The inheritance of agonistic behavior in male mice: A diallel analysis

The diallel cross genetic design was employed to determine the pattern of inheritance of male-male agonistic behavior in laboratory mice. The results indicated strong strain differences in agonistic behaviors and strain ranks that replicated previous findings. The genetic analysis showed the presence of additive and nondirectional dominance effects on the behaviors measured. This pattern has been characterized as indicating the action of stabilizing selection and indicates that the trait has not been under directional selection.     

German inflection: single route or dual route?

The German plural system has recently become a focal point for conflicting theories of language, both linguistic and cognitive. Marcus et al. (1995) highlight the German plural as support for the dual-route account of inflectional morphology first proposed by Pinker and colleagues (Pinker & Prince, 1988). On the dual-route account, inflectional morphology is universally subserved by a symbolic rule route which deals with regular inflection and an associative memory component which deals with irregular inflection. This contrasts with single-route connectionist systems. We seek to counter supposed evidence for the dual-route account through large-scale simulations as well as through experimental data. We argue that, in its current form, the dual-route account is incapable of generating experimental data provided by Marcus et al. (1995) as support. Finally, we provide direct quantitative comparisons between single-route and dual-route models of German plural inflection and find single-route performance superior on these tests.     

Psychiatric care in Leipzig--10 years' regionalized care in a large city by 3 major clinics

The paper deals with experience gained in the town of Leipzig in the course of the implementation of the regionalized organisation of psychiatric care. The idea behind the organisational structure is that of a complete psychiatric system of treatment, covering hospitalised, partially hospitalised, and out-patient treatment, supported by ancillary services, to provide continued care. The organisational structure has proved effective for basic psychiatric care in a large town.     

What's happening on Music Television? A gender role content analysis

This study analyzed 40 Music Television (MTV) music videos across gender role based content categories. Videos were rated at 30-second intervals by four trained raters using a consensus model. Results included the following: (a) men appeared nearly twice as often as women; (b) men engaged in significantly more aggressive and dominant behavior; (c) women engaged in significantly more implicitly sexual and subservient behavior; and (d) women were more frequently the object of explicit, implicit, and aggressive sexual advances. Overall, MTV video content primarily included implicit sexuality, objectification, dominance, and implicit aggression. Implications of these findings with respect to sex role stereotyping and the development of negative attitudes toward women were discussed.     

Investigating Optimal Memory Enhancement Procedures in Foreign Language Learning

We investigated the effects of learning schedule and multi‐modality stimulus presentation on foreign language vocabulary learning. In Experiment 1, participants learned German vocabulary words utilizing three learning methods that were organized either in a blocked or interleaved fashion. We found interleaving with the keyword mnemonic and rote study advantageous over blocking, but retrieval practice was better served in a blocked schedule. It is likely that the excessively delayed feedback for the retrieval practice in the interleaved practice schedule impeded learning while the spacing involved in the interleaved schedule enhanced learning in the keyword mnemonic and rote study. In Experiment 2, we examined whether a multi‐modality stimulus presentation from visual and auditory channels is better suited for aiding learning over a visual presentation condition. We found benefits of multi‐modality presentation only for the keyword mnemonic condition, presumably because the nature of the keyword mnemonic involving sound and visualization was particularly relevant with the multi‐modality presentation. The present study suggests that optimal foreign language learning environments should incorporate learning schedules and multimedia presentations based on specific learning methods and materials. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chickadees discriminate contingency reversals presented consistently,but not frequently

Chickadees are high-metabolism, non-migratory birds, and thus an especially interesting model for studying how animals follow patterns of food availability over time. Here, we studied whether black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) could learn to reverse their behavior and/or to anticipate changes in reinforcement when the reinforcer contingencies for each stimulus were not stably fixed in time. In Experiment 1, we examined the responses of chickadees on an auditory go/no-go task, with constant reversals in reinforcement contingencies every 120 trials across daily testing intervals. Chickadees did not produce above-chance discrimination; however, when trained with a procedure that only reversed after successful discrimination, chickadees were able to discriminate and reverse their behavior successfully. In Experiment 2, we examined the responses of chickadees when reversals were structured to occur at the same time once per day, and chickadees were again able to discriminate and reverse their behavior over time, though they showed no reliable evidence of reversal anticipation. The frequency of reversals throughout the day thus appears to be an important determinant for these animals’ performance in reversal procedures.     

Does Repeated Exposure to Popular Media Strengthen Moral Intuitions?: Exploratory Evidence Regarding Consistent and Conflicted Moral Content

Previous studies have indicated that media consumption may influence moral intuition sensitivity. The present exploratory studies sought to expand on these findings by employing a three-phase, longitudinal experiment conducted over nine weeks, where participants were exposed to two genres of films (romance, action) mixed in various ratios (high = 100% romance, medium = 60% romance, low = 20% romance, none = 0% romance). Findings from the initial study indicate that repeated exposure to romantic films led to increases in sensitivity for four of the five moral intuitions (i.e., care, fairness, authority, purity); at the same time, any exposure to action films seemed to erode these changes. A follow-up post-hoc content analysis sought to confirm these findings and test an operationalization of “moral conditioning.” We discuss the results in regards to media entertainment theory and research, and the societal implications of the role of media entertainment to reinforce standards of moral judgment.     

Domestic cats (Felis catus) do not show causal understanding in a string-pulling task

This study explored how domestic cats perform in a horizontal string-pulling task to determine whether they understand this case of physical causality. Fifteen cats were tested on their ability to retrieve an unreachable food treat in three different set-ups: (a) a single baited string, (b) two parallel strings where only one was baited and (c) two crossed strings where only one was baited. All cats succeeded at pulling a single string to obtain a treat, but none consistently chose the correct string when two strings were parallel. When tested with two crossed strings one cat chose the wrong string consistently and all others performed at chance level. There was no evidence that cats understand the function of the strings or their physical causality.     

Family functioning and eating attitudes and behaviors in at-risk early adolescent girls: The mediating role of intra-personal competencies

The relation between perceived family functioning, intra-personal competence, and eating attitudes and behaviors was examined in a sample of at-risk, ethnically diverse, early adolescents. Both family functioning and intra-personal competencies were related to eating attitudes and behavior. However, adolescent intra-personal competence, defined as self-control, negative, and positive coping, mediated the relationship between family functioning and eating attitudes and behaviors. Results suggest that by early adolescence, important aspects of family environment have consolidated into individual differences in competence and/or personality. Results are discussed within a developmental framework emphasizing the influence of the family on adolescent psychosocial development. The implications of these data for prevention and intervention with at-risk adolescent girls are also discussed. This work was supported by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, NIH, under Grant DA 07031, to Thomas J. Dishion. Appreciation is expressed to the parents and adolescents who participated in this study, as well as the staff at the Project Alliance office in Portland.