Behavioral pharmacology of the odor span task: Effects of flunitrazepam,ketamine, methamphetamine and methylphenidate

The Odor Span Task is an incrementing non‐matching‐to‐sample procedure that permits the study of behavior under the control of multiple stimuli. Rats are exposed to a series of odor stimuli and selection of new stimuli is reinforced. Successful performance thus requires remembering which stimuli have previously been presented during a given session. This procedure has been frequently used in neurobiological studies as a rodent model of working memory; however, only a few studies have examined the effects of drugs on performance in this task. The present experiments explored the behavioral pharmacology of a modified version of the Odor Span Task by determining the effects of stimulant drugs methylphenidate and methamphetamine, NMDA antagonist ketamine, and positive GABA_A modulator flunitrazepam. All four drugs produced dose‐dependent impairment of performances on the Odor Span Task, but for methylphenidate and methamphetamine, these occurred only at doses that had similar effects on performance of a simple odor discrimination. Generally, these disruptions were based on omission of responding at the effective doses. The effects of ketamine and flunitrazepam were more selective in some rats. That is, some rats tested under flunitrazepam and ketamine showed decreases in accuracy on the Odor Span Task at doses that did not affect simple discrimination performance. These selective effects indicate disruption of within‐session stimulus control. Overall, these findings support the potential of the Odor Span Task as a baseline for the behavioral pharmacological analysis of remembering.     

Gender Comparisons of Fat Talk in the United Kingdom and the United States

This study compared different forms of body talk, including ??fat talk,?? among 231 university men and women in central England (UK; n?=?93) and the southeastern United States (US; n?=?138). A 2 (gender) by 2 (country) repeated measures ANOVA across types of body talk (negative, self-accepting, positive) and additional Chi-square analyses revealed that there were differences across gender and between the UK and US cultures. Specifically, UK and US women were more likely to report frequently hearing or perceiving pressure to engage in fat talk than men. US women and men were also more likely to report pressure to join in self-accepting body talk than UK women and men.     

The effects of high-preference problems on the completion of nonpreferred mathematics problems

Failure to initiate and remain engaged in academic tasks can have long-lasting effects for students. In this study, we investigated the effects of high-preference sequences on both digits correct per minute and latency to initiate nonpreferred mathematics problems for 3 students with emotional and behavioral disorders. We found that high-preference sequences had negligible positive effects on rate of problem completion but had larger effects on problem initiation. This study replicates and extends prior work on the effects of high-preference sequences on mathematics problem initiation and completion.     

For love or money? What motivates people to know the minds of others?

Mood affects social cognition and "theory of mind", such that people in a persistent negative mood (i.e., dysphoria) have enhanced abilities at making subtle judgements about others' mental states. Theorists have argued that this hypersensitivity to subtle social cues may have adaptive significance in terms of solving interpersonal problems and/or minimising social risk. We tested whether increasing the social salience of a theory of mind task would preferentially increase dyspshoric individuals' performance on the task. Forty-four dysphoric and 51 non-dysphoric undergraduate women participated in a theory of mind decoding task following one of three motivational manipulations: (i) social motivation (ii) monetary motivation, or (iii) no motivation. Social motivation was associated with the greatest accuracy of mental state decoding for the dysphoric group, whereas the non-dysphoric group showed the highest accuracy in the monetary motivation condition. These results suggest that dysphoric individuals may be especially, and preferentially, motivated to understand the mental states of others.     

The 5C’s Model of Successful Partnerships in Elite Beach Volleyball Dyads

An athlete–athlete partnership is a form of athletic dyad in which both members equally share power and responsibility. Although research on the coach–athlete relationship is prevalent, research on the unique interpersonal dynamics of athlete–athlete partnerships in elite sport is sparse, particularly in beach volleyball. The purpose of the present study was to explore the interpersonal components of successful, elite athlete–athlete beach volleyball partnerships through the lens of interdependence theory and Jowett and colleagues’ 3?+?1C’s theory of coach–athlete relationships. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was applied to semistructured interviews with four Olympic-level beach volleyball players (3 male, 1 female). Results revealed 5 higher order themes: (a) compatibility, (b) commitment, (c) complementarity, (d) coorientation, and (e) closeness, which became the key constructs in the proposed 5C’s model of the successful athlete–athlete partnership. Interpersonal awareness, interpersonal maturation, and context were identified as 3 overarching meta-themes, whereas interdependence connected all interpersonal components. For example, in consultation, increasing athlete individual and interpersonal awareness (e.g., in the areas of personal and dyadic philosophy, personal and shared values, and individual and dyadic coping) requires careful contextualization and thoughtful implementation. Future studies need to examine diverse samples of athlete–athlete dyads to advance interpersonal theory in sport and add to emerging theories of performance behavior and expertise in sport.

Lay Summary: Successful beach volleyball partnerships share a philosophy and commitment to their sport. Desired partners are supportive and adaptive, are compatible, depend on one another, and continually appraise and reflect on their relationship to grow as individuals and as teammates.