Reorganization of learning-associated prefrontal synaptic plasticity between the recall of recent and remote fear extinction memory

We have previously shown that fear extinction is accompanied by an increase of synaptic efficacy in inputs from the ventral hippocampus (vHPC) and mediodorsal thalamus (MD) to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and that disrupting these changes to mPFC synaptic transmission compromises extinction processes. The aim of this study was to examine whether these extinction-related changes undergo further plasticity as the memory of extinction becomes more remote. Changes in synaptic efficacy in both vHPC-mPFC and MD-mPFC inputs were consequently analyzed when the memory was either 1 d or 7 d old. Increases of synaptic efficacy in the vHPC-mPFC pathway were observed when the memory was 1 d old, but not 7 d after initial extinction. In contrast, potentiation of synaptic efficacy in the MD-mPFC pathway increased over time. In rats that received low-frequency vHPC stimulation immediately after extinction, both vHPC-mPFC and MD-mPFC inputs failed to develop potentiation, and the recall of extinction (both recent and remote memories) was impaired. These findings suggest that post-extinction potentiation in vHPC-mPFC inputs may be necessary for both the recall of recent memory and post-extinction potentiation in the MD-mPFC inputs. This late potentiation process may be required for the recall of remote extinction memory.     

Inter-individual variability in the upper-lower limb breaststroke coordination

The aim of the present study was to examine inter-individual variability in upper-lower limb breaststroke coordination. First, inter-individual variability was compared between recreational and comparative swimmers. Second, as recreational swimmers revealed more variable inter-limb coordination than competitive swimmers, inter-individual variability was assessed among recreational swimmers to identify coordination profiles. The elbow-knee continuous relative phase (CRP) was used to analyze upper-lower limbs coupling during a breaststroke cycle. Twenty-four recreational and twenty-four competitive swimmers swam 25 m at 80% of their maximal speed. Underwater and aerial side views were mixed and genlocked. Angular position, velocity and CRP were calculated for the knee and elbow joints by digitizing body markers from the side view. The kinematics of three cycles were filtered, averaged and normalized in terms of percentage of total cycle duration. The topography of the mean CRP curve of the recreational swimmers resembled a ‘W-shape’, whereas an ‘inverse U-shape’ was seen in the competitive swimmers. However, higher inter-individual variability was observed among the recreational swimmers than among the competitive swimmers (38.1° vs. 19.4°; p < .05), suggesting that several profiles of inter-limb coordination may exist in recreational swimmers. Coordination profiling showed that three clusters could classify the recreational swimmers.     

Use of a token economy to eliminate excessive inappropriate social behavior in an adult with developmental disabilities

Adults with developmental disabilities frequently have both deficits in appropriate social skills and excesses in inappropriate social behavior (Matson, LeBlanc, & Weinheimer, 1999). Typically, published treatment studies have focused on social skills training procedures that teach and promote the use of new social behaviors. However, only a few studies have focused on management of existing social behaviors that are problematic because they occur excessively or in an inappropriate context (Wright, Herzog, & Seymour, 1992). The current study focuses on management of three types of inappropriate social behavior in a 26‐year‐old male with moderate mental retardation: inappropriate social interactions, inappropriate sexual behavior, and verbal aggression. A token economy with response cost procedure was implemented using a DRO interval as the basis for earning tokens. Using a multiple‐baseline design across behaviors, each of the three types of inappropriate social behavior was successfully treated. After demonstrating the success of the procedure, the DRO interval was increased while maintaining the reductions in inappropriate social behaviors. Appropriate behaviors such as initiating conversation, shaking hands, etc maintained throughout the intervention. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

TREATMENT OF PICA THROUGH MULTIPLE ANALYSES OF ITS REINFORCING FUNCTIONS

We conducted functional analyses of the pica of 3 participants. The pica of 1 participant appeared to be maintained by automatic reinforcement; that of the other 2 participants appeared to be multiply controlled by social and automatic reinforcement. Subsequent preference and treatment analyses were used to identify stimuli that would compete with the automatic function of pica for the 3 participants. These analyses also identified the specific aspect of oral stimulation that served as automatic reinforcement for 2 of the participants. In addition, functional analysis-based treatments were used to address the socially motivated components of 2 of the participants' pica. Results are discussed in terms of (a) the importance of using the results of functional analyses to develop treatments for pica and (b) the advantages of developing indirect analyses to identify specific sources of reinforcement for automatically reinforced behavior.     

More evidence for a dual-process model of conditional reasoning

Many studies have shown that the deductive inferences that people make have global properties that reflect the statistical information implicit in the premises. This suggests that such reasoning can be explained by a single, underlying probabilistic model. In contrast, the dual process model of conditional reasoning (Verschueren, Schaeken, & d'Ydewalle, 2005b) proposes that people can use either a logical, counterexample-based strategy or a probabilistic one. In two studies, we presented reasoners with sequences of affirmation-of-the-consequent inferences that differed with respect to the statistical properties of the premises, either explicitly or implicitly. As predicted by the dual-process model, an analysis of individual response patterns showed the presence of two distinct strategies, with use of the counterexample strategy being associated with higher levels of abstract-reasoning competence. Use of the counterexample strategy was facilitated by the explicit presentation of counterexample information. In a further study, we then examined explicitly probabilistic inferences. This study showed that although most reasoners made statistically appropriate inferences, the ability to make more-accurate inferences was associated with higher levels of abstract reasoning competence. These results show that deductive inferential reasoning cannot be explained by a single, unitary process and that any analysis of reasoning must consider individual differences in strategy use.     

Francis Xavier: Figure of Exile and Holiness

Abstract

Francis Xavier was one of the great Christian figures of the 16th century. The aim of this article is to delineate some of the important, and sometimes underemphasised, influences on his life in order to help shed light on the motivation which inspired his activities. It sets him first within a brief account of his family background, university education and life-changing friendship with Ignatius Loyola, which is described as generating ‘the undying archetype of the twin, with Loyola at the centre of the universe and Xavier at its periphery, complementing each other as perfectly as the point and the circle’. Against the background of ‘ever-present’ Islam, it then addresses Xavier's experiences with the corrupt and rather secularised Portuguese colonial environment in India and East Asia, and the royal ecclesiastical patronage exercised under the Padroado system, which led him to the role of a ‘counter-figure’ an exile or castaway, lançado or degregado. Japanese culture and religion and Xavier's fascination with China are two further areas explored. Permeating this account is the question of the nature of Xavier's spiritual life and personal holiness, within which his adventurous voyages may ultimately be seen as an immense pilgrimage and as the sign of a sanctity that was augmented rather than diminished by the obscurity of his death.     

TEACHING ABDUCTION‐PREVENTION SKILLS TO CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

Three children with autism were taught abduction‐prevention skills using behavioral skills training with in situ feedback. All children acquired the skills, which were maintained at a 1‐month follow‐up assessment. In addition, 1 of the children demonstrated the skills during a stimulus generalization probe in a community setting.     

Conditional reasoning,frequency of counterexamples,and the effect of response modality

Geiger and Oberauer (2007) found that when asked to reason with conditionals, people are very sensitive to information about the relative frequency of exceptions to conditional rules and quite insensitive to the relative number of disabling conditions. They asked participants to rate their degree of certainty in a conclusion. In the following studies, we investigated the possibility that this kind of response encourages a more probabilistic mode of processing compared with the usual dichotomous response. In Study 1, participants were given a variant of the problems used by Geiger and Oberauer with either the samescaled response format or a dichotomouscategorical response. The results with the scaled response were identical to those of Geiger and Oberauer. However, the results with the categorical response presented a very different profile. In Study 2, we presented similar problems using only frequency information, followed by a set of abstract conditional reasoning problems. The participants who performed better on the abstract problems showed a significantly different response profile than those who did worse on the abstract problems in the categorical response condition. No such difference was observed in the scaled response condition. These results show that response modality strongly affects the way in which information is processed in otherwise identical inferential problems and they are consistent with the idea that scaled responses promote a probabilistic mode of processing.