Classical conditioning of eyelid and mystacial vibrissae responses in conscious mice

The murine vibrissae sensorimotor system has been scrutinized as a target of motor learning through trace classical conditioning. Conditioned eyelid responses were acquired by using weak electrical whisker-pad stimulation as conditioned stimulus (CS) and strong electrical periorbital stimulation as unconditioned stimulus (US). In addition, conditioned vibrissal protraction was obtained pairing either weak electrical whisker-pad stimulation or a tone as CS, with a strong electric shock delivered in the whisker-pad as US. This finding suggests that evolutionary pressure has selected a sensorimotor system capable of constructing conditioned responses on the basis of temporal relationships of stimuli, independently of any putative functional purpose.     

Enhancement of inhibitory avoidance and conditioned taste aversion memory with insular cortex infusions of 8-Br-cAMP: involvement of the basolateral amygdala

There is considerable evidence that in rats, the insular cortex (IC) and amygdala are involved in the learning and memory of aversively motivated tasks. The present experiments examined the effects of 8-Br-cAMP, an analog of cAMP, and oxotremorine, a muscarinic agonist, infused into the IC after inhibitory avoidance (IA) training and during the acquisition/consolidation of conditioned taste aversion (CTA). Posttraining infusion into the IC of 0.3 microg oxotremorine and 1.25 microg 8-Br-cAMP enhanced IA retention. Infusions of 8-Br-cAMP, but not oxotremorine, into the IC enhanced taste aversion. The experiments also examined whether noradrenergic activity in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) is critical in enabling the enhancement of CTA and IA memory induced by drug infusions administered into the IC. For both CTA and IA, ipsilateral infusions of beta-adrenergic antagonist propranolol administered into the BLA blocked the retention-enhancing effect of 8-Br-cAMP or oxotremorine infused into the IC. These results indicate that the IC is involved in the consolidation of memory for both IA and CTA, and this effect requires intact noradrenergic activity into the BLA. These findings provide additional evidence that the BLA interacts with other brain regions, including sensory cortex, in modulating memory consolidation.     

WTO,Public Reason and Food Public Reasoning in the ‘Trade Conflict’ on GM-Food

Food trade is of economic importance for both developed and developing countries. Food, however, is a special commodity. Firstly, the lack of food – hunger, under-nourishment, and starvation – is one of the worlds pressing moral problems. But food is not only special because it is necessary for our survival; food is also special because it is strongly related to our social and cultural identity. Two recent transatlantic trade conflicts over food – over the use of artificial growth hormones in beef production and over the use of (modern) biotechnology in food production – show that food is a specific commodity. In these trade-conflicts, the obligations flowing from free-trade treaties collide with the cultural and social meanings of food. Current international trade agreements neglect this point and force countries to fight their case in the field of food safety science. This causes a bias in the discussion. Europes resistance towards artificial growth hormones and GM-food is not strictly science based; it is also culture based. For a fair resolution of trade-conflicts, this needs to be accommodated in international trade legislation. With the help of the notion of public reason I defend that (i) precaution with regard to scientific uncertainty, and (ii) the possibility for compulsory labelling with regard to sensitive non-nutritional properties of foodstuffs, need to be incorporated in international food trade regulations.     

Subvocalization in auditory-verbal imagery: just a form of motor imagery?

Previous studies have provided evidence for subvocal rehearsal (inner voice) and phonological storage (inner ear) in auditory-verbal imagery. The question remains to be answered whether the inner voice mainly involves higher-order language systems, or primarily relies on motor systems associated with articulatory-kinesthetic processing. On the basis of models of auditory imagery and working memory, we predicted that, if auditory-verbal imagery is a form of motor imagery, performance on a novel auditory-verbal imagery task would be affected by concurrent articulatory suppression as well as by concurrent finger tapping. In contrast, we predicted that performance on a visuospatial control task would be significantly affected by concurrent tapping only. The auditory imagery task consisted of indicating, for bisyllabic words, the syllable that carried the stress. A significant interaction was observed between task (verbal vs. visual) and type of interference (articulatory suppression vs. tapping). Tapping affected reaction times on the visual task significantly more than articulatory suppression. However, both interference conditions affected the verbal task to an equal extent. The present findings confirm the role of subvocalization in auditory-verbal imagery and provide evidence for a strong involvement of articulatory-kinesthetic motor processing.     

Effect of the similarity between target and global and local levels in hierarchical stimuli processing

The hypothesis of global precedence was investigated by manipulating the similarity between target and relevant level, and between target and global and local levels of hierarchical stimuli, both in divided and selective attention conditions. The similarity was measured on the basis of the amount of shared contour between two visual forms. The stimuli were circles, right-facing semicircles, i.e., 1/2 of the circumference missing, and right-facing partial circles with a 1/4 of the circumference missing. The circle was used as a target and, consequently, the similarity between target and semicircle and between it and the partial circle was 50% and 75%, respectively. In the divided attention condition, the results showed a local advantage in the two similarity conditions between target and distractor level (50% and 75%) and a bidirectional and symmetrical interference at both levels of similarity. However, in the 'selective attention condition', a local reaction time advantage was only found when the similarity between target and irrelevant level was of 50%. When attention was directed towards the global level, local interference increased depending on the decrease in the degree of the local level similarity. When the attention was directed towards the local level, there was global interference but it was independent of the degree of the global level similarity. These results show the importance of the physical shape of the local elements used in experiments with hierarchical stimuli, since they may determine the relative speed of global processing, facilitating or impairing it.     

Predictors of Condom Use in Mexican Migrant Laborers

The purpose of this study was to explore predictors of condom use with occasional sex partners and regular sex partners, as well as carrying condoms in a new high-risk group for HIV infection, Mexican migrant laborers. This study extends previous findings by (1) exploring additional predictors not previously examined, (2) utilizing a large sample of male and female Mexican migrant laborers, (3) carefully controlling for the effects of various demographic and lifestyle variables related to condom use, and (4) assessing the interactive effects of gender on predictors of condom use. Snowball sampling was used to survey 501 adult Mexican migrant laborers. Results revealed that condom use with occasional sex partners was predicted by carrying condoms and condom self-efficacy and that women were more likely to use condoms with occasional partners when both men and women knew someone with HIV/AIDS. Condom use with regular sex partners was predicted by procondom social norms, less negative attitudes toward condoms, not knowing someone with HIV/AIDS, and condom self-efficacy. Carrying condoms was predicted by procondom social norms, less negative attitudes toward condoms, condom self-efficacy, worry about contracting HIV/AIDS, and women were more likely than men to carry condoms when both men and women were married. Understanding these findings, future research directions, and implications for condom promotion strategies with Mexican migrant laborers are discussed.     

Influences of handedness and gender on the grooved pegboard test

We studied performance on the Grooved Pegboard Test upon repeated trials and transfer of training between the hands in the first trial. The classification of handedness was based on the writing hand. We employed three trials for each hand and two different protocols for the order in which the hands started the test. For the three trials combined, women were faster than men. From the first to the second trial, there was an improvement in performance for both sexes. Within the first trial, sex differences reached significance and the protocol interacted with handedness. In this trial, only left-handed men were found to benefit from previous opposite-hand performance. It is speculated that a larger corpus callosum in left-handed men allows for the greater transfer of training between the hands.     

The List of Social Situation Problems: Reliability and Validity in an Adolescent Spanish-Speaking Sample

The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Spanish translation of the List of Social Situation Problems (LSSP; S. H. Spence, 1980). The questionnaire was administered to a sample of 388 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18. Exploratory factor analysis identified four factors: Social Anxiety, Adult Oppositional, Assertiveness, and Making Friends, which accounted for 26.64% of the variance. Internal consistency of the total scale was high ( = .86). Correlations between the LSSP and two self-report measures of social anxiety, the Questionnaire about Interpersonal Difficulties for Adolescents (r = .45) and the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory (r = .48), were statistically significant. A significant difference was found between LSSP total scores for adolescents with and without social anxiety (d = 1.14), supporting the construct validity of the scale.