The use of an escape contingency and a token economy to increase food acceptance

Escape (termination of a meal) and token-based differential reinforcement of alternative behavior were used as reinforcement to increase acceptance of food. Using a changing criterion design, the number of bites accepted and consumed was gradually increased to 15 bites per meal. These data suggest that, in some cases, escape may be a potent reinforcer for food acceptance.     

A multilevel analysis of the interpersonal behavior of socially anxious people

We investigate the interpersonal behavior of socially anxious (SA) and non-socially anxious (NSA) individuals at three different levels of analysis, focusing on the dimensions of warmth and dominance. Study 1 examines self-reported general interaction styles, Study 2 explores behavior occurring within the context of a single interaction, and in Study 3 we focus on the performance of a single conversational act (a disagreement). Studies 1 and 2 adopt the framework of Interpersonal Circumplex Theory (IPC; Kiesler, 1983), which is well suited for studying trait-level and interaction-level social behaviors, while Study 3 is grounded in Politeness Theory (PT; Brown & Levinson, 1987), which can be used to analyze individual acts at the microstructural level. The potential mutual relevance of PT and IPC is also discussed.     

Gait transitions are not dependent on changes in intralimb coordination variability

The HKB model (H. Haken, J. A. S. Kelso, & H. Bunz, 1985) of coordination has been predominantly applied to upper extremity stationary movements. It predicts increased variability of relative phase before a transition and a decrease after a transition. The authors of the present study extended the intralimb lower extremity locomotive research of F. J. Diedrich and W. H. Warren (1995) by conducting continuous treadmill walk-to-run and run-to-walk trials with 10 participants. Standard deviation of knee-ankle and hip-ankle relative phase did not increase before walk-to-run and run-to-walk transitions, and there was no decrease in knee-ankle relative phase variability after either transition. The results of this study did not provide strong support for application of the variability predictions of the HKB model of coordination to lower extremity intralimb coordination during gait transitions.     

Evidence for the substantia nigra pars compacta as an essential component of a memory system independent of the hippocampal memory system

The aim of the present study was to test if the nigrostriatal pathway is an essential component for a water maze cued task learning and if it works independently of the hippocampal memory system. This hypothesis was tested using an animal model of Parkinson's disease in which male Wistar rats were lesioned in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) by the intranigral infusion of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), thus causing a partial depletion of striatal dopamine. SNc-lesioned and sham-operated animals were implanted bilaterally with guide cannulae above the dorsal hippocampus in order to be tested after the administration of 0.4 microl 2% lidocaine or saline into this structure. The animals were tested in a spatial or in a cued version of the water maze, memory tasks previously reported to model hippocampal-dependent spatial/relational and striatal-dependent S-R learning, respectively. Hippocampal inactivation, but not SNc lesion, impaired learning and memory in the spatial version of the water maze. An opposite situation was observed with the cued version. No significant interaction was observed between the SNc lesion and hippocampal inactivation conditions affecting scores in the spatial or in the cued version of the water maze. These results suggest that the nigrostriatal pathway is an essential part of the memory system that processes S-R learning and that it works independently of the hippocampal memory system that processes spatial/relational memories.     

Emotional effect of physical aggression among adults in the general population in a Canadian province

The emotional effect of personal involvement in physical aggression was examined in a random sample of 1,753 adults from Ontario, Canada, using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (response rate of 67%). Respondents reported a range of emotional responses from feeling good or justified to feeling angry, upset, terrified, disgusted, hurt, and embarrassed. Open-ended responses regarding emotional response were rated by the authors for 149 incidents of aggression, which yielded five categories: (1) positive impact 4%, (2) no feeling or no effect 31%, (3) mildly negative 20%, (4) moderately negative 28%, and (5) severely negative 17% (Kappa statistic of interrater agreement=.77). The substantial proportion of incidents involving positive or no emotional response suggests that a greater understanding of aggression among individuals can be gained by the development and application of a quantitative measure of emotional response that reflects the full range of emotions (positive and negative), using dimensions identified in this study such as feeling upset, fear, and anger.     

CHALLENGES FACING FEMALE DOCTORAL STUDENTS AND RECENT GRADUATES

Although increasing the numbers of women and minority faculty in academia is a widely held goal, their numbers remain small. The presence of women and minorities decreases disproportionately at each ascending rung of the academic ladder. This investigation identified factors potentially contributing to attrition in White and non-White women at a critical stage in their careers: as doctoral candidates and recent graduates. Two-hundred and twenty-four women in the life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities described their most pressing professional and personal concerns and offered suggestions for changes in their fields and in academia more generally. Independent raters coded responses by thematic content. Differences in responses by field, educational status, and minority status were examined. The most frequently cited concerns involved practical issues such as finding employment, financial stability, and developing professional expertise, revealing wide-spread concerns about a competitive academic climate. Suggestions included modifications in professional conduct, the employment and pay structure, and training.     

Establishing and maintaining a low-cost zebrafish breeding and behavioral research facility

The purpose of this paper is to describe how to establish and maintain a low-cost zebrafish facility that can be used for both teaching and research purposes. The cost of the facility ranges from about 250 to250 to 1,000, depending on the size of the facility and the experiments that will be conducted. The facility plan presented here also has the advantage that it can be disassembled so that it need not function year-round. A detailed list of supplies and materials is provided, along with detailed instructions on how to set up and maintain the adult and breeding portions of the facility. Finally, there is discussion of some of the general uses of a zebrafish facility, including a variety of procedures that are currently being used in behavioral research with this species.     

A behavioral technique for recovery from the psychological trauma of hysterectomy

Three groups of women (ns = 10) undergoing hysterectomy were subjects in an evaluation of biofeedback and relaxation techniques applied to recovery from psychological trauma of hysterectomy. Dependent measures included requests of pain medications, anxiety levels, finger-tip temperature, subjective units of discomfort, and number of days post-operative care. Although the results were mixed on most variables, the number of days post-operative care was significantly less in the relaxation/biofeedback group.