Noradrenergic control of odor recognition in a nonassociative olfactory learning task in the mouse

The present study examined the influence of pharmacological modulations of the locus coeruleus noradrenergic system on odor recognition in the mouse. Mice exposed to a nonrewarded olfactory stimulation (training) were able to memorize this odor and to discriminate it from a new odor in a recall test performed 15 min later. At longer delays (30 or 60 min), the familiar odor was no longer retained, and both stimuli were perceived as new ones. Following a post-training injection of the alpha(2)-adrenoceptor antagonist dexefaroxan, the familiar odor was still remembered 30 min after training. In contrast, both the alpha(2)-adrenoceptor agonist UK 14304 and the noradrenergic neurotoxin DSP-4 prevented the recognition of the familiar odor 15 min after the first exposure. Noradrenaline release in the olfactory bulb, assessed by measurement of the extracellular noradrenaline metabolite normetanephrine, was increased by 62% following dexefaroxan injection, and was decreased by 38%-44% after treatment with UK 14304 and DSP-4. Performance of mice in the recall test was reduced by a post-training injection of the beta-adrenoceptor antagonist propranolol or the alpha(1)-antagonist prazosin, thus implicating a role for beta- and alpha(1)-adrenoceptors in the facilitating effects of noradrenaline on short-term olfactory recognition in this model.     

Is burnout solely job‐related? A critical comment

Within the field‐dominating, multidimensional theory of burnout, burnout is viewed as a work‐specific condition. As a consequence, the burnout syndrome cannot be investigated outside of the occupational domain. In the present paper, this restrictive view of burnout's scope is criticized and a rationale to decide between a work‐specific and a generic approach to burnout is presented. First, the idea that a multidimensional conception of burnout implies a work‐restricted scope is deconstructed. Second, it is shown that the burnout phenomenon cannot be confined to work because chronic, unresolvable stress – the putative cause of burnout – is not limited to work. In support of an integrative view of health, it is concluded that the field‐dominating, multidimensional theory of burnout should abandon as groundless the idea that burnout is a specifically job‐related phenomenon and define burnout as a multi‐domain syndrome. The shift from a work‐specific to a generic approach would allow both finer analysis and wider synthesis in research on chronic stress and burnout.     

Personality Predicts Obedience in a Milgram Paradigm

This study investigates how obedience in a Milgram‐like experiment is predicted by interindividual differences. Participants were 35 males and 31 females aged 26–54 from the general population who were contacted by phone 8 months after their participation in a study transposing Milgram's obedience paradigm to the context of a fake television game show. Interviews were presented as opinion polls with no stated ties to the earlier experiment. Personality was assessed by the Big Five Mini‐Markers questionnaire (Saucier, 1994). Political orientation and social activism were also measured. Results confirmed hypotheses that Conscientiousness and Agreeableness would be associated with willingness to administer higher‐intensity electric shocks to a victim. Political orientation and social activism were also related to obedience. Our results provide empirical evidence suggesting that individual differences in personality and political variables matter in the explanation of obedience to authority.     

A Voxel-based lesion study on facial emotion recognition after circumscribed prefrontal cortex damage

Previous studies have shown inconsistent findings regarding the contribution of the different prefrontal regions in emotion recognition. Moreover, the hemispheric lateralization hypothesis posits that the right hemisphere is dominant for processing all emotions regardless of affective valence, whereas the valence specificity hypothesis posits that the left hemisphere is specialized for processing positive emotions while the right hemisphere is specialized for negative emotions. However, recent findings suggest that the evidence for such lateralization has been less consistent. In this study, we investigated emotion recognition of fear, surprise, happiness, sadness, disgust, and anger in 30 patients with focal prefrontal cortex lesions and 30 control subjects. We also examined the impact of lesion laterality on recognition of the six basic emotions. The results showed that compared to control subjects, the frontal subgroups were impaired in recognition of three negative basic emotions of fear, sadness, and anger – regardless of the lesion laterality. Therefore, our findings did not establish that each hemisphere is specialized for processing specific emotions. Moreover, the voxel-based lesion symptom mapping analysis showed that recognition of fear, sadness, and anger draws on a partially common bilaterally distributed prefrontal network.     

How to map the affective semantic space of scents

The investigation of the semantic space associated with subjective affective experiences or feelings linked to odour perception has recently emerged. Because of the specificity of the emotional effects of odours, the terms derived from traditional models of emotion are unlikely to optimally account for odour-associated feelings. In this study, sets of terms derived from two traditional models, basic emotions and valence by arousal by dominance dimensional emotions, were compared with a recently elaborated olfaction-specific set of terms (Geneva Emotion and Odour Scale; GEOS). Three main criteria were considered: (1) the feeling's intensity reported in response to odours; (2) the inter-rater agreement concerning the reported feelings; and (3) the power to discriminate feelings evoked by various odorous substances. The evidence strongly suggested that the set of terms proposed by GEOS outperformed the terms derived from the two classical models in measuring the subjective affective experience elicited by odours. These results are interpreted with respect to a good correspondence between the functions of olfaction and the meaning conveyed by GEOS terms.     

Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis and structural invariance with age of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF)—French version

The parent and teacher forms of the French version of the Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) were used to evaluate executive function in everyday life in a large sample of healthy children (N = 951) aged between 5 and 18.

Several psychometric methods were applied, with a view to providing clinicians with tools for score interpretation. The parent and teacher forms of the BRIEF were acceptably reliable. Demographic variables (such as age and gender) were found to influence the BRIEF scores. Confirmatory factor analysis was then used to test five competing models of the BRIEF's latent structure. Two of these models (a three-factor model and a two-factor model, both based on a nine-scale structure) had a good fit. However, structural invariance with age was only obtained with the two-factor model.

The French version of the BRIEF provides a useful measure of everyday executive function and can be recommended for use in clinical research and practice.     

Investigation of boron-enriched Cottrell atmospheres in FeAl on an atomic scale by three-dimensional atom-probe field-ion microscopy

In 1949, on the basis of theoretical considerations, Cottrell proposed the concept of 'atmospheres' (called later by his name) to explain some specific behaviour of materials during plastic deformation, such as sharp yield-point formation or the Portevin-LeChatelier effect. In this letter, atomic-scale observations and three-dimensional analyses of a Cottrell atmosphere are reported. They have been performed by three-dimensional atom-probe field-ion microscopy techniques. The ability of this new experimental method to provide atomic-resolution images, both structural and chemical, was confirmed; the basic stacking structure of (001) planes in FeAl could be visualized with success. Moreover the presence of a <001> edge dislocation was also detected in the analysed zone. Further, B enrichment was measured in the vicinity of this defect; the B-rich region appeared as a pipe 5 nm in diameter, parallel to the dislocation line. The concentration of B in the core reached 3 at.%; this local enrichment in boron was accompanied by an Al depletion of more than 10 at.%. Boron in FeAl has a well known tendency to segregate to internal interfaces. In this letter, we show experimental evidence of the solute segregation to dislocation lines. The observed effects of this segregation on mechanical properties of FeAl, both at room temperature and high temperatures, are also discussed.     

Social Responsibility in French Engineering Education: A Historical and Sociological Analysis

In France, some institutions seem to call for the engineer’s sense of social responsibility. However, this call is scarcely heard. Still, engineering students have been given the opportunity to gain a general education through courses in literature, law, economics, since the nineteenth century. But, such courses have long been offered only in the top ranked engineering schools. In this paper, we intend to show that the wish to increase engineering students’ social responsibility is an old concern. We also aim at highlighting some macro social factors which shaped the answer to the call for social responsibility in the French engineering “Grandes Ecoles”. In the first part, we provide an overview of the scarce attention given to the engineering curriculum in the scholarly literature in France. In the second part, we analyse one century of discourses about the definition of the “complete engineer” and the consequent role of non technical education. In the third part, we focus on the characteristics of the corpus which has been institutionalized. Our main finding is that despite the many changes which occurred in engineering education during one century, the “other formation” remains grounded on a non academic “way of knowing”, and aims at increasing the reputation of the schools, more than enhancing engineering students’ social awareness.     

Effect of Analogy Instructions with an Internal Focus on Learning a Complex Motor Skill

This study examined the effects of an analogy in learning breaststroke swimming. Two groups of participants had 20 lessons on how to increase their stroke length. The participants in the experimental condition received an analogy with an internal focus of attention. Inter-limb coordination showed qualitative changes in this group: a greater increase in swimming efficiency (i.e., a coordination closer to anti-phase [?50° before learning and ?125° after] and a 10% decrease in the time spent in-phase). The findings showed that an internal focus of attention induced by analogy could be beneficial in improving the quality of inter-limb swimming coordination.