Basic and applied research in developing countries: The search for an evaluation strategy

Although activities in basic and applied research in developing countries (DCs) are guided by universal scientific principles, there are important differences in the way in which science is practiced from that of the industrialized world. Isolation from the mainstream of scientific activity, the need for the development of an indigenous scientific capacity, the lack of a critical mass of researchers with respect to most fields of knowledge, and the urgency of developing better and more efficient communication channels, are some of the aspects that set apart the scientific activity of the developing world. In particular, the need to develop local "new" science aimed at solving pressing problems of a local nature suggests the existence of a different set of conditions from those found in scientifically-advanced countries. In the present article we look at the ways the special circumstances of science in DCs will affect the application of evaluation criteria, using bibliometric data on research in Mexico as an example.     

Effect of MAO A deficiency on different kinds of aggression and social investigation in mice

Monoamine oxidase A (MAO A) degrades serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline, factors critically involved in the regulation of aggression. Different kinds of aggression were investigated in Tg8, a transgenic mouse strain lacking a functional MAO A gene. MAO A-deficient mice differ from wild-type C3H/HeJ (C3H) in terms of showing higher territorial, predatory and isolation-induced aggression. Tg8 demonstrated shorter latencies to cricket killing and to the first attack after 6 weeks isolation than C3H mice. In the resident-intruder paradigm, MAO A-lacking mice were more aggressive than C3H when tested as intruders. In contrast to C3H, attack in Tg8 mice did not depend on different aggressiveness of intruders of BALB/c, A/Sn and C3H strains. Tg8 mice displayed no increase in aggression but demonstrated reduced social investigation towards anesthetized, as well as towards juvenile BALB/c males. Thus, MAO A deficiency in Tg8 mice is accompanied by increased expression of different kinds of aggression, as well as by disruption of normal pattern of social interaction.     

Serotonin metabolism and serotonergic receptors in Norway rats selected for low aggressiveness to man

Selection of Norway rats (24–27 generations) for low aggressiveness to man resulting in the loss of aggressive responding to handling markedly influences the brain serotonergic system. In “domesticated” Norway rats levels of serotonin in the midbrain and hypothalamus and 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid in the hypothalamus were higher than in non-selected aggressive rats. The activity of the key enzyme in serotonin biosynthesis, tryptophan hydroxylase, in midbrain of rats with genetically determined lack of aggressiveness to man was higher than in aggressive animals, although there was no difference in tryptophan hydroxylase activity in the hypothalamus. B_max and K_D of [³H]spiperone-specific binding in frontal cortex membranes were increased in tame rats. No significant differences in B_max and K_D were found between “domesticated” and aggressive rats in [³H]serotonin binding in the frontal cortex.     

Assessment of Long-Term Psychosocial Sequelae Among POW Survivors of the Korean Conflict

Psychological and psychiatric assessments were performed among 20 prisoner-of-war (POW) Korean-Conflict survivors. Results revealed extraordinary biological and psychological abuse with weight losses exceeding 35% of preservice weights and long-term cognitive, emotional, and behavioral sequelae. The full range of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms was seen in 90% to 100% of the cases with high prevalence of co-morbidity, specifically mood (75%), other anxiety disorders. Documented by clinical investigators at (45%), and alcohol abuse (20%) POW release and now more than 30 years later, symptoms of apprehensiveness, confusion, detachment, and depression reflect the persistence of psychiatric morbidity over time.     

Training children to approach or avoid novel animals: Effects on self-reported attitudes and fear beliefs and information-seeking behaviors

We examined the effects of training to approach or avoid novel animals on fear-related responses in children. Ninety-nine primary school children (9–12 years old) were instructed to repeatedly move a manikin toward or away from pictures of novel animals. The training produced more positive self-reported attitudes for the animal that was repeatedly approached and more negative attitudes for the animal that was repeatedly avoided. After the training, children reported more fear of the avoided animal than of the approached animal. Interestingly, children showed a training-congruent confirmation bias effect on an information-seeking task. That is, they displayed a tendency to seek more positive information about the approached animal, whereas they were inclined to search for more negative information about the avoided animal. No significant training effects were observed on implicit attitudes. The finding that a simple approach-avoidance training influences children’s fear-related responses and leads to biased information-seeking behaviors lends support to general theories of fear acquisition in children as well as to models that try to explain the intergenerational transmission of anxiety.     

The Applied Cognitive Psychology of Attention: A Step Closer to Understanding Magic Tricks

Drawing on psychological science, magic provides a unique perspective on applied cognition. Only sparse systematic research, however, documents the thought processes associated with viewing magic tricks. With responses from over 1000 participants, here, we show how individuals construe a classic magic routine wherein a performer appears to vanish a pen. Thirty‐four percent of participants correctly identified the key moment of the disappearance with only 11% thereof knowing what actions the magician actually performed to achieve the effect. Our collective findings support what magicians have known for a long time: knowing when a critical maneuver occurs hardly reveals the associated modus operandi. In line with a modern theory of attention, we discuss our results and highlight the interaction between the when and where attention modules as a necessary component of applied cognition in ecological settings. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Neurophysiologic mechanisms of internal inhibition

The experimental results obtained in the authors’ laboratory as a result of multiple recording of slow biopotentials, the recording of neuronal activity and of mathematical modeling, are reviewed. The authors conclude that the elaboration of internal inhibition is followed, and determined to a great extent, by the restriction in conduction of excitations due to the increase of inhibitory hyperpolarization and discordance in the periodicity of slow potentials, reflecting oscillations in excitability of neuronal populations in the cortex and other brain structures.     

COLOR SPACE OF NORMALLY SIGHTED AND COLOR-DEFICIENT OBSERVERS RECONSTRUCTED FROM COLOR NAMING

Abstract— An experimental procedure based an the color-naming method introduced by Boynton, Schafer, and Neun (1964) was used to study the color appearance of equilumtnant spectral stimuli in observers with congenital red-green color deficiencies, as well as in normal trichromats. Subjects' responses (choice of one or more labels from the set red, yellow, green, blue, and white) were converted to numeric scores, which were used to estimate subjective difference between pairs of colors Individual subjects' matrices were processed by means of multidimensional scaling. As in the direct rating of color dissimilarities in normal trichromats. (Sokolov & Izmatlov, 1983), and color-deficient observers (Paramei Izmailov, & Sokolov, 1991), these indirectly obtained measures yielded a color space in which three dimensions appear to be necessary and sufficient. The dimensions are interpreted as evidence for red-green, Mae-yellow, and achromatic (saturation) sub-systems. Based on the color-naming technique, three-dimensional spaces were reconstructed for the color-deficient observers. These results were compared with those obtained by Helm (1964). It is argued that retaining more than one (blue-yellow) dimension in the color spaces of such observers provider additional information indicating preservation of residual red-green discrimination accompanied by finer discrimination of chroma than in normal trichromats. The spherical model of color discrimination developed for normal trichromats (lzmailov & Sokolov, 1991) is shown to be valid for color-deficient subjects as well and may be useful as a framework for differentiating proton and deutan types of color deficiency. Color-naming functions, which seem not to reveal a differentiation between protans and deutans, provide results form which this differentiation can be extracted in reconstructed color spaces.     

Semaphoring in an earless frog: the origin of a novel visual signal

Social communication in anuran amphibians (frogs and toads) is mediated predominantly by acoustic signals. Unlike most anurans, the Panamanian golden frog, Atelopus zeteki, lacks a standard tympanic middle ear and appears to have augmented its communicatory repertoire to include rotational limb motions as visual signals, referred to here as semaphores. The communicatory nature of semaphoring was inferred from experimental manipulations using mirrored self-image presentations and nonresident introductions. Male frogs semaphored significantly more when presented with a mirrored self-image than with a nonreflective control. Novel encounters between resident males and nonresident frogs demonstrated that semaphores were used directionally and were displayed toward target individuals. Females semaphored frequently and this observation represents a rare case of signaling by females in a typically male-biased communicatory regime. Semaphore actions were clearly linked to a locomotory gait pattern and appear to have originated as an elaboration of a standard stepping motion. Received: 19 March 1998 / Accepted after revision: 25 July 1998     

Borderline personality disorder and laboratory-induced cold pressor pain: Evidence of stress-induced analgesia

Behavioral neuroscience findings regarding stress-induced analgesia may be an appropriate model for the paradoxical effects of self-mutilative pain of patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). We hypothesized that BPD patients would show an exaggerated antinociceptive effect from an uncontrollable cold pressor stress, compared to persons with other personality disorders or to a nonpsychiatric control group. This hypothesis was supported. Limitations of the study and directions for future research are discussed.