Orphanin FQ/nociceptin interacts with the basolateral amygdala noradrenergic system in memory consolidation

Extensive evidence indicates that the basolateral complex of the amygdala (BLA) mediates hormonal and neurotransmitter effects on the consolidation of emotionally influenced memory and that such modulatory influences involve noradrenergic activation of the BLA. As the BLA also expresses a high density of receptors for orphanin FQ/nociceptin (OFQ/N), an opioid-like peptide with anxiolytic and amnestic properties, the present experiments investigated whether the BLA is involved in mediating OFQ/N effects on memory consolidation and whether such effects require noradrenergic activity. OFQ/N (0.01-100 pmol in 0.2 microL) administered bilaterally into the BLA of male Sprague-Dawley rats immediately after aversively motivated inhibitory avoidance training induced dose-dependent impairment on a 48-h retention trial. The beta(1)-adrenoceptor antagonist atenolol (2.0 nmol) administered concurrently into the BLA potentiated the dose-response effects of OFQ/N. In contrast, immediate post-training infusions of the peptidergic OFQ/N receptor antagonist [Nphe(1)]nociceptin(1-13)NH(2) (1-100 pmol in 0.2 microL) into the BLA enhanced 48-h retention of inhibitory avoidance training, an effect that was blocked by coadministration of atenolol. Delayed infusions of OFQ/N or [Nphe(1)]nociceptin(1-13)NH(2) into the BLA administered either 6 or 3 h after training, respectively, or immediate post-training infusions of OFQ/N into the adjacent central amygdala did not significantly alter retention performance. These findings indicate that endogenously released OFQ/N interacts with noradrenergic activity within the BLA in modulating memory consolidation.     

Social identity performance: extending the strategic side of SIDE.

This article extends the social identity model of deindividuation effects (SIDE) by considering the various ways in which relations of visibility to an audience can affect the public expression of identity-relevant norms (identity performance). It is suggested that social identity performance can fulfill two general functions: Affirming, conforming, or strengthening individual or group identities (the identity consolidation function) and persuading audiences into adopting specific behaviors (the mobilization function). The authors report evidence supporting these two functions of identity performance both in intragroup and intergroup contexts. They argue that through these functions, social identity performance plays a major role in the elaboration and coordination of social action. Finally, and building on this framework, the authors consider the ways through which social identity performance can be used in the very construction of social identity.     

An evaluation of the effectiveness and acceptability of a new technology system to support psychotherapy helping skills training

Training counselling and psychotherapy skills using new technology is a relatively unresearched area of study. The findings from a pilot evaluation of the effectiveness and acceptability of a new technology, mPath, using a mixed method design are reported. The study found that progressive integration of the new mPath technology into learning helping skills had the best results on developing competency, as assessed by the Person‐Centred Experiential Psychotherapy Scale Training Version. Qualitative interviews showed the technology was acceptable to users. Further research is needed in this emerging field of deliberate practice.     

Sight or smell: which senses do scavenging raptors use to find food?

Animal Cognition - Raptors are usually considered to be mainly visually dependent, and the use of other sensory modalities has rarely been studied in these birds. Here, we investigated...     

Persistence in a Putting Task During Perceived Failure: Influence of State-attributions and Attributional Style

Dans cette étude, on a examiné l’influence de l’état des attributions et le style attributionnel (AS) sur la persistance à court‐terme d’un échec perçu à une tâche de putting. 101 élèves débutants en golf ont participéà cette recherche. Deux épreuves de 8 putts ont été interrompues chacune pendant trois minutes. Durant cette période, on a mesuré la persistance individuelle en comptant le nombre de fois que le sujet essayait de putter. L’analyse des résultats montre que le style attributionnel influence la persistance à court‐terme contrairement à l’état des attributions. Les sujets ayant un AS “fort contrôle personnel” font montre de plus de persistance que ceux ayant un AS “faible contrôle personnel”. Ces résultats confirment ceux obtenus lors de recherches antérieures sur les bénéfices motivationnels d’un style attributionnel “optimiste” dans des situations d’échec lors de la réalisation d’une tâche. Des attributions instables sont particulièrement bénéfiques aux sujets ayant un AS externe/incontrôlable. Ces derniers ont un niveau significativement plus élevé de persistance que les sujets ayant un AS externe/incontrôlable mais qui ont fait des attributions causales stables. This study investigated the influence of state‐attributions and attributional style (AS) on short‐term persistence in a putting task during perceived failure. Participants were 101 novice golf students. Two trials of eight putts each were interrupted by a 3‐minute free period during which individual persistence was measured by calculating the number of putts attempted in the free period. Analyses revealed that attributional style influenced short‐term putting persistence but state‐attributions did not. Participants with a “high personal control” AS showed greater persistence than those with a “low personal control” AS, which supports past research on the positive motivational benefits of a more “optimistic” attributional style in task failure situations. Moreover, unstable attributions were particularly protective for individuals with an external/uncontrollable AS, in that they promoted significantly higher levels of persistence than was shown by external/uncontrollable AS individuals who made stable causal attributions.     

When History Seems to Repeat Itself: Exposure to Perceived Lessons of the Past Influences Predictions About Current Political Events

The idea that the past holds lessons for the present, under the guise of historical analogies, is prevalent in political and public discourse. Those analogies are often accompanied by dire warnings befalling those who “forget” or otherwise neglect the powerful lessons of History—and would then be “doomed to repeat it”, as the saying goes. So, Would remembering history make it seem more OR LESS likely to repeat itself in the future? In other words, does exposure to specific lessons about past events, especially ones involving causal claims, affect how people expect real-life events to turn out? Four studies (three preregistered) tested this experimentally. In Studies 1 and 2, participants expected the same behavior (the US adopting a harsh stance against Iran in the Nuclear Treaty) to result in a more negative outcome when this current stance seemed to match a “lesson” they had read about the break-out of World War II (European leaders adopting a harsh approach against Germany in the 1919 Versailles Treaty vs. a conciliatory approach in the 1938 Munich Agreement). Studies 3 and 4 attempted to eliminate some confounds present in the first two studies and to generalize the effect to different events. While results varied across studies, an internal meta-analysis indicated that the analogical effect on predictions (d = –.08) tended to become stronger as participants’ knowledge about the target situation decreased (d-1SD = –.24). These findings support the possibility of analogical-based predictive effects for real-life political events, and are discussed in light of their research and political implications.     

When views about alternative medicine,nature and god come in the way of people's vaccination intentions

In spite of the safety and efficiency of the COVID-19 vaccines and the many promotion efforts of political and expert authorities, a fair portion of the population remained hesitant if not opposed to vaccination. Public debate and the available literature point to the possible role of people's attitudes towards medical institutions as well as their preference for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) on their motivations and intentions to be vaccinated. Other potential ideological factors are beliefs about environmental laissez-faire and divine providence insofar as they encourage people to let the pandemic unfold without human interference. In three cross-sectional samples (total N = 8214), collected at successive moments during the Belgian vaccination campaign, the present research examines the distal role of these psychological and ideological factors on vaccination intentions via motivational processes. Study 1 gauges the relation between trust in medical institutions and preference for CAM on intentions to get vaccinated via motivations. Study 2 examined the role of beliefs in the desirability of letting nature take its course (‘environmental laissez-faire beliefs’) on vaccination intention via motivations. Study 3 tests whether people's adherence to environmental laissez-faire and beliefs about divine providence are linked to their motivations for vaccination via trust in the medical institutions and CAM. Results show that adherence to CAM has a deleterious effect on vaccination intentions, whereas trust in medical institutions has a positive effect. Both ideological factors pertaining to external control are only moderately related, with environmental laissez-faire beliefs having stronger effects on CAM, medical trust and vaccination motivations. We discuss the importance of this set of results in light of the growing interest in CAM and the increasing presence of messages appealing to the environment.     

Attachment and temperament in early childhood; implications for later behavior problems

In the context of a French validation study, the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) was administered to more than 3000 French speaking mothers of 5‐year‐old children. Scores were factor‐analyzed. Principal components analysis revealed four dimensions: externalizing and internalizing behavior problems, immaturity and somatoform disorders. Another sample of 40 mothers participated in a longitudinal study, filling in the CBCL when their children were 5 years old. These children had been observed previously in the Strange Situation (SSP) at 21 months. Several dichotomous variables derived from the SSP (e.g. secure versus insecure, proximal versus distal interaction with the mother, avoidant behavior) have been used as predictors of the four dimensions extracted from the CBCL. Hierarchical regressions showed that proximal behaviors with the mother, which reflect temperamental characteristics independently of the quality of attachment, predicted internalizing problems, whereas avoidance of the mother, or insecure–avoidant attachment, predicted internalizing as well as externalizing problems at 5 years of age. These results show that attachment and temperament, as assessed by the SSP, may each have specific implications for later behavior problems. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.