Effects of trophic poisoning with methylmercury on the appetitive elements of the agonistic sequence in fighting-fish (Betta splendens)

The aggressive display in Betta splendens is particularly prominent, and vital to its adaptation to the environment. Methylmercury is an organic variation of Hg that presents particularly pronounced neuro-behavioral effects. The present experiments aim to test the effect of acute and chronic poisoning with methylmercury on the display in Bettas. The animals were poisoned by trophic means in both experiments (16 ug/kg in acute poisoning; 16 ug/kg/day for chronic poisoning), and tested in agonistic pairs. The total frequency of the display was recorded, analyzing the topography of the agonistic response. The methylmercury seems to present a dose- and detoxification-dependent effect on these responses, with a more pronounced effect on motivity in acute poisoning and on emotionality in the chronic poisoning. It is possible that this effect could be mediated by alteration in the mono-amino-oxidase systems.     

A Model-Based Approach to Understanding Apraxia in Corticobasal Syndrome

Limb apraxia is a neurological disorder of higher cognitive function characterized by an inability to perform purposeful skilled movements and not attributable to an elementary sensorimotor dysfunction or comprehension difficulty. Corticobasal Syndrome (CBS) is an akinetic rigid syndrome with asymmetric onset and progression with at least one basal ganglia feature (rigidity, limb dystonia or myoclonus) and one cortical feature (limb apraxia, alien hand syndrome or cortical sensory loss). Even though limb apraxia is highly prevalent in CBS (70–80%), very few studies have examined the performance of CBS patients on praxis measures in detail. This review aims to (1) briefly summarize the clinical, neuroanatomical and pathological findings in CBS, (2) briefly outline what limb apraxia is and how it is assessed, (3) to comprehensively review the literature on limb apraxia in CBS to date and (4) to briefly summarize the literature on other forms of apraxia, such as limb-kinetic apraxia and buccofacial apraxia. Overall, the goal of the review is to bring a model-based perspective to the findings available in the literature to date on limb apraxia in CBS.     

An Integral Approach to Counseling Ethics

The authors offer an integral approach to counseling ethics using K. Wilber's (2000a, 2000b) integral metatheory. The article examines traditional counseling ethics through the lens of K. Wilber's (2000a, 2000b) “all‐quadrants, all‐levels” model, consisting of quadrants, levels, lines, states, and types. The authors begin with the 4 quadrants and how they can inform understanding of traditional counseling ethics. Vertical development in relation to counseling ethics is addressed, followed by a case study of an ethical dilemma in counseling. The authors offer an integrally informed process of ethical decision making that can be seen to complement less comprehensive ethical decision‐making models.     

Differentiation Processes for Social Stimuli with Different Degrees of Category Representativeness

The influence of the categorization process is investigated in the context of conceptions of categories as fuzzy sets, represented by prototypes. The experiment specifically considers two social categories corresponding to Italian regional groups: for each of these, stimuli were constructed which represented the respective categories in different degrees. We hypothesized that the accentuation of the degree in which individual exemplars represent a category, obtained by the addition of an attribute of the category, produces the effect of accentuating inter-category differences and intra-category similarities. Our results confirm the hypothesis regarding differentiation, but not that regarding assimilation. The effect of differentiation is strong at the category borders, i.e. for the less representative exemplars. A final issue considered is the theoretical problem of distinguishing, within the prototype of a category, between stereotypical attributes and those which permit categorial identification of individual cases.     

Absence of a sex difference in algorithms for spatial problem solving

Pairs of stimuli taken from a pscyhometric measure of spatial aptitude were shown to 36 college men and 32 college women. The stimuli in pairs were (a) either identical or mirror images, and (b) presented in orientations that differed by 0–135 deg. Individuals judged, as rapidly as possible, if the stimuli in a pair would be identical or mirror images if presented at the same orientation. Replicating previous work, there was a sex difference in the speed with which problems were solved. Of greater interest was the fact that men and women were quite alike in the frequency with which they used different algorithms to solve the problems. Most individuals solved the problems using an algorithm in which an individual encodes the stimuli in working memory, mentally rotates one stimulus to the orientation of the other, compares both determine if they are identical, and responds. Two variants of this algorithm were also used by some subjects. In one variant, if comparison revealed that the stimuli were dissimilar, individuals did not respond immediately but continued processing until a self- imposed deadline was reached. In another variation, subjects only rotated the comparison stimuli when their orientations exceeded a critical angle.