Pre-training prevents context fear conditioning deficits produced by hippocampal NMDA receptor blockade

These experiments explore parallels between the neurobiological substrates of spatial and context learning. Male Long-Evans rats were employed in a context fear conditioning protocol that involved sequential acquisition and testing in two distinct contexts. Rats received three unsignaled footshocks in one context and were tested for context fear, measured as freezing, the next day. Four days later, the procedure was repeated in a different, distinct context. Rats received a hippocampal infusion of either the NMDA receptor antagonist 5-amino-phosphonovaleric acid (APV, 10 microg) or vehicle prior to training in each context. NMDA receptor blockade was effective in impairing context learning only in the first context. Context fear acquisition was not impaired by APV in the second context, indicating that pre-training (in the first context) mitigated the effects of APV. These data agree with those seen previously in the water maze, where pre-training prevented learning deficits produced by NMDA receptor blockade. The data thus suggest that the neurobiological substrates of context learning and place learning overlap.     

Beidler’s theory and human taste stimulation

Beidler’s fundamental taste equation, relating response magnitude and stimulus concentration, was found to be a useful means of expressing data derived from chemoreception experiments with man. Seven L-amino acids and glycine were studied over a wide range in concentration. To a first approximation, the data are in accord with Beidler’s taste equation. Interestingly, the change in free energy (ΔF) for each stimulus was found to be small, in agreement with earlier published conclusions that the initial step in chemoreception is most likely one of adsorption. Several means of depicting these data are evaluated and their contribution to a better understanding of chemoreception is discussed.     

Self-differentiated assistance in older widows' support systems

It was proposed that today's older women, who are a low-fertility cohort, have deficiences in their informal support systems due to small families, and consequently, the absence of either sons or daughters in those families. Respondents (N=225) were recent widows, ages 60–89, who resided in a large metropolitan area in the Midwest. Each widow was personally interviewed regarding 10 areas of support that are provided by adult children, other kin, or friends/neighbors. Findings indicated significant differences in the receipt of traditionally male types of support for widows with sons, as compared to those without sons (p<.01), but no differences in the receipt of traditionally female types of support for widows without daughters. In addition, the extent to which persons other than children perform sex-differentiated types of support was explored. Directions for future research are suggested.This is a revised version of a paper entitled, Comparisons of Widows' Informal Support Networks Using Different Family Configurations, presented at the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, New Orleans, LA, November 22–26, 1985. This study was supported by a grant from AARP Andrus Foundation.     

A comparison of the effects of child management and planned activities training in five parenting environments

This study compared the effects of two procedures designd to enhance the extratraining effects of behavioral parents training. Twenty parents of oppositianal children were randomly assign to either a child manangment training condition or a combined child management plus planned activity condition. A further 10 nonproblem children and their parents serve as a social validation group. Observation of both parents and children behavior were conducted in each of five home observation setting (breakfirst time, kindy (kindergarten) or school exit, a structured playtime, bathtime, and bedtime). Both training procedures result in change in both child oppositional and parents oversive behaviosr in all observation settings. In addition, desire positive parents behaviour also improve in all setting. Treatment effect were maintained in all setting at 3-month follow up. Composition between oppositional children following treatment and children in the social validation group showed that they each displayed similarly low lavels of oppositional behaviour in all settings. The inplecation of the results for faciliating generalised changes in behavioral parent training are discusssd.This study was supported by a grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC324 82 579049). We wish to thank all families, therapists, and observers who participated in the project.     

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF HOME TO OLDER WIDOWS

Elderly widows are increasingly choosing to remain alone in their homes following the deaths of their husbands. For a number of reasons they are a more vulnerable group than married older women, and thus were expected to have less positive attitudes toward being homeowners. In the present study widows (N = 70) who live alone were compared to married women (N = 74) who who lived with only their husbands. Both groups lived in single-family dwellings. Subjects responded to an empirically derived Likert-type scale which measures four factors relating to attachment to hom. Results indicated that widows had significantly higher scores on the Traditional Family Orientation factor and on the Competence in a Familiar Environment factor. One explanation of these findings is that the home may take on new meanings for widows as they reflect on earlier family experiences or as they discover that they can competently manage an independent lifestyle for themselves.     

Bound to Feel Bad About Oneself: Relations Between Attachment and the Self-conscious Emotions of Guilt and Shame in Children and Adolescents

Two cross-sectional studies were conducted to explore the relationship between attachment and the self-conscious emotions of guilt and shame in childhood. Study 1 was performed in non-clinical children aged 9–13 years (N = 688) who completed a single-item measure of attachment style and a vignette-based instrument for assessing guilt and shame. Results showed that children who classified themselves as insecurely attached displayed higher levels of shame and maladaptive types of guilt as compared to securely attached children. Study 2 was conducted in adolescents aged 12–18 years (N = 135), of whom the majority was referred to a clinical setting because of externalizing problems. Adolescents filled in a dimensional scale for measuring attachment quality to parents and peers and the above mentioned vignette-based instrument of guilt and shame. It was found that the clinical adolescents generally exhibited lower levels of self-conscious emotions as compared to non-clinical adolescents. Within this clinical group, communication to parents and peers was associated with higher levels of self-conscious emotions, and alienation was accompanied by higher levels of maladaptive forms of guilt and shame. Altogether, these results fit with the theory that attachment (in)security is involved in people’s proneness to experience self-conscious emotions.     

Can Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder be differentiated by motor and balance deficits?

There is an ongoing debate regarding the diagnostic overlap between Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). Differential diagnosis is important because of treatment implications. Children aged 7–10 years (47 ADHD, 30 FASD, 39 controls) participated. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC) and the Clinical Observations of Motor and Postural Skills (COMPS) were used. Force plate and electromyography data were collected during static balance and balance perturbation. On the M-ABC both children with ADHD and FASD had more motor problems than controls. The ADHD-Combined and the ADHD-Predominantly Inattentive subgroups were similarly affected in their fine motor skills. On the COMPS, the majority of children in both groups performed in the normal range, but for those children clinically affected, it was the children with ADHD who were more likely to be severely impaired. The children with ADHD were characterized by early onset latencies of the tibialis anterior muscles and increased amplitudes of the gastrocnemius muscles. Difficulty scaling muscle force reflecting medial cerebellar involvement may be the key problem in ADHD. Cerebellar involvement in the postural instability in FASD awaits further study.     

Views from Above the Glass Ceiling: Does the Academic Environment Influence Women Professors’ Careers and Experiences?

Using data from 188 female full professors from all 14 Dutch universities this study examines whether skewed sex ratios in the environment and the absence of a women-friendly environment are related to their career path experiences and to their perception of the general ease of women’s obtaining a professorship. Results from multi-level analyses show a positive relationship between the perception of women-friendly environment and both the experience of their own career path, and the perceived ease with which other women could become a full professor. Moreover results show that the higher the percentage of women professors in the academic field the stronger the relationship between perception of women friendliness and the experienced ease with which they became a full professor.