Inhibition of the LH Surge by Restraint Stress in Cyclic Rats: Studies on the Role of GABAA and GABAB Receptors

There is evidence that stress can alter the activity in the brain of gamma-aminobutyricacid (GABA), a neurotransmitter that has been implicated in the regulation of LH secretion. In the present study the role of GABA in the restraint stress-induced inhibition of the LH surge was investigated in the intact cyclic rat. Intracerebroventricular (icv) administration of the GABAA receptor agonist muscimol (0.1, 0.5 or 1 μg) 5 min before the presumed onset of the pro-oestrous LH surge (at 0900 h) caused a dose dependent suppression of the surge. A single dose of the GABAB receptor agonist baclofen (1 μg; icv) injected at 0855 h postponed the onset of the LH surge, and repeated injections at 0855 and 1130 h suppressed the surge. These data indicate that GABA-ergic activity in the brain can inhibit the LH surge in the cyclic rat via GABAA and GABAB receptors. Pro-oestrous rats were subjected to 5 hrs of restraint starting at 0855 h. Pretreatment with the GABAA receptor antagonist bicuculine (1 μg; icv) at 0840, 0940 and 1040 h or pretreatment with the GABAB receptor antagonist phaclofen (10 μg; icv) at 0840 h were ineffective in preventing the restraint-induced inhibition of the LH surge. The results suggest that GABAA and GABAB receptors are not involved in the inhibitory effect of restraint stress on the LH surge.     

Coffee, Connoisseurship, and an Ethnomethodologically-Informed Sociology of Taste

Coffee is an important commodity and an important comestible, one that is momentous not only for nations’ economies but also, at the micro-social level, as a resource for interpersonal sociability. Among a subculture of certain coffee connoisseurs, the coffee itself is a topic that is an organizing focus of, and for, that sociability. This paper is an empirical investigation of online narratives produced by hobbyist participants in what coffee aficionados refer to as the “third wave” coffee phenomenon and engages and challenges extant perspectives social aspects of “taste” by inspecting members’ insights concerning their conceptions of taste and their participation in a subculture that comprises taste as an important, central defining aspect. The analytic point of view deployed in this paper is ethnomethodological, one that, instead of emphasizing a priori the social structural characteristics of these connoisseurs as do Bourdieu (In: Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste, tr. Richard Nice, Routledge, New York 1984) and those who work in his tradition, emphasizes discovery of members’ own displayed understandings of the topic at hand. As such, this paper is more than an investigation of the “coffee geek” subculture but is also an invitation to an ethnomethodologically-informed sociology of “taste.”     

"SUBJECTIVE APPROACH TO VOCABULARY” ACQUISITION (OR “... I THINK MY BROTHER IS ARBOREAL!")

This article presents a method and rationale for enhancing verbal learning in a typical reading‐language arts lesson through personal and group generated images and associations.     

Class and compassion: socioeconomic factors predict responses to suffering

Previous research indicates that lower-class individuals experience elevated negative emotions as compared with their upper-class counterparts. We examine how the environments of lower-class individuals can also promote greater compassionate responding-that is, concern for the suffering or well-being of others. In the present research, we investigate class-based differences in dispositional compassion and its activation in situations wherein others are suffering. Across studies, relative to their upper-class counterparts, lower-class individuals reported elevated dispositional compassion (Study 1), as well as greater self-reported compassion during a compassion-inducing video (Study 2) and for another person during a social interaction (Study 3). Lower-class individuals also exhibited heart rate deceleration-a physiological response associated with orienting to the social environment and engaging with others-during the compassion-inducing video (Study 2). We discuss a potential mechanism of class-based influences on compassion, whereby lower-class individuals' are more attuned to others' distress, relative to their upper-class counterparts.     

Thoughts about a successful future encourage action in the face of challenge

College environments can put lower socioeconomic status (SES) female students at particular risk of withdrawing during challenging academic situations. However, thinking about reaching a successful future identity may encourage these students to take action rather than withdraw. In a laboratory experiment, we tested the hypothesis that imagining a successful future identity would help lower SES female students to actively and successfully confront challenging tasks (i.e., a mock student–faculty interaction and difficult academic test). As predicted, when future identities were cued rather than past identities, lower SES female students demonstrated greater action readiness. Specifically, they showed more expansive body posture during the mock interaction and more attempts to complete the academic test, which led to better performance. The motivation to take action among higher SES and male students, who are at lower risk of vulnerability in college environments, was not influenced by future identities.     

A PRELIMINARY DESCRIPTION AND FACTOR ANALYSIS OF A BROAD SPECTRUM BATTERY FOR ASSESSING ‘PROGRESS TOWARD READING MATURITY’

The study of reading behavior is presumed to be arrested by low‐risk instrumentation. A battery is described which was assembled to advance study and definition of reading maturity. The battery is shown, by factor analysis, to have greater implicit construct similarity to a popular taxonomy and diagnostic system than conventional measures typically address. Suggestion for the wider use of such paradigms for assessment are shown to yield qualitatively richer data for use in research than current conventions tend to provide.     

PROFICIENT READER SUBTYPES: IMPLICATIONS FOR LITERACY THEORY,ASSESSMENT, AND PRACTICE

This preliminary study reports a two-part investigation of qualitative differences in reading/thinking found among college students. A self-report inventory, ''Myself as a Reader,'' was the primary instrument used in data collection for Part 1. A factor analysis of the inventory responses of 91 participants yielded four relatively distinct strands, with surprisingly high weightings on self-doubt about basic skill competencies, and on what appear to be gender-schema factors. In the subsequent Part 2 survey, 12 participants were asked to classify themselves in one of the four strands identified in the factor analysis, or as ''other.'' All but 2 of the 12 found one of the factor clusters to be defining of their own reading/thinking styles. This was taken as further verification of the profile strands generated in Part 1 of the study. The identification and further study of these heretofore unrecognized strands, or possible 'proficient reader subtypes' (PRSs), could redefine literacy theory, assessment, and practice, as well as the roles of professional literacy providers.