Search

This study examined homophobic name-calling among 2,161 middle school students in the US and found that those who had experienced homophobic name-calling fared significantly worse than those who had never experienced it, regardless of whether they were called names by rivals, strangers, or friends. While this study also found evidence that the adverse mental health effect of homophobic name-calling was worse if it had been initiated by rivals than by friends, the overall findings affirm the potent and enduring toxicity of homophobic name-calling on adolescents' mental health documented in previous studies. Despite some limitations, findings from this study shed light on our currently ambiguous understanding of the conditioning effect of social distance on the negative psychological impacts of homophobic name-calling and pose several implications for bullying prevention and intervention practice and policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anxiety and panic disorders are the most common mental illnesses in the United States and lack effective treatment options. Acid‐sending ion channels (ASICs) in the brain were shown to be associated with fear conditioning and anxiety responses and therefore are potential targets for treating panic disorder. Amiloride is an inhibitor of the ASICs in the brain and was shown to reduce panic symptoms in preclinical animal models. An intranasal formulation of amiloride will be highly beneficial to treat acute panic attacks due to advantages such as the rapid onset of action and patient compliance. The aim of this single‐center, open‐label trial was to evaluate the basic pharmacokinetics (PKs) and safety of amiloride after intranasal administration in healthy human volunteers at three doses (0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 mg). Amiloride was detected in plasma within 10 min of intranasal administration and showed a biphasic PK profile with an initial peak within 10 min of administration followed by a second peak between 4 and 8 h of administration. The biphasic PKs indicate an initial rapid absorption via the nasal pathway and later slower absorption by non‐nasal pathways. Intranasal amiloride exhibited a dose‐proportional increase in the area under the curve and did not exhibit any systemic toxicity. These data indicate that intranasal amiloride is rapidly absorbed and safe at the doses evaluated and can be further considered for clinical development as a portable, rapid, noninvasive, and nonaddictive anxiolytic agent to treat acute panic attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pollinator community responses to changing conditions are a concern for ecosystem managers, but it remains poorly understood how shifts in forest structure impact pollinators across small scales. To address this, bee assemblages were sampled in arid woodland habitat in the southwestern United States (Colorado) to evaluate effects of canopy cover and seasonality on bee diversity and composition.>2500 specimens were captured representing 5 families and 30 genera. Bee composition shifted seasonally; early‐season assemblages were predominated by Halictidae (Lasioglossum and Halictus); late‐season assemblages were predominated by Apidae.More bees were captured in canopy gaps early‐season, but differences due to canopy openness declined by late‐season. Bee diversity was higher in open‐canopy sites and bee assemblage composition varied across canopy openness.Low cover was positively associated with large‐bodied bees and negatively associated with solitary, polylectic ground‐nesting bees. Parasitic bee taxa were more abundant when the canopy was composed of pinyon pine; ponderosa pine‐dominant canopies were associated with large‐bodied bees with variable nesting habits.We conclude that canopy cover and seasonality both predict abundance and diversity of bee assemblages in arid woodlands, and bee functional traits are responsive to canopy cover and dominant overstory species across small spatial scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Lumateperone had an antipsychotic-like effect in the CAR test. • Lumateperone facilitated NMDA and AMPA receptor-mediated currents in the rat mPFC. • NMDA and AMPA receptor-mediated currents were dopamine D 1 dependent. • Lumateperone significantly increased dopamine and glutamate release in the rat mPFC. • Mechanisms help explain lumateperone's improvement of negative/depressive symptoms. Lumateperone is a novel drug approved for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults and depressive episodes associated with bipolar depression in adults, as monotherapy and as adjunctive therapy with lithium or valproate treatment in the United States. Lumateperone simultaneously modulates key neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, dopamine, and glutamate, implicated in serious mental illness. In patients with schizophrenia, lumateperone was shown to improve positive symptoms along with negative and depressive symptoms, while also enhancing prosocial behavior. Moreover, in patients with bipolar I or II disorder, lumateperone improved depressive symptoms as well. To further understand the mechanisms related to lumateperone's clinical response, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of lumateperone on dopaminergic- and glutamatergic signaling in the rat medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). We used the conditioned avoidance response (CAR) test to determine the antipsychotic-like effect of lumateperone, electrophysiology in vitro to study lumateperone's effects on NMDA- and AMPA-induced currents in the mPFC, and the neurochemical techniques microdialysis and amperometry to measure dopamine- and glutamate release in the rat mPFC. Our results demonstrate that lumateperone; i) significantly suppressed CAR in rats, indicating an antipsychotic-like effect, ii) facilitated NMDA and AMPA receptor-mediated currents in the mPFC, in a dopamine D 1 -dependent manner, and iii) significantly increased dopamine and glutamate release in the rat mPFC. To the extent that these findings can be translated to humans, the ability of lumateperone to activate these pathways may contribute to its demonstrated effectiveness in safely improving symptoms related to neuropsychiatric disorder including mood alterations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between ambient conditions and light-duty vehicle energy consumption has been widely researched. Relatively little effort, however, has been dedicated to understanding representative ambient conditions a light-duty vehicle may experience. The framework introduced in this article provides a means of quantifying ambient conditions specific to light-duty vehicle operation by incorporating both when and where vehicles are driven. The analysis presented expands the literature beyond solely focusing on temperature; distributions for humidity, solar irradiance, and air density are also included. A procedure is presented that calculates the ambient condition distributions for each metric by relating open-source data sets describing representative vehicle utilization and representative ambient conditions. While this study explores ambient conditions related to light-duty vehicle utilization, the framework may also be applied to separate vocations. Finally, the article concludes with an example use case of the ambient condition weighting process. A binning methodology is introduced that facilitates insight into vehicle energy consumption in response to ambient conditions at the national and local levels while minimizing the number of tests or simulations required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial and temporal environmental variation can favor the evolution of adaptive phenotypic plasticity, such that genotypes alter their phenotypes in response to local conditions to maintain fitness across heterogeneous landscapes. When individuals show greater fitness in one habitat than another, asymmetric migration can restrict adaptation to the lower quality environment. In these cases, selection is predicted to favor traits that enhance fitness in the higher‐quality (source) habitat at the expense of fitness in the marginal (sink) habitat. Here, we test whether plasticity is adaptive in a system regulated by demographic source‐sink dynamics. Vaccinium elliottii (Ericaceae) occurs in dry upland and flood‐prone bottomland forests throughout the southeastern United States, but has larger populations and higher average individual fitness in upland sites. We conducted a multi‐year field experiment to evaluate whether plasticity in foliar morphology increases survival and lifespan. Both across and within habitats, selection favored plasticity in specific leaf area, stomatal density, and leaf size. Stabilizing selection acted on plasticity in stomatal density within habitats, suggesting that extreme levels of plasticity are disadvantageous. Thus, even in systems driven by source‐sink dynamics, temporal and spatial variation in conditions across the landscape and within habitat types can favor the evolution of plasticity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To effectively manage species and habitats at multiple scales, population and land managers require rapid information on wildlife use of managed areas and responses to landscape conditions and management actions. GPS tracking studies of wildlife are particularly informative to species ecology, habitat use, and conservation. Combining GPS data with administrative data and a diverse suite of remotely sensed, geo-referenced environmental (e.g., climatic) data, would more comprehensively inform how animals interact with and utilize habitats and ecosystems and our goal was to create a conceptual model for a system that would accomplish this – the 'Automated Interactive Monitoring System (AIMS) for Wildlife'. Our objective for this study was to develop a Customized Wildlife Report (CWR) - the first AIMS for Wildlife deliverable product. CWRs collate and summarize our 8-year GPS tracking dataset of ∼11 million locations from 1338 individual (16 species) avifauna and make actionable, real-time data on animal movements and trends in a specific area of interest available to managers and stakeholders for rapid application in day-to-day management. The CWR exemplar presented in this paper was developed to address needs identified by habitat managers of Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge and illustrates the highly specific, information offered and how it contributes to assessing the efficacy of conservation actions while allowing for near real-time adaptive management. The report can be easily customized for any of the thousands of wildlife refuges or regional areas of interest in the United States, emphasizing the broad application of an animal movement data stream. Utilizing diverse, extensive telemetry data streams through scientific collaboration can aid managers and conservation stakeholders with short and long-term research and conservation planning and help address a cadre of issues from local-scale habitat management to improving the understanding of landscape level impacts like drought, wildfire, and climate change on wildlife populations. [Display omitted] • Our Automated Interactive Monitoring System (AIMS) for Wildlife utilizes animal GPS data. • We developed proof-of-concept Customized Wildlife Reports (CWRs) with 11 million locations. • CWRs inform wildlife managers' decision-making in near real-time. • We conceptualize a multi-tool AIMS for Wildlife incorporating remote-sensing data. • Automated delivery of animal movement data will allow for true adaptive management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plantation records from the southeastern United States have long been an important source for historical, social, and cultural narratives. However, they also represent an underutilized source for meteorological, environmental, and agricultural data from the antebellum period. This study has two goals. Firstly, we advocate for a more systematic application of these records for quantitative analysis. Secondly, we present some early results from such a study using the records of Shirley Plantation in Virginia. We show how these records can be mined for data on weather and agricultural activity and how their broader usefulness is extended with the inclusion of appropriate meta-data. Observations of weather conditions and crop responses to seasonal changes lend themselves to quantitative analysis that can improve our understanding of the local weather and climate of that period. We present a case study comparing last spring freeze date in this region from the late 1820s to 2010s and suggest that last spring freeze now occurs approximately 23 days earlier compared to approximately 200 years ago. We also include summaries of the response of specific crops and cultivars since this knowledge may help the farmers' of today adapt to changing weather conditions. While individual plantation records may have idiosyncratic limitations, plantation records, along with other types of detailed historical records, can still provide rich detail for specific locations or events. Plantation records are not limited to the southeastern US and include diverse geographic locations in less developed areas which were often the same areas were enslaved labor was exploited under the plantation system. Por mucho tiempo, los registros de las plantaciones del sureste de los Estados Unidos han sido una fuente importante de narrativas históricas sociales y culturales. Sin embargo, también representan una fuente infrautilizada de datos meteorológicos, ambientales y agrícolas del período antebellum estadounidense. Este estudio tiene dos propósitos. Primero, abogamos por una aplicación más sistemática de estos registros para el análisis cuantitativo. En segundo lugar, presentamos algunos de los primeros resultados de un estudio de este tipo utilizando los registros de la plantación Shirley en Virginia. Mostramos cómo se pueden extraer estos registros para obtener datos sobre el clima y la actividad agrícola y su utilidad más amplia que se extiende con la inclusión de los metadatos apropiados. Las observaciones de las condiciones climáticas y las respuestas de los cultivos a los cambios estacionales se prestan al análisis cuantitativo que puede [End Page 348] mejorar nuestra comprensión del clima local y el clima de ese período. Presentamos un estudio de caso que compara la fecha de congelación de la primavera pasada en esta región desde finales de la década de 1820 hasta la de 2010 y sugerimos que la congelación de la primavera anterior se produce aproximadamente 23 días antes en comparación con hace aproximadamente 100 años. Mientras que los registros de plantación individuales pueden tener limitaciones idiosincrásicas, los registros de plantación, junto con otros tipos de registros históricos detallados, aún pueden proporcionar detalles útiles para lugares o eventos específicos. Los registros de plantaciones no se limitan al sureste de los EE.UU. e incluyen diversas ubicaciones geográficas en áreas menos desarrolladas que muchas veces eran las mismas áreas donde el trabajo esclavo se explotaba bajo el sistema de plantaciones. La contextualización de los datos históricos con el conocimiento actual se puede utilizar para examinar cómo la sociedad interactuó con la variabilidad climática interanual y los extremos climáticos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern climate change will increase temperatures, as well as the frequency and severity of droughts and wildfires across the semiarid montane regions of the southwestern United States. Predictions of reduced habitat suitability and increases in extinctions precipitated by climate change derive from modeled responses to these conditions, especially increased temperatures. What is often lacking are empirical tests of those modeled predictions. Here I report findings from surveys of montane lizard assemblages during a period of increased temperatures, extended drought, and including a wildfire. I selected survey routes that included upper-elevation limits for western fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis), granite spiny lizards (Sceloporus orcuttii), and side-blotched lizards (Uta stansburiana), as well as the lower limits for southern sagebrush lizards (Sceloporus vandenburgianus), to measure the extent to which habitat occupancy shifted as drought conditions changed over 4 years. At the onset of drought, the abundance of all species declined. After initial declines, populations stabilized and I observed recruitment, positive population growth, and elevation shifts with only modest increases in rainfall. Once the drought abated, there were further increases in recruitment and population growth, but a colder winter and heavy snows in 2017 were coincident with declines and range contractions in both western fence and side-blotched lizards on the higher-elevation survey route. There was no indication that any of these species' populations were at risk of local extinctions; rather, shifts at range margins and use of microclimates revealed resilience and mechanisms of how these species might deal with future conditions, including occupying climate refugia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivitattus) use a unique infrared (IR) targeting system to acquire prey, avoid predators and seek thermoregulatory sites through detection of IR energy in the environment. Previous studies of sensitivity of the python IR system that relied on analysis of complex, natural behaviors lacked robust, reliable responses in animals habituated to experiments, and in vitro electrophysiological study failed to test behavioral function of the implicated protein thermoreceptor, TRPA1. The present study used conditioned discrimination procedures to analyze behavioral sensitivity and signal transduction in the python IR system. Pythons trained to behaviorally discriminate thermal stimuli averaged 70% correct choices, but failed to make correct choices when pit organs were physically occluded with IR-blocking material. The pythons exhibited greater sensitivity to thermal stimuli than previously reported, evident by correct choices that exceeded chance in response to a 14 × 10−6 W cm−2 irradiance contrast, or 0.5 °C thermal differential. Finally, in a test of the behavioral role of the putative thermoreceptor protein TRPA1, despite pit organ treatment with a TRPA1 inhibitor, python performance exceeded chance and was similar to baseline discrimination and control trials. Collectively, the results suggest that the IR system is a high sensitivity, broad-spectrum thermosensor that may operate through different and/or multiple thermoreceptive proteins with overlapping spectral response profiles. The findings reported here provide a better understanding of the relationship between the brain, behavior and environment in driving survival and ecological success of the Burmese python, especially as an invasive megapredator in the southern United States. • Pythons perform a conditioned response to thermal stimuli. • Pythons reporting detection of a thermal stimulus exhibit greater-than-chance performance. • Pythons guess when pit organs are physically occluded. • Pythons detect broad range and small thermal differentials. • Python performance exceeds chance when pit organs treated with TRPA1 inhibitor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have qualitative impairments in social interaction and often prefer food or tangible reinforcement to social reinforcement. Thus, therapists who work with children with ASD often use food or tangible items as reinforcers to increase appropriate behaviors or decrease problem behaviors. The goal of the present study was to shift children's preferences from a highly preferred tangible item to an initially nonpreferred social reinforcer using an observational conditioning procedure. Participants observed a known peer engage in a simple task and select the social reinforcer that was not preferred by the participant. This procedure resulted in a shift of preference toward the social reinforcer by all participants. Maintenance data showed that although the preference change did not maintain for 1 of the participants, it was quickly reestablished with additional observational trials. Results provide further support for the use of observational procedures to alter preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Seismic response of electrical cabinets and control panels in nuclear plants. • Effect of high frequency ground motions on seismic response of electrical cabinets. • Effect of nonlinear mounting arrangements in cabinets. • Effect of localized impacts in cabinet mounting arrangement. The updated ground motion hazard in Central and Eastern United States contains high frequency motions. Such motions do not cause structural damage. However, safety-related electrical equipment are sensitive to high-frequency accelerations. Seismic qualification of electrical equipment requires an in-cabinet response spectrum (ICRS) which depends on the dynamic response of electrical cabinets and buildings. A linear analysis to generate ICRS can give excessively high spectral accelerations. Cabinet models with geometric nonlinearities such as a gap in the connection with building floor show that high-frequency accelerations may not propagate to the electrical equipment. Unlike linear analysis, results from nonlinear analysis of a building-cabinet model with a gap show a periodic pattern of secondary peaks and valleys at higher frequencies. In this research, the unique observation of secondary peaks is explained through fundamental principles by considering the sliding response of a cabinet representation with gap subjected to harmonic excitation. It is observed that a periodic pattern of peaks and valleys exist due to a significantly large contribution from transient response, due to localized impacts at the gap in cabinet base, and its interaction with the steady-state response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose Attribute Conditioning (AC) as a form of learning that refers to changes in people's assessment of stimuli's (CSs) attributes due to repeated pairing with stimuli possessing these attributes (USs). We review the available evidence and, based on this review, delineate three open questions and investigate them experimentally: a) the moderating role of CS-US similarity; b) the possibility of blocking; and c) the possibility of extinction. Five experiments conditioned health and athleticism. We measured AC effects on direct and indirect dependent variables (direct ratings and semantic misattribution). Experiment 1 shows that CS-US feature similarity does not moderate AC. Experiments 2 and 3 show that AC effects are insensitive to blocking; and Experiments 4 and 5 show that AC effects are resistant to extinction. These five experiments show that AC depends on CS-US contiguity, but not on CS-US contingency. Thereby, the study establishes AC as a simple learning phenomenon describing how people, stimuli, and concepts acquire specific attributes in people's minds due to mere pairings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Highlights: [•] Zero contingency training results in a learning, not a performance, deficit. [•] Learning sensory and temporal features of the US affect PIT differently. [•] US preexposure and devaluation effects recruit associative and timing processes. [•] A dual process multiple oscillator timing+associative model is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background and objectives: Human fear conditioning is widely regarded as one of the prime paradigms for the study of fear and anxiety disorders. We provide an evaluation of a commonly used subjective measure in the human fear conditioning paradigm, namely the US-expectancy measurement. Methods: We assess the validity of US-expectancy with respect to conditions of pathological fear and anxiety using four established criteria for scrutiny of a laboratory test or model (i.e., face validity, diagnostic validity, predictive validity, construct validity). Results: Arguably, there is sufficient evidence for the face validity, diagnostic validity, predictive validity and construct validity of the US-expectancy measure. Limitations: Presumed limitations of the US-expectancy measure, including its susceptibility to experimental demand and memory bias, are discussed. Conclusions: The US-expectancy measure is a valuable measurement method that can be effectively used in research that aims to enhance our understanding of fear and anxiety disorders. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The risk that direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription pharmaceuticals (DTCA) may increase inappropriate medicine use is well recognized. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration addresses this concern by subjecting DTCA content to strict scrutiny. Its strictures are, however, heavily focused on the explicit claims made in commercials, what we term their “propositional content.” Yet research in social psychology suggests advertising employs techniques to influence viewers via nonpropositional content, for example, images and music. We argue that one such technique, evaluative conditioning, is operative in DTCA. We further argue that evaluative conditioning fosters unjustified beliefs about drug safety and efficacy, antagonising the autonomy of viewers’ choices about advertised medicines. We conclude that current guidelines are deficient in failing to account for evaluative conditioning, and that more research and debate are needed to determine the permissibility of this and other forms of nonpropositional persuasion. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the United States, marijuana is one of the drugs most abused by adolescents, with females representing a growing number of users. In previous studies, treatment of adolescent female rats with morphine significantly altered brain reward systems in future offspring. As both cannabinoid and opioid systems develop during adolescence, it was hypothesized that early exposure to cannabinoids would induce similar transgenerational effects. In the current study, female rats were treated with the cannabinoid receptor (CB1/CB2) agonist WIN 55,212-2 or its vehicle for three consecutive days during adolescent development (30 days of age), and were subsequently mated in adulthood (60 days of age). The adolescent and adult male offspring of these WIN 55,212-2 (WIN-F1)- or vehicle (VEH-F1)-treated females were tested for their response to morphine using the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm. Both adolescent and adult WIN-F1offspring exhibited greater sensitivity to morphine CPP than their VEH-F1 counterparts. Collectively, the findings provide additional evidence of transgenerational effects of adolescent drug use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In three experiments, rats received exposure to a sucrose solution followed by conditioning with a neutral flavor as the conditioned stimulus (CS) and sucrose as the unconditioned stimulus (US). In Experiments 1 and 2, some rats were given both the preexposure and the conditioning phases in a highly familiar context (the homecage), whereas other animals received both phases in a novel and distinctive context. In both cases the magnitude of the conditioning effect was reduced by preexposure to the US. Experiment 3 directly assessed the possible role of contextual cues by changing the context between the exposure phase and the conditioning phase but found no loss of the US-preexposure effect in these conditions. These results lend no support to the blocking-by-context account of the US-preexposure effect; alternative interpretations are considered. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to study the age-dependence of the optomechanical properties of human lenses during simulated disaccommodation in a mechanical lens stretcher, designed to determine accommodative forces as a function of stretch distance, to compare the results with in vivo disaccommodation and to examine whether differences exist between eyes harvested in the USA and India. Postmortem human eyes obtained in the USA (n =46, age=6–83years) and India (n =91, age=1day–85years) were mounted in an optomechanical lens stretching system and dissected to expose the lens complete with its accommodating framework, including zonules, ciliary body, anterior vitreous and a segmented rim of sclera. Disaccommodation was simulated through radial stretching of the sectioned globe by 2mm in increments of 0.25mm. The load, inner ciliary ring diameter, lens equatorial diameter, central thickness and power were measured at each step. Changes in these parameters were examined as a function of age, as were the dimension/load and power/load responses. Unstretched lens diameter and thickness increased over the whole age range examined and were indistinguishable from those of in vivo lenses as well as those of in vitro lenses freed from zonular attachments. Stretching increased the diameter and decreased the thickness in all lenses examined but the amount of change decreased with age. Unstretched lens power decreased with age and the accommodative amplitude decreased to zero by age 45–50. The load required to produce maximum stretch was independent of age (median 80mN) whereas the change in lens diameter and power per unit load decreased significantly with age. The age related changes in the properties of human lenses, as observed in the lens stretching device, are similar to those observed in vivo and are consistent with the classical Helmholtz theory of accommodation. The response of lens diameter and power to disaccommodative (stretching) forces decreases with age, consistent with lens nuclear stiffening. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents a study which investigates the cognitive processes of solitary bees through the use of proboscis extension reflex (PER). It mentions that PER tests for bees were performed at the United States Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) Bee Biology and Systematics Laboratory (BBSL) in Logan, Utah. It reveals that the sucrose concentration easily elicits PER from honey bees and Vespula species. Meanwhile, the use of mummy restraint techniques in eliciting PER from Bombus species are not applicable for honey bees.

The article presents a study that asserts the level of fear conditioning in teenagers with anxiety disorders in the U.S. The study was administered by comparing 16 individuals with anxiety disorder and 38 healthy person who are given two photographs of actresses portraying neutral expression wherein one of the pictures serves as a conditioned stimulus (CS). It reveals that both groups possessed and developed an increased fear on the CS wherein the degree of manifested fear stays stable after extinction and pediatric psychiatry necessitates higher level of fear but not higher than differential conditioning.

Previous research suggests that performance feedback improves treatment integrity. This study compared the effects of verbal performance feedback and verbal plus graphic performance feedback on implementation of a student-specific behavior support plan (BSP) by members of a second-grade teaching team at a public elementary school. A consultant to the school delivered feedback following regularly scheduled classroom observations. Results indicated that combining verbal and graphic performance feedback was more effective than verbal performance feedback alone in improving treatment integrity. Informal data collected on student performance also suggested that appropriate behavior increased with better implementation of the BSP. Clinical and research issues are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effects of a function-based intervention implemented with a student, Shawn, who had attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, internalizing behavioral problems, and a speech and language impairment. Shawn attended a fourth-grade classroom in a self-contained school that served students with emotional and behavioral disorders. During language and math classes, Shawn exhibited high rates of off-task behavior. His teacher viewed these behaviors as disruptive, creating lost instructional time for all students. Functional assessment data indicated that Shawn's off-task behavior was maintained by attention (positive reinforcement) and escape from tasks (negative reinforcement). A function-based intervention including a communication system, a self-monitoring component, and extinction resulted in improvements in Shawn's behavior. The classroom teachers and Shawn rated the intervention favorably. Limitations and directions for future research are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Restrictions on training potentially releasable animals such as those undergoing rehabilitation care or wild-caught captives have limited our understanding of sensory processes, cognition, and physiology important for conservation of species. It is common practice among several U.S. federal agencies to limit training of animals available for release. The behavioral argument justifying this practice is that training habituates subjects to people and conditions them to associate people with rewards such as food; habituation to and positive associations with people will lead animals into dangerous situations after their release. If under special circumstances research training is permitted, all trained behaviors must be extinguished before release because behaviors will transfer to the natural setting. Research on animal learning and memory indicates that these may not be accurate scenarios. A review of the literature on habituation, classical and instrumental conditioning, and compound conditioning suggests that learning within a research setting does not add to learning that already occurs in procedures associated with basic feeding and care. In fact, animals probably learn less about people in a training setting. Furthermore, context-specific effects on memory limit behavior transfer from captive to natural settings. Extinction is strongly susceptible to context effects, which suggests that extinction does not effectively transfer to the postrelease setting. Counterintuitively, extinction of responses to experimental stimuli under some circumstances may enhance undesirable learning about humans. Under those circumstances in which isolation from human contact is difficult or undesirable, behavioral research can present an ideal format for minimizing learning about humans and provide biological information important for conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance in choice reaction tasks was examined by investigating stimulus - response mappings that overlapped on multiple dimensions ( Kornblum, Hasbroucq, & Osman, 1990 ). The purpose of the investigation was to determine whether the relationship between the dimensions was symmetric or asymmetric. In two experiments, city names ( London , Bristol , Washington , Dallas ) were presented as stimuli and response labels employing a variant of the Hedge and Marsh (1975) task. In Experiment 1, responses were based on whether the cities were American or English. Analyses of performance revealed evidence of both Simon and reverse Simon effects. In Experiment 2, participants responded on the basis of whether or not the same cities were capitals. Simon effects but no reverse Simon effects were found, revealing asymmetric effects. A third experiment demonstrated that the cities were more likely to be grouped as belonging to a country by comparison with a grouping in terms of capitals. The asymmetric effects observed support the view that processing was influenced by the degree of dimensional overlap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conditioned inhibition or CI training (A+/AB-) was compared with S- training (A+/B-) in three experiments on proboscis-extension conditioning in harnessed honeybees. The purpose was to test the Rescorla-Wagner assumption, widely credited in the vertebrate literature, that a nonreinforced stimulus acquires inhibitory properties in proportion to the excitatory value of the context in which it is presented. In prior work with free-flying honeybees pretrained with sucrose to come of their own accord to the experimental situation, no differences were found in the consequences of CI and S- training, perhaps because A added little to the excitatory value of the context (already very high) in which B occurred. In the new experiments, with harnessed subjects brought involuntarily into the training situation, negative results again were obtained. The possibility is considered that inhibitory conditioning in honeybees is independent of the excitatory value of the context. † This research was supported by Grants IBN 99-82827 and IBN 03-46546 from the US National Science Foundation and by RCMI Grant RR03061 from the National Institutes of Health. The participation of R. H. was made possible by a fellowship from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The associative mechanisms responsible for the efficacy of Pavlovian stimuli during first- and second-order conditioning have been extensively studied, but little is known about the representations underlying instrumental conditioned reinforcement. The present study investigated the associative structure underlying conditioned reinforcement, by employing an unconditioned stimulus (US) devaluation procedure on a commonly used instrumental task: the acquisition of a new response with conditioned reinforcement. Whilst US-directed behaviour was abolished following devaluation, the conditioned stimulus acting as a conditioned reinforcer supported the acquisition of instrumental responding. In this preparation then, the conditioned reinforcer appears to be impervious to devaluation of its associated US, suggesting that the underlying representation maintaining behaviour is independent of the current value of the US and may reflect the activation of a central appetitive motivational state. † This work was supported by the Medical Research Council, including a programme grant to BJE and a career establishment grant to ACR. This is a publication within the Medical Research Council Cambridge Centre for Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience. ‡ J. A. Parkinson is now at the School of Psychology, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales, UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a brief description of the scientific discovery of classical conditioning both in the United States and in Russia. The incorporation of classical conditioning as a scientific method in the United States is described. Particular attention is given to how and why the terminologies used to identify the components of classical conditioning were modified over the years. I then trace the curious evolution of the terminology associated with Pavlov's form of conditioning, from its introduction to the United States as "the Pawlow 1 salivary reflex method" to its present appellation as classical conditioning. Finally I conclude by developing a theory as to when and why the term classical conditioning was adopted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four different age groups (8–9-year-olds, 11–12-year-olds, 13–15-year-olds and young adults) performed a spatial rule-switch task in which the sorting rule had to be detected on the basis of feedback or on the basis of switch cues. Performance errors were examined on the basis of a recently introduced method of error scoring for the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST; ). This method allowed us to differentiate between errors due to failure-to-maintain-set (distraction errors) and errors due to failure-to-switch-set (perseverative errors). The anticipated age differences in performance errors were most pronounced for perseverative errors between 8–9 years and 11–12 years, but for distraction errors adult levels were not reached until 13–15 years. These findings were interpreted to support the notion that set switching and set maintenance follow distinct developmental trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the effects of species-specific cues and interstimulus interval on the topography of the sexually conditioned response among Japanese quail in Kentucky. Changes in the topography of quails; Acquisition of consummatory responses from species-specific female cues; Observation of the frequency of responses in interstimulus interval.

Focuses on the relationship of position cues and reward memories to the serial learning of animals in the United States. Degree of difficulty of the reward-memory discrimination; Implication of transfer tests for the differences of reward-memory interpretation acquisition rate; Details on the independent operation of reward memory.

This is the first of two articles on implementing a prereferral intervention model as the first step in the special education services delivery system. A description of the model and rationale for it are provided. In the follow-up article, which will appear in the April issue of Exceptional Children, implementation of the model and its effects on consultation, testing, and placement practices are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the issues relevant to the education of autistic children in the U.S. Studies show that behavior modification teaches autistic children various learning skills, such as speech and language. In educating autisic children, teachers should undergo training in empirically evaluated teaching methods. Teachers should also familiarize with issues in modern research literature relevant to particular behaviors of autistic children. The said issues are disruptive behaviors, motivation, and stimulus overselectivity.

Determines the efficiency of conditioned aversion in reducing depredation by crows in Illinois and Iowa during a 66-day field experiment. Feeding of the crows with sweet-green eggs containing a tasteless but illness-producing dose of cholinesterase inhibitor, Landrin; Percentage of the food abandonment with illness-causing baits.

Mu-opioid receptors (MORs) mediate the rewarding properties of oxycodone and other prescription opioid medications, which have played a central role in the current opioid epidemic in the United States. The human mu-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1) contains a functional single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), A118G, which has been associated with altered opioid addiction risk, however the mechanisms responsible for this are not well understood. To explore this, we examined oxycodone conditioned place preference (CPP) and self-administration behavior (SA) in A112G mice, which possess a functionally analogous SNP in the mouse mu-opioid receptor gene (Oprm1). For CPP, male and female A112G mice homozygous for the A112 (wild-type; AA) or G112 (GG) allele were conditioned with doses of 1 and 3 mg/kg across an 8-day period. For SA, mice were allowed to self administer oxycodone (unit dose 0.25 mg/kg/infusion, FR1) for 4h/day for 10 consecutive days. We observed no effects of genotype or sex on conditioned place preference behavior. Oxycodone 3 mg/kg increased locomotor activity in AA mice but not GG mice, and both male and female GG mice self-administered significantly more oxycodone compared to their wild-type AA littermates. These studies suggest that the G allele promotes greater opioid intake, which may underlie greater opioid addiction morbidity in G-allele carriers. • Oxycodone place preference, locomotor activity, and self-administration were evaluated in male and female Oprm1 A112G mice. • 112AA and 112 GG mice showed equivalent conditioned place preference at the doses tested. • 112 GG mice showed blunted locomotor responses to oxycodone. • 112 GG mice self-administered more oxycodone than 112AA mice. • No significant sex differences or sex-by-genotype were observed in any behavioral endpoint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides instruction on the use of the Scales of Communicative Interaction in the U.S. The teacher should check the one level in each of the three categories that best describes the child's verbal behavior at the end of each period while at the end of the total evaluation period, response levels should be tabulated for the three interactive settings across the degrees of structure. Creating an opportunity for the teacher to evaluate the milieu for communication that has been established in the room is considered one of the benefits of using the scales.

The article presents a study that investigates the correlation between sensory input and neural responses in the U.S. To simplify its analysis, researchers used response conditioned stimulus ensemble (RCSE) and gaussian white noise (GWN) stimuli. Both schemes affect the quality of models and furnish insights on neural processing.

The article focuses on brief social psychological interventions that focus on people's perceptions of themselves and their environment which have been shown to increase academic performance in the U.S. Previous studies have found results of similar magnitude in samples of college students. They have found out that people in the treatment conditions achieved better grades than people in the control conditions. The achievement gap is surely caused by multiple factors, including poverty, racism, and lack of parental involvement.

The article reports on a study on the use of neural responses to taxation and voluntary giving in determining the real motives of U.S. citizens behind their charitable donations. Economists explain that such philanthropy is either caused by pure altruism or warm grow. The study involving a number of games used functional magnetic resonance imaging (Fri) to decipher which of the two is the reason why people give money away. Results of the study show that both reasons motivate people to give to charity.

Focuses on the experiment made by Cornelia Bargmann in studying the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans in her bid to gain insight into the complex relationship between learning and behavior in the U.S. Implementation of conditioning, a form of learning; Performance of simple experiments exposing worms to a good strain of bacteria and a bad one; Emphasis on the plan of Bargmann to find out how the worms make the associations with good and bad bacteria.

We tested the proposal that trace and delay eyeblink conditioning are fundamentally different kinds of learning. Strings of one, two, three, or four trials with the conditioned stimulus (CS) alone and strings of one, two, three, or four trials with paired presentations of both the CS and the unconditioned stimulus (US) occurred in such a way that the probability of a US was independent of string length. Before each trial, participants predicted the likelihood of the US on the next trial. During both delay ( n &equals:20) and trace ( n = 18) conditioning, participants exhibited high expectation of the US following strings of CS-alone trials and low expectation of the US following strings of CS-US trials a phenomenon known as the gambler's fallacy. During delay conditioning, conditioned responses (CRs) were not influenced by expectancy but by the associative strength of the CS and US. Thus, CR probability was high following a string of CS-US trials and low following a string of CS-alone trials. The results for trace conditioning were opposite. CR probability was high when expectancy of the US was high and low when expectancy of the US was low. The results show that trace and delay eyeblink conditioning are fundamentally different phenomena. We consider how the findings can be understood in terms of the declarative and nondeclarative memory systems that support eyeblink classical conditioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]