Insulin, exercise, and dietary effects upon behavioral thermoregulation in albino rats

The objectives of this exploratory research were to assess the effects of insulin preparations (Humulin-regular and NPH) on operant behavior reinforced by schedules of microwave radiation in a cold environment and to measure changes in this thermoregulatory behavior as a function of exercise and food deprivation. Eight albino rats were conditioned to regulate their thermal environment with 6-sec. exposures of microwave (MW) radiation (SAR = 0.34 Watts/kg/(mW/cm2) under FR-1 and FR-10 schedules. Regular-insulin and NPH-insulin sessions were administered alternately with saline-control sessions for 8-hr. durations. Exercise in an activity wheel and 48 hr. of food deprivation (diet) were additional independent variables used to alter thermoregulation. Three randomized-block analysis of variance designs with repeated measures showed that insulin preparations resulted in a suppression of operant responding for heat, yet food deprivation increased rates of microwave responding. These data are interpreted in terms of functional relationships between ambient temperature changes, core body temperature, blood glucose fluctuations, and operant behavior.     

Religious diversity and religious toleration

International Journal for Philosophy of Religion -     

Genetically influenced change in sensation seeking drives the rise of delinquent behavior during adolescence

Sensation seeking is associated with an increased propensity for delinquency, and emerging research on personality change suggests that mean levels of sensation seeking increase substantially from childhood to adolescence. The current study tested whether individual differences in the rate of change of sensation seeking predicted within-person change in delinquent behavior and whether genetically influenced differences in rate of personality change accounted for this association. Sensation seeking and delinquent behavior were assessed biennially between ages 10-11 and 16-17 in a nationally representative sample of 7675 youths from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth: Children and Young Adults (CNLSY). Analyses using latent growth curve modeling found that within-person change in sensation seeking was significantly and positively correlated with within-person change in delinquency from childhood to adolescence. Furthermore, behavioral genetic analyses of a subset of 2562 sibling pairs indicated that there were substantial genetic influences on both initial levels of sensation seeking and change in sensation seeking during early adolescence, with over 80% of individual differences in change due to genetic factors. Finally, these genetically driven increases in sensation seeking were most important for predicting increases in delinquency, whereas environmental paths between sensation seeking and delinquency were not significant. These results suggest that developmental changes in delinquent behaviors during adolescence are driven by a genetically governed process of personality change.     

Are the responses generated during a psychophysical task independent of previously presented stimuli or do they depend on earlier stimulus presentations?

Quinn and Watt (2006 Perception 35 267-280) showed that the optimal tempi for pieces of music (ie the appropriate speed for a melody) vary from melody to melody. The current study tested if such tempi responses depend on previous stimulus presentations. To do this, we ran a many-participants single-presentation version of the Quinn and Watt experiment. 616 visitors to the Glasgow Science Centre participated. We found that the results substantially matched those obtained earlier, and demonstrate that participants' responses are essentially independent of previously presented stimuli.     

The interval for interference in conscious visual imagery

Three experiments are described that use dynamic visual noise (DVN) to interfere with words processed under visual and verbal processing instructions. In Experiment 1 DVN is presented to coincide with the encoding of the words or to coincide with the interval between encoding and recall. The results show that while DVN is a robust disruptor when it is applied during encoding to words processed under visual instruction, it has no effect during encoding when the words are processed under rote instruction. Moreover, DVN has no effect when it is applied during the retention interval, no matter what means are employed to encode the words. Experiment 2 extends these findings by again showing no effect of DVN during the retention interval, yet showing robust interference effects for visually processed words during recall. Finally, Experiment 3 demonstrates that the results of Experiments 1 and 2 cannot be explained by a difference in the time duration associated with application of DVN during the retention interval compared to during encoding and recall. Moreover, the differing decay functions for visually and verbally processed words during the intervals used in Experiment 3 suggest that any failure to cause interference is not because the two processing instructions resulted in words being retained in the same medium. The functions are consistent with word storage mechanisms reflecting appropriately verbal and visual properties. The results are discussed in terms of current models of visual working memory. It is argued that a full interpretation of the results requires a buffer mechanism as an important component of any model of visual working memory.     

Using the CLOX drawing task to educate the public of the effects of hearing loss

We describe a task used to educate the public on the importance of hearing and the experience of hearing loss. During an open day at Nottingham University, participants were presented with verbal instructions (with or without a background masker) and asked to draw the image of a clock face as accurately as possible. Poorest performance was observed when the instructions were presented with a background masker. We suggest that the task could be applied effectively by healthcare professionals who aim to educate younger individuals of the difficulties associated with hearing loss.     

Bystander Sexism in the Intergroup Context: The Impact of Cat-calls on Women’s Reactions Towards Men

Despite the fact that sexism is an inherently intergroup phenomenon, women’s group-level responses to sexism have received relatively little empirical attention. We examine the intergroup reactions experienced by 114 female students at a U.S. university in New England who imagined being a bystander to a sexist cat-call remark or control greeting. Results indicate that women experienced greater negative intergroup emotions and motivations towards the outgroup of men after overhearing the cat-call remark. Further, the experience of group-based anger mediated the relationship between the effect of study condition on the motivation to move against, or oppose, men. Results indicate that bystanders can be affected by sexism and highlights how the collective groups of men and women can be implicated in individual instances of sexism.