Stress and Cytokine Effects on Learning: What Does Sex Have to Do With It?

Many studies have alluded to sexually dimorphic changes in behavior following stress. Although many have suggested that these changes are a function of stress-induced changes in learning and memory, there are questions regarding whether performance in those learning and memory tasks are influenced by stress-induced changes in drive more than in actual learning and memory processes. We used the classically conditioned eyeblink response (CCER) to determine whether slowed learning following stress in females can be explained by changes in unconditional response (UR) amplitude, a sign of a stress-induced shift in sensory reactivity. In addition, we had a second treatment group injected with the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1beta to serve as an interoceptive stress condition, a physiological stressor with minimal stimulation to the animal. Replicating the work by Shors and colleagues, we found that stressed female rats had slower acquisition of the conditioned response (CR), but we also found that an IL-1beta injection leads to a slowing of CR acquisition. However, in both cases, UR amplitude was lower in the treatment groups. We followed up these results by testing sensory reactivity through the acoustic startle response (ASR), where the magnitude of the ASR was marginally, but nonsignificantly, reduced by the same dose regimen of IL-1beta. Together, these experiments suggest that tailshock stress and immune signaling (IL-1beta) reduce sensory reactivity and the saliency of the stimuli used in the CCER, leading to slower learning in female rats.     

Improving methodological and technological analyses of adaptive switch use of individuals with profound multiple impairments

Basic response–event relations can be difficult to demonstrate with individuals with profound multiple impairments who participate in adaptive switch programs. Numerous variables that impede learning and contribute to performance variability present challenges to assessment methods. As switch use may be the only operant under stimulus control with some individuals, however, improvement in assessment methods and measurement technology is important. In three case studies, response–event relations were examined in individuals who were provided with an adaptive switch that could activate an electronic leisure device. With two individuals, evidence of learning was assessed in a novel alternating‐treatments design. Switch use was compared under conditions in which switch closures produced activation and conditions in which closures deactivated the device. With the remaining individual, the effects of momentary activation by switch closure were compared to timed activation. Data were collected with a combination of data collection technologies. Whole‐session rate and response‐duration data provided some evidence of learning in all participants. Data also were converted into within‐session cumulative graphs, which aided data interpretation. The results demonstrate advances in assessment of learning in people with profound multiple impairments. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The development of face and location processing: an fMRI study

Although a few developmental fMRI studies have shed some light on the neurological development of either object or spatial processing we still know very little about the development of the ‘what’ and ‘where’ processing systems. The present study is the first to address this issue by comparing, concurrently and within the same behavioral paradigm, patterns of functional activation for face processing and location processing in 12 children (10–12 years old) and 16 adults. For both tasks this study found a developmental shift from a more distributed pattern of activation in children to a more focused pattern of activation in adults. Furthermore, the type of developmental redistribution of activation in children varied depending on the task. The present findings have important implications for theories of visuospatial development. They suggest that the neural systems involved in face and location processing may undergo development and fine‐tuning well into late childhood.     

The Relation of Parental Emotionality and Related Dispositional Traits to Parental Expression of Emotion and Children's Social Functioning

The purpose of this study was to test relations between parental temperamental emotionality and regulation or related personality characteristics and parental behavior, children's regulation, and children's social functioning. Mothers and fathers reported on their own personality and/or temperament and expressivity in the family (mothers only); parents and teachers rated children (71 girls and 99 boys; M age = 73 months) on their temperamental regulation, social competence, and problem behavior. Mothers also were observed interacting with their child, and behavioral measures of children's regulation were obtained. In general, high parental regulation and low negative emotionality were associated with positive developmental outcomes in children and more positive parental behaviors, and mothers' expression of positive emotion in the family mediated some of the relations of their dispositions to children's socioemotional functioning.     

Religion, Science, and Evolution: Paul Tillich's Fourth Way

Abstract. In his book God After Darwin John Haught provides a useful categorization of theological approaches to evolution: some theologians actively oppose Darwinian evolution, another group maintains that science and religion have nothing to say to one another, and a third seeks to engage evolution. Haught wishes to pursue the third way. But many theological attempts to talk about divine action in the world, including divine involvement in the process of evolution, run afoul of the scientific principle of the conservation of matter‐energy. Haught's reliance on the now‐familiar notion that information can have causal efficacy does not in fact escape this difficulty. I suggest a fourth approach, represented by a constructive reading of Paul Tillich's theology. The central argument is that Tillich offers a way of taking Darwinian evolution up into one's ultimate concern without claiming that God has any causal relation to evolution. God provides no historical telos for evolution, but rather a “depth teleology” that springs from the manner in which God, as the depth of the structure of finite being, is the object of Christian faith.     

When Subjectivism Matters

Abstract: In this article I consider when the question of whether entities exist subjectively (only in the minds of subjects) or objectively (in themselves, independently of the minds of subjects) is important, both theoretically and practically. I argue that when it comes to the metaphysics underlying three types of moral questions, broadly conceived, the subjectivity question does not matter practically, although it is widely thought to matter. Subjectivism does not matter in these moral questions in the same way(s) it matters in some nonmoral metaphysical issues. The moral questions I consider are the meaning of life, normative ethics, and the free‐will problem. The nonmoral issues I address are the existence of God, the traditional mind/body problem, and personal identity. I explain the difference by noting that certain metaphysical issues on the fact side of the fact/value distinction impinge on persons' lives more prominently than do the metaphysics behind the three moral questions.     

Staff survey results and characteristics that predict assault and injury to personnel working in mental health facilities

The purpose of this study was to complete a mental health staff opinion survey to identify patient and staff characteristics associated with staff assault and injury in psychiatric treatment settings and to develop a model of prediction for staff assault and injury utilizing these survey variables. The data consisted of opinion surveys sent to staff of 15 child, adolescent, and adult psychiatry inpatient units in the United States. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the level of assault and staff‐reported injury prediction that could be obtained from the staff‐completed opinion survey. Responses indicated a high prevalence of reported aggression, with 62.3% of staff endorsing verbal and physical aggression, property destruction, and self‐injurious behavior as being prevalent at their site, whereas only 4.1% rated none of these as prevalent. Staff working with children and adolescents in settings with high rates of psychiatric diagnoses reported increased frequency of assault and injury compared with those working with adults. Younger, less experienced staff reported higher rates of assault and injury. Staff working with female patients reported similar rates of assault and injury to those working with males. A logistic regression analysis using staff‐reported survey results of both staff and patient characteristics predicted assault correctly 73.7% of the time and injury 66.1% of the time. Resources for violence prevention and staff training programs in violence prevention are needed in child and adolescent psychiatry wards. Results are consistent with theories emphasizing the importance of negative emotions and affects, impulsivity, and frustration in goal‐directed activities in human aggression. Aggr. Behav. 29:31–40, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Preparing Rural Adolescents for Post‐High School Transitions

In this study, the authors evaluated the impact of 4 career development curricular strategies and emotional/instrumental support in preparing rural adolescents to make successful post‐high school transitions. Curriculum strategies and perceived support helped 8th‐, 10th‐, and 12th‐grade students attain critical aspects of career development, enhanced student satisfaction that their education was better preparing them to achieve future educational and career goals, and increased student intentions to enter post‐high school settings that required greater levels of education and training. Girls reported earning higher grades and participating in more work‐based learning activities and intended to enter post–high school training settings that required more education than did boys.     

At the Edge of Eternity's Shadows: Scaling the Fractal Continuum from Lower into Higher Space

In this paper, I elaborate the hyperspatial implications of the fractal-scaling scheme that I introduced previously. Four case examples where out-of-body experiencers reported heightened and amplified visual capacities are correlated with this explanatory model. Three of these cases are identified as including an additional hyperspace signifier, the reported capacity to see through solid and opaque physical obstructions. One of these cases included yet another hyperspace signifier, the reported capacity to pass through such obstructions. Additional evidence supportive of this thesis is drawn from the literature on ecstatic experience, including out-of-body, near-death, and other varieties of mystical or visionary experience, and from that on psychedelic experience. Yet other hyperspace signifiers reported by ecstatic voyagers are also considered, including sensations of seeing outward spherically in 360 degrees and of seeing on all sides of three-dimensional solids simultaneously.