learning. 
Rev. 59:431-42, 1952 e -Part 1 e 
Unciassif ied 
Srrnnt\ Classification 
Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory 
PensacoIci, Florida 32512 
4.  D E S C R I P T I V E  NOTES (*pe of report and inclusive dares) 
N/A 
5 .  AUTHORIS) (First name, middle initial, l a s t  name) 
John d e  Lorge 
1 December 1970 13 4 
NASA Order L-27432 
7a.  T O T A L  NO. O F  P A G E S  7b. NO.  O F  R E F S  6 .  R E P O R T  D A T E  
8a. CONTRACT O R  GRANT NO. 98 .  ORIGlNATOR*S R E P O R T  NUMBERIS) 
b. PROJECT N O .  NAMRL-1124 
MR005.01-00978 
C .  96. O T H E R  R E P O R T  NO(S) (Any other numbers that may b e  assigned 
this report) 
12 SPONSORING M I L I T A R Y  ACTIV ITY 
A rhesus monkey was trained to perForm a calisthenic task to obtain food and signals 
contiguous with food. The task was designed to produce continuous high effort behavior 
from the animal for long durations. The frequency of food reinforcements and related 
signals was varied to measure concomitant effects on exercise. 
Exercise was satisfactorily maintained for up to 3 hours. A reduction in the frequency 
of food reinforcement by 50 percent reduced exercise responding by less than 25 percent. 
Removal of signals associated with the absence of food had no significant effects and pres- 
entation of signals similar to the food-associated signal lowered the exercise response rate.  
. 
S/N 0 10 1 - 8 0 7 -  680 1 Secur i ty  Classif ication 
Unclassified 
Securitv Classification 
1 4 .  
K E Y  W O R D S  
Observing behavior 
Animal behavior 
Discriminative stimuli 
y
L I N K  A -
R O L E  -
LINK e -
R O L E  -
Uric I assified 
L I N K  C 
(PAGE 2) Security Classification 


A technique for producing calisthenic behavior in a rhesus monkey

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