Rats’ acquisition of the ephemeral reward task

The ephemeral reward task provides a subject with a choice between two alternatives A and B. If it chooses alternative A, reinforcement follows and the trial is over. If it chooses alternative B, reinforcement follows but the subject can also respond to alternative A which is followed by a second reinforcement. Thus, it would be optimal to choose alternative B. Surprisingly, Salwiczek et al. (PLoS One 7:e49068, 2012. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.00490682012) reported that adult fish (cleaner wrasse) mastered this task within 100 trials, whereas monkeys and apes had great difficulty with it. The authors attributed the species differences to ecological differences in the species foraging experiences. However, Pepperberg and Hartsfield (J Comp Psychol 128:298–306, 2014) found that parrots too learned this task easily. We have found that with a similar task pigeons are not able to learn to choose optimally within 400 trials (Zentall et al. in J Comp Psychol 130:138–144, 2016). In Experiment 1 of the present study, we found that rats did not learn to choose optimally in 840 trials; however, in Experiment 2 we added a prior commitment to the initial choice by increasing delay to reinforcement for the choice response from a single lever press to the first lever press after 20 s (FI20 s). In a comparable amount of training to Experiment 1, the rats learned to choose optimally. Although the use of a prior commitment increases the delay to reinforcement, it appears to reduce impulsive responding which in turn leads to optimal choice.     

A Pilot Study of Transformational Leadership and College Counseling Outcomes

This pilot study explores the relationship between perceived transformational leadership skills of college counselors and outcomes in counseling. College students receiving counseling (n = 46) were given a revised version of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), the Working Alliance Inventory, Short Form (WAI-S), and the Counseling Center Assessment of Psychological Symptoms (CCAPS-34). Results yielded significant relationships between improvement in areas of client functioning and subscales measuring aspects of transformational leadership in counselors as perceived by clients. In addition to significant correlations between alliance and subscales of the MLQ, there were strong negative relationships between social anxiety and management by exception (active); academic distress and idealized influence (behavior); and alcohol use and management by exception (passive).     

God-mediated control beliefs and the Epstein-Barr virus: Is more God-mediated control always better?

Research on the locus of control construct conveys the impression that more control is always better. However, some studies suggest that very high levels of control are associated with negative outcomes. The purpose of this study was to see if this is true of religiously oriented feelings of control (i.e., God-mediated control). The outcome was antibody titers to the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The findings suggest that very high God-mediated control is associated with higher EBV values. However, this finding was only observed among young adults (age 18–40), but not among middle-aged (age 41–64), or older adults (aged 65 and older).     

Learning with arbitrary versus ecological conditioned stimuli: Evidence from sexual conditioning

Laboratory investigations of Pavlovian conditioning typically involve the association of an arbitrary conditioned stimulus (CS) with an unconditioned stimulus (US) that has no inherent relation to the CS. However, arbitrary CSs are unlikely to become conditioned outside the laboratory, because they do not occur often enough with the US to result in an association. Learning under natural circumstances is likely only if the CS has a preexisting relation to the US. Recent studies of sexual conditioning have shown that in contrast to an arbitrary CS, an ecologically relevant CS is resistant to blocking, extinction, and increases in the CS-US interval and results in sensitized responding and stronger second-order conditioning. Although the mechanisms of these effects are not fully understood, these findings have shown that signature learning phenomena are significantly altered when the kinds of stimuli that are likely to become conditioned under natural circumstances are used. The implications of these findings for an ecological approach to the study of learning are discussed.     

The influence of spatial context and the role of intentionality in the interpretation of animacy from motion

We present three experiments investigating how spatial context influences the attribution of animacy to a moving target. Each of our displays contained a moving object (the target) that might, depending on the way it moved, convey the impression that it was alive (animate). We investigated the mechanisms underlying this attribution by manipulating the nature of the spatial context surrounding the target. In Experiment 1, the context consisted of a simple static dot (the foil), whose position relative to the target's trajectory was manipulated. With some foil positions--for example, when the foil was lying along the path traveled by the target--animacy judgments were elevated relative to control foil locations, apparently because this context supported the impression that the target was "reacting to" or was in some other way mentally influenced by the foil. In Experiment 2, contexts consisted of a static oriented rectangle (the "paddle"). On some trials, the target collided with the paddle in a way that seemed to physically account for the target's motion pattern (in the sense of having imparted momentum to it); this condition reduced animacy ratings. Experiment 3 was similar, except that the paddles themselves were in motion; again, animacy attribution was suppressed when the target's motion seemed to have been caused by a collision with the paddle. Hence, animacy attributions can be either elevated or suppressed by the nature of the environment and the target's interaction with it. Animacy attribution tracks intentionality attribution; contrary to some earlier proposals, we conclude that attributing animacy involves, and may even require, attributing to the target some minimal mental capacity sufficient to endow the target with intentionality.     

Rats' performance on variable-interval schedules with a linear feedback loop between response rate and reinforcement rate

Three experiments investigated whether rats are sensitive to the molar properties of a variable-interval (VI) schedule with a positive relation between response rate and reinforcement rate (i.e., a VI+ schedule). In Experiment 1, rats responded faster on a variable ratio (VR) schedule than on a VI+ schedule with an equivalent feedback function. Reinforced interresponse times (IRTs) were shorter on the VR as compared to the VI+ schedule. In Experiments 2 and 3, there was no systematic difference in response rates maintained by a VI+ schedule and a VI schedule yoked in terms of reinforcement rate. This was found both when the yoking procedure was between-subject (Experiment 2) and within-subject (Experiment 3). Mean reinforced IRTs were similar on both the VI+ and yoked VI schedules, but these values were more variable on the VI+ schedule. These results provided no evidence that rats are sensitive to the feedback function relating response rate to reinforcement rate on a VI+ schedule.     

Changes in functional status among older adults in Japan: successful and usual aging

This research aimed to chart the trajectories of functional status in old age in Japan and to assess how self-rated health and cognitive functioning differentiate these trajectories and account for interpersonal differences. Data came from a 5-wave panel study of a national sample of 2,200 Japanese older adults between 1987 and 1999. The sample as a whole showed an accelerated increase in functional limitations with age. approximated by a quadratic function. More important, 3 major trajectories of functional change were identified: (a) minimal functional decrement, (b) early onset of functional impairment. and (c) late onset of functional impairment. These findings may serve as useful benchmarks for observations derived from other developed nations.