Spatial navigation in complex and radial mazes in APP23 animals and neurotrophin signaling as a biological marker of early impairment

Impairment of hippocampal function precedes frontal and parietal cortex impairment in human Alzheimer's disease (AD). Neurotrophins are critical for behavioral performance and neuronal survival in AD. We used complex and radial mazes to assess spatial orientation and learning in wild-type and B6-Tg(ThylAPP)23Sdz (APP23) animals, a transgenic mouse model of AD. We also assessed brain content of nerve growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3). Performance was alike in wild-type and APP23 animals in the radial maze. In contrast, performance in the complex maze was better in wild-type than APP23 animals. Contrary to the wild-type, hippocampal BDNF levels decreased on training in APP23 animals. Hippocampal and frontal cortex NGF levels in APP23 animals correlated with the time to solve the complex maze, but correlated inversely with escape time in wild-type animals. NT-3 levels were alike in wild-type and APP23 animals and were unchanged even after training. Both types of mazes depend on hippocampal integrity to some extent. However, according to the cognitive mapping theory of spatial learning, the complex maze because of the increased complexity of the environment most likely depends more strongly on preserved hippocampal function than the radial maze in the working memory configuration applied here. Greater impairment in complex maze performance than in radial maze performance thus resembles the predominant affliction of the loss of hippocampal function in human AD. NGF and BDNF levels on maze learning are different in wild-type and transgenic animals, indicating that biological markers of AD may be altered on challenge even though equilibrium levels are alike.     

Adaptation of panic-related psychopathology measures to Russian

The study reports results of adaptation of panic-related psychopathology measures to Russian, including the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), the Agoraphobic Cognitions Questionnaire (ACQ), and the Mobility Inventory for Agoraphobia (MIA). Psychometric properties (e.g., reliability, factor structure, endorsement) and external validity of the adaptations were evaluated in a representative sample of Moscow residents (N = 390) and Ukrainian undergraduates (N = 492). The adapted ASI was generally equivalent to the original English-language version. The ACQ showed structural equivalency but did not exhibit expected specificity to panic. Finally, the MIA displayed notable structural discrepancies but had external validity comparable to the original.     

Diathesis stress model for panic-related distress: a test in a Russian epidemiological sample

To investigate a cognitive diathesis-stress model, the present study evaluated the main and interactive effects of anxiety sensitivity (AS) and exposure to aversive conditions (past month) in predicting theoretically relevant panic vulnerability variables in an epidemiologically defined sample from Russia (N = 390). Consistent with expectation, findings suggested that the combination of high levels of exposure to aversive conditions and high AS physical concerns predicted panic attacks (past week) and agoraphobic avoidance above and beyond the variance accounted for by negative affect. These findings are discussed in relation to biopsychosocial theories of panic disorder, which emphasize the importance of both a cognitive diathesis and stress component in the pathogenesis of the disorder.     

Abortion attitudes and personality

Attitudes toward abortion were predicted by age, sex, and religiosity but not personality in a sample of 99 college students.     

Development of spatial memory and spatial orientation in preschoolers and primary school children

The present study addresses the question of what kind of information children use when orientating in new environments, if given proximal and distal landmarks, and how spatial memory develops in the investigated age groups. Ten 5-year-old, ten 7-year-old and ten 10-year-old children were presented with the ‘Kiel Locomotor Maze’, containing features of the Radial Arm Maze and the Morris Water Maze, in order to assess spatial memory and orientation. Children had to learn to approach baited locations only. Task difficulty was equated with respect to the children's age. Training was given until the children reached criterion. During testing, the maze configuration and response requirements were systematically altered, including response rotation, cue rotation, cue deletion and response rotation with cue deletion in order to assess the spatial strategies used by the children. During training and testing, working-memory errors (WM), reference-memory errors (RM) and working-reference memory errors (WR) were recorded. As expected, no difference between age groups appeared during training, thus confirming comparable task difficulty across age groups. During testing, age groups differed significantly with regard to the orientation strategy used. The 5-year-olds were bound to a cue strategy, orientating towards local, proximal cues. The 10-year-olds mastered all tasks, thus displaying a place strategy, being able to use distal cues for orientation, and were even able to do so after being rotated 180°. The 7-year-olds proved to be at an age of transition: five of them were bound to a cue strategy, five children were able to adopt a place strategy. The differences in the orientation strategies used by children of different age groups was reflected by the sum of errors they made, also by RM. WM were found to be rare, especially in older children. We conclude that preschoolers use a cue strategy, that the development of place strategies occurs during primary school age and seems to be complete by the age of 10 years.     

Personality and Olfactory Sensitivity

Even though perceptional abilities have repeatedly been found to be associated with certain personality styles (e.g., extraversion), such connections were reported sparsely for the olfactory modality. Two studies were carried out to investigate the relationship between olfactory sensitivity and 12 personality dimensions (including extraversion and neuroticism). In the first study, single olfactory measurements were compared to repeated measurements. In the second study, twins were recruited as subjects to also examine the heredity of olfactory sensitivity. The results indicate that neuroticism is a stronger predictor for olfactory sensitivity than extraversion. Repeated measurements seem to be necessary to obtain valid data on olfactory performance.     

Mushroom Bodies Suppress Locomotor Activity in Drosophila melanogaster

Locomotor activity of single, freely walking flies in small tubes is analyzed in the time domain of several hours. To assess the influence of the mushroom bodies on walking activity, three independent noninvasive methods interfering with mushroom body function are applied: chemical ablation of the mushroom body precursor cells; a mutant affecting Kenyon cell differentiation (mushroom body miniature¹); and the targeted expression of the catalytic subunit of tetanus toxin in subsets of Kenyon cells. All groups of flies with mushroom body defects show an elevated level of total walking activity. This increase is attributable to the slower and less complete attenuation of activity during the experiment. Walking activity in normal and mushroom body-deficient flies is clustered in active phases (bouts) and rest periods (pauses). Neither the initiation nor the internal structure, but solely the termination of bouts seems to be affected by the mushroom body defects. How this finding relates to the well-documented role of the mushroom bodies in olfactory learning and memory remains to be understood.     

On expandability of models of Peano arithmetic. III

Already after sending the first two parts of this paper ([5], [6]) to the editor, two new results on the subject have appeared — namely the results of G. Wilmers and Z. Ratajczyk. So for the sake of completeness let us review them here.Allatum est die 2 Septembris 1976     

Apology mismatch: An experimental approach to Japan's apologies to Korea

Since 1965, Japan has issued numerous apologies to Korea, which however failed to resonate with the Korean public. To investigate this puzzle, this paper analyses the structure of these apologies and empirically examines their reception in Korea. Blatz et al.'s (Political Psychology, 2009, 30, 219) classification of components of political apologies was applied to conduct a qualitative analysis of 63 official apology statements by Japan to Korea and identify the most frequently used components (Study 1). Korean participants (N = 210) were randomly presented with an experimental vignette consisting of a major apology component to examine their psychological responses, and they also ranked the importance of each major apology component (Study 2). Results showed that while Koreans viewed admission of wrongdoing as an essential and the most demanded component of apology, it was paradoxically the least frequent component offered by Japan in reality.     

Time as a variable in learning on the World-Wide Web

Research in education, psychology, and neuroscience motivates a hypothesis that learning takes time. Support for the hypothesis was found in four replications of an upper level undergraduate course in which the material and activities for 50% of the topics were delivered over the World-Wide Web. Computer records were correlated with three types of test questions: multiple-choice, short-answer, and open-ended essay questions. Positive and significant correlations with time were observed for 33% of the correlations involving multiple-choice questions, 13% of those involving short-answer questions, and 60% of those involving open-ended essay questions. An estimate of the common underlying correlation, ρ, equal to .35 for the four replications was significant. The data also revealed generally low overall study times and a maladaptive pattern of “cramming” before tests instead of distributing practice. In the Discussion section, we argue that computer study times can be used as a predictor of subsequent test performance, which is a measure of student learning.