An analysis of autobiographical tools in written reflection: implications for teaching critical thinking and goal-setting

This paper analyzes the results of an 18 month study of a variety of participants involved in written reflection on their learning, both in classes at two universities in the Southern US or in voluntary focus groups. The purpose of the study was to analyze the effects of including autobiographical tools in written reflection. Participants used three tools from the genre of autobiography as they reflected on their learning inside either course content, internship experiences, experiential learning, or goal-setting. Over 500 samples were gathered, offering a large data set for analysis of what kinds of best practice produce quality reflective writing. Through analysis of the data and student surveys and interviews, results show increased attention to critical thinking and metacognition; expressed flexibility, adaptability, and ability to handle ambiguity; and value in connection to others/empathy-building as a result of incorporating autobiographical tools in reflective prompts. The study indicated that reflections using the same autobiographical tool over the course of several sessions seemed to produce deeper levels of reflection and more engagement with the autobiographical tool. Of the three autobiographical tools used in the study, the tool that seemed most helpful to participants was reflection as storytelling that revealed aspects of the self.     

Spatial learning in the rat: impairment induced by the thiol-proteinase inhibitor, leupeptin, and an analysis of [3H]glutamate receptor binding in relation to learning

Rats were given continuous intraventricular infusion of saline or the thiol-proteinase inhibitor leupeptin, via subcutaneously implanted osmotic minipumps, while being trained on a spatial learning water task using spaced trials. Leupeptin caused overnight forgetting during training, but performance eventually reached asymptote in both groups. A retention test conducted 48 h later to assess spatial memory revealed no significant group differences, but did cause, in saline-treated rats only, a disruption of subsequent retraining back to the correct spatial location. The groups showed no differences in Cl-dependent [3H]glutamate receptor binding to hippocampal or entorhinal cortex membranes subsequent to training. In a second experiment, normal rats trained on the same task also showed no differences in Cl-dependent [3H]glutamate binding relative to rats exposed to the water task but given random spatial position training and handled controls. The results are discussed in relation to the hypothesis of Lynch and Baudry (Science (1984) 224, 1057-1063) that a calcium-dependent thiol proteinase is involved in memory formation through its ability to modify glutamate receptor distribution and dendritic spine shape.     

Regional brain catecholamines and memory: effects of footshock, amygdala implantation, and stimulation

Previous findings have revealed a correlation between post-training release of whole brain norepinephrine (NE) and later retention performance. The present experiment examined changes after a training footshock in NE levels, as well as the levels of the major central NE metabolite, 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG), dopamine (DA), and epinephrine (EPI) in eight brain regions. Brain levels of these amines and the metabolite were assessed 10 min after training in a one-trial inhibitory (passive) avoidance task. The results indicate that NE levels decreased significantly in neocortex, neostriatum, hypothalamus, frontal pole, septum, and brainstem, but not in hippocampus or thalamus. The decreases in NE levels were generally accompanied by increases in MHPG; the MHPG/NE ratio increased significantly in all areas in which decreases in NE were observed. DA levels decreased in neostriatum and increased in neocortex and brainstem. Epinephrine levels decreased only in the brainstem sample. Thus, the effects of training on NE are widespread, probably reflecting the release of the amine in most brain regions. Such findings are consistent with the view that posttraining release of brain NE may modulate the storage of new information in many brain regions. One especially potent treatment for modulating memory storage is electrical stimulation of the amygdala. Therefore, we also examined the effects of amygdala implantation and stimulation on brain catecholamine levels to determine whether such changes might be correlated with the effects of amygdala stimulation on memory. The results indicate that electrode implantation into the amygdala results in pervasive changes in NE levels in most brain regions tested. Against this modified baseline, the results of training and electrical stimulation were region specific and very difficult to interpret. The major conclusion which can be derived from this portion of the experiment is that the amygdala damage produced by electrode implantation produces a brain which is substantially different from that of intact animals.     

Reason and Emotion in the Ethics of Self‐Restraint

In this essay I argue that Reinhold Niebuhr's ethics of self‐restraint, though promising, is based on an incomplete and imprecise moral psychology. Although Niebuhr claims that reason cannot provide a sufficient grounding to motivate self‐restraint, he does not disclose which human capacity might serve this purpose. I suggest that we can address this oversight by strengthening Niebuhr's tentative embrace of David Hume, and by developing a concept of the emotions in order to explain how human beings can cultivate a stable inclination to self‐restraint. This project is informed by and in the service of feminist critiques of Niebuhr and social concerns.     

Processing the intensity of dichotic syllables

Subjects were required to match the intensity levels of the left- and right-ear members of dichotically presented nonsense syllables. When subjects matched the overall average intensities of a sequence of differing dichotic pairs no ear differences were observed. When repetitions of single dichotic pairs were matched right-ear syllables were judged louder than left-ear syllables. The results support a model predicting left-hemisphere superiority in a task permitting higher-level encoding of speech input.