Conditioned fear is modulated by D2 receptor pathway connecting the ventral tegmental area and basolateral amygdala

Excitation of the mesocorticolimbic pathway, originating from dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), may be important for the development of exaggerated fear responding. Among the forebrain regions innervated by this pathway, the amygdala is an essential component of the neural circuitry of conditioned fear. The functional role of the dopaminergic pathway connecting the VTA to the basolateral amygdala (BLA) in fear and anxiety has received little attention. In vivo microdialysis was performed to measure dopamine levels in the BLA of Wistar rats that received the dopamine D(2) agonist quinpirole (1 μg/0.2 μl) into the VTA and were subjected to a fear conditioning test using a light as the conditioned stimulus (CS). The effects of intra-BLA injections of the D(1) antagonist SCH 23390 (1 and 2 μg/0.2 μl) and D(2) antagonist sulpiride (1 and 2 μg/0.2 μl) on fear-potentiated startle (FPS) to a light-CS were also assessed. Locomotor performance was evaluated by use of open-field and rotarod tests. Freezing and increased dopamine levels in the BLA in response to the CS were both inhibited by intra-VTA quinpirole. Whereas intra-BLA SCH 23390 did not affect FPS, intra-BLA sulpiride (2 μg) inhibited FPS. Sulpiride's ability to decrease FPS cannot be attributed to nonspecific effects because this drug did not affect motor performance. These findings indicate that the dopamine D(2) receptor pathway connecting the ventral tegmental area and the basolateral amygdala modulates fear and anxiety and may be a novel pharmacological target for the treatment of anxiety.     

Universal sex differences in the desire for sexual variety: tests from 52 nations, 6 continents,and 13 islands

Evolutionary psychologists have hypothesized that men and women possess both long-term and short-term mating strategies, with men's short-term strategy differentially rooted in the desire for sexual variety. In this article, findings from a cross-cultural survey of 16,288 people across 10 major world regions (including North America, South America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, Middle East, Africa, Oceania, South/Southeast Asia, and East Asia) demonstrate that sex differences in the desire for sexual variety are culturally universal throughout these world regions. Sex differences were evident regardless of whether mean, median, distributional, or categorical indexes of sexual differentiation were evaluated. Sex differences were evident regardless of the measures used to evaluate them. Among contemporary theories of human mating, pluralistic approaches that hypothesize sex differences in the evolved design of short-term mating provide the most compelling account of these robust empirical findings.     

Sentence comprehension and production in children with cochlear implants: Errorless procedures and equivalence-based instruction

Research supports equivalence-based instruction (EBI) and matrix training for increased listening and speaking skills in children with cochlear implants (CI). We incorporated errorless procedures to optimize the EBI and evaluated the effects on the auditory comprehension and verbal responding at-sentences level in six CI children who were readers and showed inaccurate tacting. Subject-verb-object sentences were arranged in two matrices; diagonal combinations were trained and evaluated non-diagonal combinations. EBI included stimulus fading and exclusion to directly teach the dictated sentence-picture matching; written-sentences construction upon dictation also was taught. Probes assessed the derived stimulus-stimulus and stimulus-response relations. All participants learned the auditory-visual discriminations and the exclusion resulted in fewer errors than on a stimulus fading procedure. Five participants formed equivalence classes and increased verbal responding to equivalent stimuli, especially pictures tacting. They also showed recombinative generalization for both matrices. Professionals can incorporate errorless procedures to EBI for improving sentence comprehension, tacting, and productivity in CI children.     

Is Salesperson Attractiveness a Boon or a Bane? The Moderating Role of Perceived Labor Cost‐To‐Price Ratio in Retail Bargaining

This research examines the important but unexamined effects of salesperson attractiveness on consumer bargaining behavior in retail contexts. In line with our theorizing, three studies demonstrate that the effect of salesperson attractiveness on consumer bargaining depends on their general beliefs regarding the impact of labor costs on retail prices. While consumers bargain less with an attractive salesperson when their labor costs‐to‐price (LP) ratio beliefs are relatively low, they bargain harder with an attractive, as opposed to a less attractive, salesperson, when their LP ratio beliefs are relatively high. As well, we provide evidence for the process, based on the salesperson's perceived trustworthiness and consumers' consequent bargaining stance toward her.     

Goal setting in acquisition of a volleyball skill late in motor learning

To examine the effects of different types of goal setting on motor skill acquisition during advanced stages of learning. 44 female volleyball players were tested in four experimental training groups with generic goals, specific long-term goals, specific short-term goals, and as a control group. This study's pretest, training, and retention test phases used performance of a volleyball dig/forearm pass oriented to a target. Analyses yielded no significant differences among groups, although performance increased from pre- to retention test.     

Human bilateral deficit during a dynamic multi-joint leg press movement

Bilateral deficit has been used to describe the phenomenon of a reduction in performance during synchronous bilateral movements when compared to the sum of identical unilateral movements. The study of bilateral deficit in humans under isometric, and to a lesser extent, dynamic conditions has shown bilateral decreases in force and muscle activation, and delayed reaction time. Results are equivocal, however, and biomechanical analyses of dynamic conditions, i.e., movements, are lacking. Our purpose was to determine, through an analysis of kinematic, kinetic, and electromyographic (EMG) data, whether or not bilateral deficit was present during a dynamic multi-joint movement under conditions where the external load was relatively equal for unilateral and bilateral efforts. Five male participants performed repeated unilateral and bilateral maximal horizontal leg press jumps under 100% (1BW) and 200% (2BW) relative body weight loads. Significant bilateral deficits in resultant ground reaction impulse of 27.7% and 13.0% were present in 1BW and 2BW, respectively. Maximum joint power at the hip exhibited significant deficits in both 1BW and 2BW of 35.6% and 25.1%, respectively. In both 1BW and 2BW conditions, ankle (15.5% and 11.5%), knee (10.9% and 5.7%), and hip (38.5% and 30.4%) work was significantly affected. Statistically significant EMG bilateral deficits were found in every muscle in both conditions except for rectus femoris during the 2BW trials. Bilateral deficit values ranged from 9.1% to 20.9% for 1BW, while deficits between 6.1% and 20.7% were found in 2BW. These results indicate that during dynamic leg press, bilateral deficit does exist, but that individual muscle activation levels and joint kinetics are not equally affected.     

Reinstatement of episodic-like memory in rats by neurokinin-1 receptor antagonism

We previously showed that a systemic administration of the selective non-peptide neurokinin-1-receptor (NK-1-R) antagonist SR140333 increases hippocampal acetylcholine levels and facilitates long term memory. In the present study, we investigated whether systemic SR140333 has beneficial effects on episodic-like memory for unique experiences. Rats received either no injection, a vehicle injection or SR140333 at doses of 1, 3 and 9 mg/kg (i.p.) prior to the acquisition of an object memory for what, where and when. In line with previous results, untreated rats showed episodic-like memory, while vehicle-injected rats were impaired. A low dose of 1mg/kg SR140333 reinstated episodic-like memory. This result might be related to the effects of SR140333 on hippocampal cholinergic transmission and/or on the stress-response elicited by the injection procedure. Higher doses of SR140333 (3 and 9 mg/kg) induced psychomotor effects, including stereotypic behaviors and arched posture. Since NK-1-R antagonists have anxiolytic and promestic properties and induce hippocampal acetylcholine release at lower doses, they might be effective in the alleviation of the cognitive deficits and increased anxiety seen in early stages of Alzheimer's disease.     

The role of cultural and spiritual expressions in affirming a sense of self,place, and purpose among young urban,Indigenous Australians

This article sets out to discuss the impact that urban living has had on the lives of young Indigenous people. It will seek to discover some of the problems that occur when there is a meeting of two cultures, in this case the Indigenous culture of Australian Aboriginal people and the mainstream culture that has been derived largely from west European traditions which, in turn, was born out of Western Christian perspectives. As well, it will explore the challenges faced by minority groups who live in pluralist contexts when they attempt to hand on their ways to their young people, in particular, the difficulties faced by urban Indigenous Australians who try to ensure that their young people will develop knowledge about their cultural and spiritual heritage. Finally it will examine how the rights of young Indigenous people need to be protected so that they can continue to develop their particular identity and at the same time take their place with pride and integrity in the pluralist social context that defines Australia today.

Many Australians understand that Aboriginal people have a special respect for nature. The identity we have with the land is sacred and unique. Many people are beginning to understand this more. Also there are many Australians who appreciate that Aboriginal people have a very strong sense of community. All persons matter. All of us belong and there are many more Australians who understand that we are people who celebrate together.

What I want you to know about is another special quality of my people. I believe it is most important. It is our most unique gift. It is perhaps the greatest gift we can give to our fellow Australians. In our language it is the quality called dadirri. It is inner, deep listening and quiet, still awareness.

Dadirri recognizes the deep spring inside us. We call on it and it calls to us. This is the gift that Australia is thirsting for. It is something like what you call ‘contemplation’. (Ungunmerr, 2003 Ungunmerr, Miriam‐Rose. 2003. “Dadirri—The spring within”. In Dadirri: the spring within—the spiritual art of the Aboriginal people from Australia’s Daly River region, Edited by: Farrelly, E. vii–ix. Darwin, NT, , Australia: Terry Knight and Associates.  [Google Scholar])     

Retro-cue benefits in working memory without sustained focal attention

In working memory (WM) tasks, performance can be boosted by directing attention to one memory object: When a retro-cue in the retention interval indicates which object will be tested, responding is faster and more accurate (the retro-cue benefit). We tested whether the retro-cue benefit in WM depends on sustained attention to the cued object by inserting an attention-demanding interruption task between the retro-cue and the memory test. In the first experiment, the interruption task required participants to shift their visual attention away from the cued representation and to a visual classification task on colors. In the second and third experiments, the interruption task required participants to shift their focal attention within WM: Attention was directed away from the cued representation by probing another representation from the memory array prior to probing the cued object. The retro-cue benefit was not attenuated by shifts of perceptual attention or by shifts of attention within WM. We concluded that sustained attention is not needed to maintain the cued representation in a state of heightened accessibility.