Exposure to a retrieval cue in rats induces changes in regional brain glucose metabolism in the amygdala and other related brain structures

Pre-test exposure to training-related cues is known to improve subsequent retention performance. To identify brain regions engaged in processes promoted by retrieval cues, a brain imaging approach using the [6-14C]glucose autoradiographic technique was used. Sprague-Dawley rats trained in a brightness discrimination avoidance task were submitted to different cueing conditions after a 1- or a 21-day training-to-test interval (TTI). Animals were either non-cued, cued with a box, or cued with a box and the light that served as a discriminative stimulus. Effects of the different cueing conditions on retention performance or on metabolic activity in 58 different brain regions were investigated. Rats cued with the light exhibited a subsequent improvement of their retention performance relative to controls, when tested at the 1- but not 21-days TTI, confirming our previous results. At the 1-day retention interval, a comparison between rats cued with the box and rats cued with the box and the light showed that the light cue significantly increased glucose uptake in a neuronal network composed of the lateral, basal, and central nuclei of the amygdala, the anterior and suprachiasmatic hypothalamic nuclei, the nucleus accumbens, the medial septum, and the insular cortex. In contrast, at the 21-day retention interval, both groups demonstrated similar cerebral metabolic activity. The present results indicate that exposure to a light cue increased metabolic activity in the previously mentioned brain structures only when the light acted as an effective retrieval cue, suggesting an involvement of this network in the processes triggered by a retrieval cue. Arguments are provided supporting the notion that the amygdala may play a key role in these processes. Whether the amygdala is a part of a neural network involved in retrieval processes or in neuromodulating systems that favour the efficacy of retrieval processes is also discussed.     

Physical aggression and expressive vocabulary in 19-month-old twins

In the prevention of physical aggression, possible etiological links with language development are rarely taken into account. Indeed, little is known about when language and aggressive behavior become linked during development and which mechanisms are responsible for this association. This study investigated the association between physical aggression and language in late infancy with a genetic design that involved 562 19-month-old twins. A modest but significant correlation (r = -.20) was found between physical aggression and expressive vocabulary. Substantial heritability was found for physical aggression. Quantitative genetic modeling suggests that the correlation between expressive vocabulary and physical aggression cannot be explained by shared etiologies. However, phenotype-to-phenotype models indicate that the covariation can be entirely accounted for by a significant phenotypic path from expressive vocabulary to physical aggression. The implications of these results for early prevention of chronic physical aggression are discussed.     

Infant feeding and internalized stigma: The role of guilt and shame

Globally the rates of breastfeeding duration are extremely low and postnatal mental health issues are common. As a result, it is important to examine the emotions that underlie these matters. Across two studies (one correlational study N = 160 and one experimental study N = 118), we examined participants’ experiences of shame and guilt when feeding their baby, and the relationship between these emotions with breastfeeding behaviors and internalized stigma. We also examined the psychosocial factors that predict internalized stigma, and whether shame and guilt mediate these relationships. We focused on three factors that have been shown to be associated with internalized stigma in other domains: self-esteem and social support (Study 1), as well as self-efficacy (Study 2). Multiple regression revealed that experienced guilt uniquely predicted a shorter duration of exclusive breastfeeding (Study 1). Higher self-efficacy (Study 2), self-esteem, and perceived social support (Study 1) predicted lower internalized stigma of feeding choice. We found that shame was a mediator for the self-esteem and internalized stigma relationship (Study 1), while guilt was a mediator for the self-efficacy and internalized stigma relationship (Study 2). Our findings highlight the importance of experienced shame and guilt in mothers’ infant feeding experiences. The current results can inform future research and the design of interventions to improve breastfeeding rates and reduce feelings of stigma.     

Nikolai Lossky’s Reception and Criticism of Husserl

Nikolai Lossky is key to the history of the Husserl-Rezeption in Russia. He was the first to publish a review of the Russian translation of Husserl’s first volume of the Logische Untersuchungen that appeared in 1909. He also published a presentation and criticism of Husserl’s transcendental idealism in 1939. An English translation of both of Lossky’s publications is offered in this volume for the first time. The present paper, which is intended as an introduction to these documents, situates Lossky within the Rezeptionsgeschichte of Husserl in Russia and explains why he is central to it. It also explains what Lossky principally found in Husserl: he saw in the latter’s critique of psychologism support for his own ontology, epistemology, and axiology. Lossky characterizes his ontology as an ideal-realism. According to ideal-realism, both the realm of ideal beings (in Plato’s sense) and the realm of real beings (i.e., the world of becoming) are mind-independent. Per his epistemology, which he calls “intuitivism,” real beings are intuited by sensual intuition and ideal beings by intellectual intuition. The realm of ideal beings includes the subrealm of values, which is intuited by axiological intuition. This thoroughly realist conception contrasted sharply with the subjectivist tendencies of the time. So, when Lossky took cognizance of Husserl’s critique of psychologism, he thereupon found an ally in his battle against the various subjectivisms. But, when Husserl took the transcendental idealist turn, Lossky was at the forefront of the backlash against the new direction Husserl wanted to give to phenomenology.     

The evolution of problem and social competence behaviors during toddlerhood: A prospective population‐based cohort survey

Research in developmental psychopathology has long been preoccupied with rather broad categories of behavior, but we know little about the specific behaviors that comprise these categories. The objective of this study was to: (a) estimate the prevalence of problem and social competence behaviors in the general population of children at 17 months of age, and (b) describe the continuity and discontinuity in the degree to which children exhibit these behaviors between 17 and 29 months of age. The results show that frequent problem behaviors are not typical of children under two years of age. Further, the results suggest that it is possible to distinguish between different types of problem behaviors before two years of age. In addition, the results show that gender differences in some problem behaviors are already present before two years of age, and increase in magnitude during toddlerhood. Finally, the results show that interindividual differences in problem behaviors observed before two years of age are stable. The predictive accuracy of frequent problem behaviors in children at 17 months of age was limited, however, with often a majority of toddlers not behaving this way a year later. Overall, our results suggest that toddlerhood represents a critical period when behavioral and emotional problems of potentially clinical significance emerge. Pediatricians should routinely ask parents to report the frequency of their young children's problem behaviors during child health supervision visits so that children whose frequent problem behaviors persist over time can be identified and possibly referred for treatment.     

Joint visual attention and social triangular engagement at 3 and 6 months

Two experiments document infants' ability to detect breaks of contact in an ongoing dyadic interaction and to use the joint attention mechanism for social triangular communication purposes. In Experiment 1, the ability of 3- and 6-month-olds to show joint attention when an adult turned to face another person in sight, and to react when both adults conversed in a reciprocal manner, was measured. In Experiment 2, 3-month-olds were tested in two joint attention conditions: a Person-Person-Object condition (PPO) and a Person-Person-Person condition (PPP). Results showed that both 3- and 6-month-olds' gazed backwards and forwards between the two adults and produced socially directed behaviors towards the adults, thus initiating a social triangular coordinated interaction. Three-month-olds replicated this pattern in the PPP condition but not in the PPO condition. The social context with three persons may be particularly facilitative for infant early communication and sharing within the family.     

Role of motivation to respond to provocation, the social environment, and trait aggression in alcohol-related aggression

Little attention has been paid to the motivation to respond to provocation and to the interaction between this motivation, alcohol, the drinking environment, and individual characteristics. Undergraduates at six Canadian universities (N = 1,232) read three vignettes describing conflict situations with social environmental manipulations while imagining themselves as either sober or intoxicated. Self-ratings assessed likelihood of assertive and aggressive responses and motivational indices of anger, offensiveness of the instigator's actions, and importance to respond to the provocation. Respondents also completed a measure of trait aggression. Multi-group structural equation models supported the hypothesis that perceived likelihood of reactive aggression is influenced by perceived alcohol intoxication, gender, trait aggression, social environmental factors, and motivation to respond to the provocation. In addition, a number of interactions were found among the predictors. These results provide insight into the types of factors that may influence aggression in drinking situations.     

Processing spatial-temporal information in recent-onset schizophrenia: the study of short-term memory and its susceptibility to distraction

Memory impairment is a core feature in schizophrenia (SZ). The aim of this study was to investigate short-term memory (STM) and its sensitivity to distraction with visual-spatial material. This study comprised 23 recent-onset SZ patients and 23 healthy controls. The degree of disruption upon recall from interleaving irrelevant items within a sequence of to-be-remembered items-the sandwich effect [Hitch, G. J. (1975). The role of attention in visual and auditory suffix effects. Memory and Cognition, 3, 501-505]-was examined. STM performance, whether in the presence or absence of distraction, was poorer and markedly more vulnerable to disruption in SZ. Our results suggest that processing spatial information in STM is susceptible to interference in SZ.     

Gender differences in physical aggression: A prospective population-based survey of children before and after 2 years of age

There has been much controversy over the past decades on the origins of gender differences in children's aggressive behavior. A widely held view is that gender differences emerge sometime after 2 years of age and increase in magnitude thereafter because of gender-differentiated socialization practices. The objective of this study was to test for (a) gender differences in the prevalence of physical aggression in the general population of 17-month-old children and (b) change in the magnitude of these differences between 17 and 29 months of age. Contrary to the differential socialization hypothesis, the results showed substantial gender differences in the prevalence of physical aggression at 17 months of age, with 5% of boys but only 1% of girls manifesting physically aggressive behaviors on a frequent basis. The results suggest that there is no change in the magnitude of these differences between 17 and 29 months of age.     

On the role of passion in performance

The present paper reports two studies designed to test the Dualistic Model of Passion with regard to performance attainment in two fields of expertise. Results from both studies supported the Passion Model. Harmonious passion was shown to be a positive source of activity investment in that it directly predicted deliberate practice (Study 1) and positively predicted mastery goals which in turn positively predicted deliberate practice (Study 2). In turn, deliberate practice had a direct positive impact on performance attainment. Obsessive passion was shown to be a mixed source of activity investment. While it directly predicted deliberate practice (Study 1) and directly predicted mastery goals (which predicted deliberate practice), it also predicted performance-avoidance and performance-approach goals, with the former having a tendency to facilitate performance directly, and the latter to directly negatively impact on performance attainment (Study 2). Finally, harmonious passion was also positively related to subjective well-being (SWB) in both studies, while obsessive passion was either unrelated (Study 1) or negatively related to SWB (Study 2). The conceptual and applied implications of the differential influences of harmonious and obsessive passion in performance are discussed.