Automated Measurement of Mouse Freezing Behavior and its Use for Quantitative Trait Locus Analysis of Contextual Fear Conditioning in (BALB/cJ × C57BL/6J)F2 Mice

The most commonly measured mouse behavior in fear conditioning tests is freezing. A technical limitation, particularly for genetic studies, is the method of direct observation used for quantifying this response, with the potential for bias or inconsistencies. We report the use of a computerized method based on latency between photobeam interruption measures as a reliable scoring criterion in mice. The different computer measures obtained during contextual fear conditioning tests showed high correlations with hand-scored freezing; r values ranged from 0.87 to 0.94. Previously reported strain differences between C57BL/6J and DBA/2J in context-dependent fear conditioning were also detected by the computer-based system. In addition, the use of computer-scored freezing of 199 (BALB/cJ×C57BL/6J)F₂ mice enabled us to detect a suggestive gender-dependent chromosomal locus for contextual fear conditioning on distal chromosome 8 by QTL analysis. Automation of freeze scoring would significantly increase efficiency and reliability of this learning and memory test.     

The latent four-zone structure in classroom seating space

The purpose of this study was to extract a latent space structure of classrooms from students seating preferences, and to determine whether classroom division on the basis of latent space structure is useful in predicting actual seating behaviors. The actual seating positions of 151 female junior college students were observed in classrooms once a week for one semester; then students were asked to estimate their seating preference among 49 seating positions in an imaginary classroom. Students did have different preferences for seating positions. A factor analysis suggested that classroom seating space should be divided into four zones: rear, front, center, and sides. A multiple discriminant analysis suggested that the seating positions that students actually took reflected a four-zone structure. Classroom division based on the four-zone structure proved useful in understanding students' seating behaviors.     

A group-centered object relations approach to group psychotherapy with severely disturbed patients

This paper discusses how the application of object relations theory to clinical intervention has extended the application of psychoanalytic group psychotherapy to more severely disturbed patients. The author suggests how to structure the group based on individual and group needs. Clinical issues are presented, including the group as a container, communication peculiarities, and psychotic response to separation, sexuality, and interpretation.     

The organization of verbs of knowing: Evidence for cultural commonality and variation in theory of mind

Cross-cultural commonality and variation in folk theories of knowing were studied by examining the organization of verbs of knowing in German and Japanese adults. German and Japanese adults performed one of two tasks: a similarity judgment task and an attribute rating task. Organizational structure was assessed for the similarity judgment task using multidimensional scaling and additive similarity tree analyses. The attribute rating task was used to describe the characteristics that organized the dimensions and clusters emerging from the scaling solutions. The folk theory of mind displayed was an information processing model with constructive components, although the constructive aspects were more salient for the Germans than for the Japanese.     

The word superiority effect in a case ofHiragana letter strings

This paper is concerned with the effect of syllabification in the superior perceptibility of tachistoscopically presented JapaneseHiragana letter strings. TheHiragana letter is a phonetic symbol having an invariant one-syllable pronunciation. Controlling retention and guessing factors, an experiment replicated the original Reicher (1969) findings of a word superiority effect. Thus, the results suggest that letter unitization which depends upon syllable-like structures (the vocalic center groups; Spoehr & Smith, 1973) is not a prerequisite, but that orthographic regularity and meaningfulness may be important determinants of the word superiority effect.     

Relation between polysomnographic measures during nocturnal sleep and a quotient of behavioral development in infants with developmental disabilities

Polysomnographic features during nocturnal sleep were investigated in 27 infants with developmental disabilities. With the use of a multiple regression analysis, 78% of the variance of a Development Quotient (DQ) measured by a questionnaire on behavioral development for infants was explained by sleep measures. Of 14 sleep measures employed in the study, (1) cumulative awakening time during a nocturnal sleep time, (2) duration of REM stage, and (3) percentage of REM to total sleep time were important in association with the DQ. The findings are consistent with the sleep-cognition hypothesis proposed by Espie, et al.     

Completeness of Second-Order Intuitionistic Propositional Logic with Respect to Phase Semantics for Proof-Terms

Journal of Philosophical Logic - Girard introduced phase semantics as a complete set-theoretic semantics of linear logic, and Okada modified phase-semantic completeness proofs to obtain normal-form...     

Effects of direct and averted gaze on the subsequent saccadic response

The saccadic latency to visual targets is susceptible to the properties of the currently fixated objects. For example, the disappearance of a fixation stimulus prior to presentation of a peripheral target shortens saccadic latencies (the gap effect). In the present study, we investigated the influences of a social signal from a facial fixation stimulus (i.e., gaze direction) on subsequent saccadic responses in the gap paradigm. In Experiment 1, a cartoon face with a direct or averted gaze was used as a fixation stimulus. The pupils of the face were unchanged (overlap), disappeared (gap), or were translated vertically to make or break eye contact (gaze shift). Participants were required to make a saccade toward a target to the left or the right of the fixation stimulus as quickly as possible. The results showed that the gaze direction influenced saccadic latencies only in the gaze shift condition, but not in the gap or overlap condition; the direct-to-averted gaze shift (i.e., breaking eye contact) yielded shorter saccadic latencies than did the averted-to-direct gaze shift (i.e., making eye contact). Further experiments revealed that this effect was eye contact specific (Exp. 2) and that the appearance of an eye gaze immediately before the saccade initiation also influenced the saccadic latency, depending on the gaze direction (Exp. 3). These results suggest that the latency of target-elicited saccades can be modulated not only by physical changes of the fixation stimulus, as has been seen in the conventional gap effect, but also by a social signal from the attended fixation stimulus.     

Aokigahara-jukai: suicide and amnesia in Mt. Fuji's Black Forest

Aokigahara-jukai (Jukai), a dense forest at the foot of Mt. Fuji, is well known as the leading suicide site in Japan, with about 30 people committing suicide there every year. This paper describes Jukai and three cases of psychogenic amnesia following attempted suicide there. Amnesia as an alternative to suicide and the significance of death in Jukai are discussed.