Visual recognition memory enhancement in children through differential outcomes

Objective

The use of differential outcomes has been shown to enhance discriminative learning and face recognition in children and adults. In this study, we further investigated whether the differential outcome procedure (DOP) would also be effective in improving recognition memory for a wide range of stimuli with varying visual complexity (familiar objects, abstract stimuli, and complex scenes) in 5- and 7-year-old children.

Method

Participants viewed a sample stimulus and, after a short (5 s) or a long (15 s) delay, they had to identify the previously seen stimulus among four choice alternatives. In the differential outcomes condition, each sample stimulus was paired with a specific outcome; whereas in the non-differential conditions outcomes were administered randomly. In Experiment 2, we replicated Experiment 1 but in addition we asked participants to perform an articulatory suppression task to prevent verbal rehearsal.

Results

Children showed a greater overall visual delayed recognition when differential outcomes were arranged in both experiments. The type of stimulus being used modulated this effect; a beneficial effect of the differential outcomes training was evident with abstract objects in Experiment 1 and with both, abstract objects and scenes in Experiment 2.     

Preferences for religious help-seeking: racial and gender differences,interfaith intolerance,and defensive theology

We examined the relation between preference for religious help-seeking and defensive theology, interfaith intolerance, spiritual conceptualisations of mental health problems, race/ethnicity, and gender in a predominantly Christian sample of 389 college students. MANOVA revealed significant main effects for race/ethnicity, with African American participants showing higher scores than Caucasians and Latinos/as across all main study variables. Follow-up ANOVA yielded main effects for race across all four variables and main effects for gender on spiritual conceptualisation of mental health problems and defensive theology. All race/ethnicity by gender interactions were nonsignificant. Preference for religious help-seeking was regressed in a hierarchical manner on race/ethnicity and gender, followed by interfaith intolerance, defensive theology, and spiritual conceptualisation of mental health problems. A statistically significant model explaining 46% of the variance emerged incorporating all variables except race. A framework for understanding help-seeking preference is presented, followed by directions for future research.     

The Carnales

Once, and only once, I had to fight for my life. The experience catapulted me to an edge of my being that I am glad to have found but don't want to visit too often–an edge others may seek by climbing a glacier, trekking in Nepal, or fasting for a week to induce visions. I am not a thrill-seeker, but a lazy quester content to make do with the ample shocks life has brought me unsought.     

Perspectivas actuales en Psicología de la Religión

Resumen

El objetivo del trabajo radica en llevar a cabo una revisión sobre el estado actual de las investigaciones rejerentes a los aspectos psicosociales de la religión.

Se comienza planteando los problemas que ello extraña: escaseZ de investigaciones rigurosas, connotaciones ideológicas de los planteamientos y estrategias, diversas y contrapuestas acepciones de términos elementales, etc.

Se aborda la polémica que ba enfrentado a psicólogos y teólogos, que, a pesar de su poca operatividad, ha supuesto un foco de interés.

Se analiza la multidimensionalidad de las actitudes religiosas, aportaciones realizadas al respecto y los instrumentos de medida que han gomado de mayor predicamento.

Se concluye con la exposición panorámica de las investigaciones actuales más relevantes sobre el tema, señalando cómo se han ocupado básicamente de correlacionar las actitudes religiosas o la religiosidad con diversas variables de personalidad, como autoritarismo, neuroticismo, autoestima, etc.     

ERK1/2 activation is necessary for BDNF to increase dendritic spine density in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a potent modulator of synaptic transmission and plasticity in the CNS, acting both pre- and postsynaptically. We demonstrated recently that BDNF/TrkB signaling increases dendritic spine density in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons. Here, we tested whether activation of the prominent ERK (MAPK) signaling pathway was responsible for BDNF's effects on spine growth. Slice cultures were transfected with enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (eYFP) by particle-mediated gene transfer, and CA1 pyramidal neurons were imaged by laser-scanning confocal microscopy. We confirmed that BDNF (24 h) increases spine density in apical dendrites of CA1 neurons. The MEK (ERK kinase) inhibitors PD98059 and U0126 completely prevented the increase in spine density induced by BDNF, without having an effect on spine density by themselves. In contrast to its actions on cortical pyramidal neurons, BDNF had minor and rather localized effects on dendritic complexity in hippocampal pyramidal neurons, increasing the total length, but not the branching of apical dendrites within CA1 stratum radiatum, without affecting basal dendrites in stratum oriens. Our results support the hypothesis that the ERK-signaling pathway not only mediates long-term synaptic plasticity and hippocampal-dependent learning, but it is also involved in the structural remodeling of excitatory spine synapses triggered by neurotrophins.     

Establishing sustainable strategies in urban underground engineering

Growth of urban areas, the corresponding increased demand for utility services and the possibility of new types of utility systems are overcrowding near surface underground space with urban utilities. Available subsurface space will continue to diminish to the point where utilidors (utility tunnels) may become inevitable. Establishing future sustainable strategies in urban underground engineering consists of the ability to lessen the use of traditional trenching. There is an increasing interest in utility tunnels for urban areas as a sustainable technique to avoid congestion of the subsurface. One of the principal advantages of utility tunnels is the substantially lower environmental impact compared with common trenches. Implementing these underground facilities is retarded most by the initial cost and management procedures. The habitual procedure is to meet problems as they arise in current practice. The moral imperative of sustainable strategies fails to confront the economic and political conflicts of interest. Municipal engineers should act as a key enabler in urban underground sustainable development.     

Long-term potentiation in the dentate gyrus in freely moving rats is reinforced by intraventricular application of norepinephrine, but not oxotremorine

Growing evidence suggests that processes of synaptic plasticity, such as long-term potentiation (LTP) occurring in one synaptic population, can be modulated by consolidating afferents from other brain structures. We have previously shown that an early-LTP lasting less than 4 h (E-LTP) in the dentate gyrus can be prolonged by stimulating the basolateral amygdala, the septum or the locus coeruleus within a specific time window. Pharmacological experiments have suggested that noradregeneric (NE) and/or cholinergic systems might be involved in these effects. We have therefore investigated whether the direct intraventricular application of agonists for NE- or muscarinic receptors is able to modulate synaptic plasticity. E-LTP was induced at the dentate gyrus of freely moving rats using a mild tetanization protocol that induces only an E-LTP. NE or oxotremorine (OXO) were applied icv 10 min after the tetanus. Results show that low doses of NE (1.5 and 5 nM) effectively prolong LTP. A higher dose (50 nM) was not effective. None of the OXO doses employed (5, 25, and 50 nM) showed similar effects. These results stress the importance of transmitter-specific modulatory influences on the time course of synaptic plasticity, in particular NE whose application mimics the reinforcing effect of directly stimulating limbic structures on LTP.     

Some reflections on the use and meaning of conflict in contemporary psychoanalysis

The author reflects on the concept of conflict in contemporary psychoanalysis, and especially in European psychoanalysis. In the latter, this concept does not seem to have aroused significant interest. This does not necessarily mean that conflict has been rejected or replaced; rather, there has been a greater focus on preconflictual stages of development. Indeed, conflict is generally implicit in psychoanalytic work, and, like many other concepts, it has very different and at times divergent meanings, both in various psychoanalytic schools of thought and within the same school. The author presents a clinical example to illustrate some of the possible choices of the analyst at work concerning the use of the concept of conflict.     

“Weapons effect” revisited: Motor effects of the reception of aversive stimulation and exposure to pictures of firearms

The effect of presenting images of firearms on the speed of clenching of the fist of human subjects simultaneously receiving an aversive stimulation was studied. It was thought that, whereas the classic interpersonal experimental situation confounds the effects of the stimulus presented and several interpersonal processes, speed of fist clenching in a noninterpersonal setting could constitute a valid measure of the subject's readiness to fight. Twenty-four male and 24 female students (ages > 20 and <36 years) were instructed to press with their right hand a device commanding the projection of slides upon reception of an acoustic signal. Speed of clenching of the hand was recorded in the four conditions generated by the combination of two levels of acoustic signal (aversive and nonaversive) and two modalities of slides (firearms or tools). The results show that the reception of aversive sound accelerates fist clenching. Simultaneous presentation of slides of firearms and reception of aversive noise increases the speed of clenching of the fist. The slides' main effect was not significant. More irritable subjects tend to execute this movement faster than their less irritable counterparts, and more emotionally susceptible subjects tend to be slower than less susceptible ones. Male subjects were faster than females. This pattern of results is discussed in relation to the hypothesis formulated by the authors.