Defensive behavior of laboratory and wild Rattus norvegicus

Analysis of the defensive behaviors of wild rats to an inescapable approaching threat stimulus (the experimenter) indicated a pattern of freezing to distant stimuli, giving way to vocalization, jumps, and jump-attacks at shorter defensive distances. Comparisons of the defensive reactions of wild-trapped and laboratory-bred wild rats to a variety of threatening stimuli, in escapable as well as inescapable situations, indicated that the two wild strains were similar and consistently more defensive than laboratory rats to both human and conspecific threat stimuli. These results thus suggest that the defensive behaviors of rats have been substantially reduced during the process of domestication, with relatively little of this reduction being attributable to housing in standard laboratory conditions.     

Children's use of sequence information in partially predictable reaction-time sequences

Second-, fourth-, and sixth-grade children and adults performed a four-choice reaction time task with partially predictable sequences and 250-, 500-, and 750-msec response-to-stimulus intervals. The relative advantage for in-sequence as opposed to out-of-sequence events was independent of the response-to-stimulus interval for all ages. Children, but not adults, were slower for nonrepeated than repeated out-of sequence events and this advantage for repeated signals decreased as age increased. A second experiment extended the range of intervals tested to zero. Second graders and adults responded to four-choice partially predictable sequences with 0-, 250-, and 500-msec response-to-stimulus intervals. As in the first experiment, the difference between in-sequence and out-of-sequence events did not vary with the response-to-stimulus interval. The results suggest that both children and adults are able to process advance sequence probability information about a subsequent event in parallel with an ongoing response.     

Prediction of treatment outcome among patients with irritable bowel syndrome treated with group cognitive therapy

Using a sample of over 125 patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) who were treated with cognitive therapy administered in small groups, we sought to predict end of treatment and 3-month follow-up improvement in two changes indices of gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms (Pain/Discomfort Index which assessed change in abdominal pain, abdominal tenderness and bloating and Bowel Regularity Index which assessed change in diarrhea and constipation). We also sought to predict scores on IBS specific quality of life (QOL) and overall level of psychological distress using the Global Severity Index (GSI) of the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Significant, but modest, levels of prediction were found for prediction of improvement in GI symptoms (4-15% of variance). Stronger significant prediction was obtained for the QOL and global psychological distress measure with R(2)'s ranging from 0.36 to 0.50. A wide variety of demographic, GI symptom, psychological status and psychiatric status variables entered the final prediction equations.     

Quantitative reanalysis of aggregate data on IQ in sexual offenders

General intelligence has been the most commonly studied neuropsychological characteristic of sexual offenders for over 70 years. Results, however, have been highly inconsistent. To assess whether sexual offenders score lower in IQ than nonsexual offenders and to explore which sexual offense characteristics relate to IQ, the authors reanalyzed all reports providing sufficient information. Data spanned 236 samples, comprising 25,146 sexual offenders and controls. The literature contained sufficient information to permit comparison of adult versus juvenile sexual offenders, offenders targeting children versus adults, offenders targeting their own versus unrelated children, and offenders targeting boys versus girls. Results confirm the association between IQ and sexual offending and suggest that previous discrepancies are attributable to how many pedophilic individuals were in each sample.     

Transgenic mice expressing a truncated form of CREB-binding protein (CBP) exhibit deficits in hippocampal synaptic plasticity and memory storage

Deletions, translocations, or point mutations in the CREB-binding protein (CBP) gene have been associated with Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome; a human developmental disorder characterized by retarded growth and reduced mental function. To examine the role of CBP in memory, transgenic mice were generated in which the CaMKII alpha promoter drives expression of an inhibitory truncated CBP protein in forebrain neurons. Examination of hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP), a form of synaptic plasticity thought to underlie memory storage, revealed significantly reduced late-phase LTP induced by dopamine-regulated potentiation in hippocampal slices from CBP transgenic mice. However, four-train induced late-phase LTP is normal. Behaviorally, CBP transgenic mice exhibited memory deficits in spatial learning in the Morris water maze and deficits in long-term memory for contextual fear conditioning, two hippocampus-dependent tasks. Together, these results demonstrate that CBP is involved in specific forms of hippocampal synaptic plasticity and hippocampus-dependent long-term memory formation.     

A portable,unobtrusive device for videorecording clinical interactions

Recording and analyzing real-time interactions in clinical settings is important for basic and applied research in psychology and other disciplines. Investigators frequently have used simple audiotaping procedures to record these encounters (e.g., Roter, Geller, Bernhardt, Larson, & Doksum, 1999), but videorecording is increasingly viewed as more reliable and valid, because it captures the full range of complex and interdependent verbal and nonverbal behaviors that occur in an interaction. This article describes a system designed to videotape clinical interactions in a manner that can be moved in and out of different clinical rooms to preserve flexibility in its use. Data are presented to demonstrate that the system is unobtrusive during the interaction, yet fully compatible with institutional review board guidelines to protect human participants’ privacy and freedom to control the recording process.