Pre-training to find a hidden platform in the Morris water maze can compensate for a deficit to find a cued platform in a rat model of Parkinson's disease

The bilateral intranigral infusion of 1 micromol 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) in adult male Wistar rats caused a specific and partial loss of substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) dopamine neurons, a partial depletion of striatal dopamine, and a deficit to learn the intra-maze cued version of the Morris water maze. Pre-training the SNc rats in the spatial version of the water maze or simply maintaining the animals on the water maze platform reversed this deficit. This improvement was even observed when the order of the extra-maze cues presented to the rats during pre-training of the spatial version was changed during training of the intra-maze cued version. However, this deficit was not reversed either by maintaining the animals on the platform if the spatial cues were surrounded and covered with a curtain or by swimming sessions in the maze without the escape platform and the curtain. These findings suggest that none of the following elements alone, learned during the spatial task pre-training, could help SNc rats learn the intra-maze cued task: improvement of swimming skills or knowledge of the existence of the escape platform; distance between the platform and the border of the pool; location of a particular extra-maze cue; relations among extra-maze cues. However, the simultaneous presence of the escape platform and extra-maze cues (irrespective of their relational configuration) during the pre-training sessions proved to be necessary for this improving effect to occur.     

高校合并：医科院校的发展目标与制度创新

合并后的高校其发展战略目标是创办综合性、研究型大学。高校的核心职能是民族创新的智力引擎,为实现21世纪中华民族的复兴,合并后高校的中心工作就是创新。当前合并后高校的工作重点是围绕发展战略目标,实现在学科建设与重组、机构改革与设置、人才培养与使用、科研项目与市场以及管理功能等方面的制度创新。     

任务类线索对学习难易度判断及其准确性影响的实验研究

摘要：通过两个实验考察任务类线索（词频、关联性、学习次数）对学习难易度判断及其准确性的影响。结果表明：（1）词频和关联性对学习难易度判断均有显著影响,高频词对、有关联词对的预测成绩显著高于低频词对和无关联词对的预测成绩;（2）高频词对和低频词对的预测成绩均出现高估,但低频词对的估计更准确;有无关联词对相比,无关联词对预测成绩偏差更大,有关联词对的难易度判断更准确;（3）词频高低只影响成绩的预测,不影响实际回忆成绩;关联性既影响对成绩的预测,也影响实际回忆成绩。（4）学习次数对难易度判断没有显著影响,但随学习次数增加,判断准确性降低,出现低估现象。结论：材料因素对学习难易度判断等级具有较稳定的影响;不同材料因素（词频、关联性）对难易度判断准确性的影响方式不同;学习次数对学习难易度判断没有显著影响;学习难易度判断中存在练习伴随低估效应。     

Natural Theology Reconsidered (Again)

Neither the “traditional” nor the “revisionist” accounts of the nature and fate of natural theology are adequate to the task of explaining the peculiar trajectory of its history and, in particular, the consensus view of its apparent terminal decline. Contrary to the accepted narrative, natural theology was not fatally undermined by the scientific revolution. Even if temporarily marginalized by disciplines such as systematics and dogmatics, natural theology never went away. It is still with us, and it provides a healthy grasp of the divine presence in the natural world.     

Learned helplessness,therapy, and personality traits: an experimental study

The authors investigated 3 aspects of the learned helplessness (LH) phenomenon: the induction of helplessness in humans by a new instrumental task, the effects of a therapy technique that relies on direct retroactive reevaluation of the helplessness experience, and the role of personality characteristics in both helplessness induction and therapy. The sample consisted of 92 Turkish Bo?azi?i University undergraduates, 42 men and 50 women. The authors exposed 2 experimental groups to an LH induction by presenting them with an unsolvable maze task; 1 group received therapy afterward, and the other group did not. There were also 2 control groups: a group that received only a solvable version of the maze and another group that received no treatment. Before the experimental procedure, all participants completed the Turkish version of the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (FFI). The authors evaluated picture-rating and anagram-solving performances to differentiate the cognitive and emotional deficits of LH. Results of the factorial analyses of variance and the Wilcoxon signed ranks test supported the success of both the helplessness induction and the therapy technique. Although no significant gender differences were found in the effects of the helplessness-induction and therapy procedures, correlation analyses revealed that individual differences, particularly in the interaction between gender and personality characteristics, can have an important impact on LH and on the capacity to benefit from therapy.     

Modelling the theory of planned behaviour and past behaviour

This paper demonstrated two modelling techniques and three interpretations for the inclusion of past behaviour in a theory of planned behaviour (TPB) framework using structural equation modelling. Model 1 examined past behaviour as either a causal influence or as an autoregressive influence on current behaviour. Model 2 demonstrated a novel approach to including past behaviour and current behaviour while preserving the tenets of the TPB, as it freed the residual correlation between past and present behaviour but not the causal path. Participants were 305 undergraduate students (mean age?=?19.42 years) who completed measures of the TPB, past exercise behaviour and current exercise behaviour at one-month follow-up. Results demonstrated the importance of a priori conceptualization of past behaviour, as the models provide differences between estimated coefficients. Subsequent interpretation and decision to use each modelling strategy depends on the research objective and theory.     

Determinants of perceived surface transparency in two-dimensional achromatic textured patterns

Achromatic transparency in 2-D surfaces composed of three adjacent areas, one created from the others, occurs when in the created area it is possible to see the two colours of the adjacent areas. Displays with two white and black intersecting bars were produced to verify the possibility of perceiving transparency in the intersection area when this was subdivided into a different number of white and black diamonds. By increasing the spatial frequency of the elements in the intersection area we investigated the impression of transparency, and found that (i) the impression of transparency increases up to a spatial frequency of 10 cycles deg(-1) and then levels off, (ii) there is a transition from a perception of transparency in which white and black are well discriminable to a perception in which a perceptually uniform grey is seen, (iii) the perception of transparency occurring when colours are discriminated seems consistent with Helson's area-luminance hypothesis [1964, in Adaptation Level Theory (New York: Harper & Row) pp 282-292], according to which the increase of spatial frequency determines the transition from the phenomenon of contrast to that of assimilation.     

Perceptions of competence,implicit theory of ability,perception of motivational climate,and achievement goals: a test of the trichotomous conceptualization of endorsement of achievement motivation in the physical education setting

To test and extend the conceptualization of the endorsement of achievement goals in the physical education setting Mastery, Performance-approach, and Performance-approach goals, Perception of the physical education competence, Implicit theory about sport ability, and Perception of the motivational climate were assessed among 682 boys attending five French schools. Analysis indicated that (1) Performance-approach goals were positively associated with perception of physical education Competence, Entity beliefs about sport ability, the Performance dimension of the motivational climate, and negatively associated with Incremental beliefs about sport ability. (2) Mastery goals were positively associated with perception of physical education Competence, Incremental beliefs about sport ability, the Mastery dimension of the motivational climate, and negatively associated with the Performance dimension of the motivational climate. Also, (3) Performance-avoidance goals were positively associated with Entity beliefs about sport ability and the Performance dimension of the motivational climate; these goals were negatively associated with Incremental beliefs about sport ability and perception of physical education Competence. These results clearly attested to the validity of the trichotomous model in the physical education setting.     

Joint explorations

The 6th Joint Conference on Information Sciences was held in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA, on 8-13 March 2002.