Hippocampal lesions in pigeons (Columba livia) disrupt reinforced preexposure but not overshadowing or blocking

Three experiments examined the effects of hippocampal lesions in pigeons on overshadowing, blocking, and a latent inhibition treatment (non-differential reinforced preexposure) using a simultaneous visual discrimination paradigm. The results showed that hippocampal damage did not influence overshadowing (Experiment 1) or blocking (Experiment 2) but did attenuate the retardation in conditioning associated with non-differential reinforced preexposure to to-be-discriminated stimuli (Experiment 3). Hippocampal birds also displayed impaired autoshaping (Experiments 1, 2, and 3). The correspondence between the behavioural effects of avian and mammalian hippocampal lesions is discussed, and the implications of the present pattern of results for avian hippocampal function are considered.     

Factors Associated with Delays of Days to Decades to Criminal Prosecutions of Child Sexual Abuse

Until the latter part of the 20th century, legal doctrines made it almost impossible to successfully prosecute in criminal court a case involving child sexual abuse (CSA), whether the complaint was timely or delayed. Many English-speaking countries have abrogated most formal legal barriers to prosecuting CSA cases, and courts are faced with the singular challenge of adjudicating sexual offenses against children that are reported to have happened years or decades earlier. We conducted analyses of 4,237 criminal complaints of CSA heard in Canadian criminal courts. There were several differences between timely and delayed prosecutions that led us to conclude that delayed prosecutions of CSA are common and due, in part, to the nature of the offense. Offense duration was associated with longer delays to prosecution. When the accused had access to the child through his position in the community, length of delay to prosecution was very long, particularly for male complainants. More research is needed on delayed CSA prosecutions, particularly given an apparent trend for jurisdictions to abolish barriers to criminal prosecutions of CSA that occurred years or decades earlier. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of the interval between exposure to a novel environment and the occurrence of shock on the freezing responses of rats

Rats were exposed to a novel environment (E1) at time T1, given a footshock at time T2, and tested for freezing in E1 or in a second environment (E2). The function relating freezing to the T1-T2 interval among rats tested in E1 was an inverted U-shape. Rats exposed to short T1-T2 intervals displayed just as much freezing in E2 as in E1, whereas rats exposed to longer intervals froze less in E2 than in E1. These differences between the freezing responses in E1 and in E2 were obtained when the T1-T2 intervals were varied, but time spent in the shocked E1 was equated. Rats given two shocks in E1 differentiated between E1 and E2 when the initial shock occurred some time after exposure to E1, but not when the initial shock was presented shortly after that exposure. Rats shocked some time after exposure to E1 on Day 1 and shortly after exposure to that environment on Day 2 differentiated between E1 and E2 more than did rats exposed to the reverse sequence of T1-T2 intervals. The results were attributed to the formation of a network of connections among the E1 cues in rats exposed to moderate or long T1-T2 intervals, and to an impairment in the formation of this network as a result of the conditioning of a subset of cues in rats exposed to short T1-T2 intervals.     

The avian hippocampus and short-term memory for spatial and non-spatial information

Three experiments investigated the role of the pigeon hippocampal formation (the hippocampus and area-parahippocampalis) in short-term memory for non-spatial and spatial information. The acquisition of delayed matching-to-sample and the short-term retention of non-spatial visual information, using a small set of sample stimuli, were unaffected by aspiration lesions of the hippocampus or the neostriatum (Experiment 1). Similarly, acquisition and short-term retention of non-spatial information using a successive, trial-unique, delayed non-matching-to-sample procedure were unaffected by hippocampal damage; the same birds had, however, displayed a profound autoshaping impairment (Experiment 2). Acquisition of a spatial delayed matching-to-sample task was unimpaired by hippocampal damage. However, lesioned animals were impaired following the introduction of retention intervals on this procedure (Experiment 3). The correspondence between the behavioural effects of hippocampal lesions in birds and mammals on short-term memory is discussed, and the implications of these results for avian hippocampal function are considered.     

Comorbid Substance Use and Anxiety Disorders in Adolescents

To explore the coexistence of substance use disorders and anxiety disorders in adolescents, we assessed adolescents presenting for treatment to an inpatient substance abuse treatment facility (SUH), an inpatient psychiatric treatment facility (IPH), and a community-based psychiatric facility (CMHC) for comorbid substance use and psychiatric diagnoses. Thirty subjects from each facility (N=90) were interviewed using the revised Child Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (K-SADS) and the Structured Clinical Interview DSM-III-R (SCID-R) for substance use diagnoses. Overall, comorbidity (anxiety and substance use disorders) prevalence was 67% (20/30) of adolescents in the SUH group, 33% (10/30) of the CMHC adolescents, and 33% (10/30) of the IPH adolescents. Alcohol and marijuana were the most frequently abused substances. Anxiety disorders commonly coexist with substance use disorders in adolescents. Early identification and treatment of anxiety disorders may in fact prevent substance abuse in this population.     

The Contribution of Individualism vs. Collectivism to Cross-national Differences in Display Rules

Despite the fact that display rules are an important concept of theories of emotion and contemporary psychology, relatively little cross-cultural research has been done on them. This study examined cross-national differences in display rules of emotion, and investigated the degree to which those differences could be attributed to Individualism and Collectivism (IC) measured on the individual level. Participants in the US, Japan, South Korea, and Russia completed a comprehensive measure of display rules assessing behavioral tendencies for seven universal emotions in four social contexts in two rating domains. They also completed Matsumoto et al .'s (1997) Individualism–Collectivism Interpersonal Assessment Inventory. The results confirmed the existence of cross-national differences in IC and display rules, and indicated that IC and display rules were correlated. Significant differences between the countries remained even after IC was controlled for, and effect size analyses comparing cross-national differences when IC was controlled and not indicated that IC accounted for approximately 30% of the effect sizes related to cross-national differences. This study is unique in that it not only used the concept of IC to explain and predict differences; it also quantitatively assessed the degree to which IC contributed to those differences. These findings are discussed in terms of the utility of the IC concept to understanding cross-cultural and cross-national differences in emotion.