The associative learning effects called blocking and highlighting have previously been explained by covert learned attention, but evidence for learned attention has been indirect, via models of response choice. The present research reports results from eye tracking consistent with the attentional hypothesis: Gaze duration is diminished for blocked…

Computation can have a profound intellectual impact, like the alphabet thousands of years ago. Using computation, people can begin to outline cognitive structures that will revolutionize the way they learn, although, especially at universities, the dreams must sometimes lag behind their potential due to limited funding. Ultimately, however, the…

The purpose of this review is to present information from different experiments that supports the proposal that brain systems are able to predict, in a short-term interval, certain characteristics about the next incoming stimuli. This ability allows the subject to be ready for the stimuli and be more efficient in completing the required task.…

This study examines the perception of paralinguistic intonational meanings deriving from Ohala's Frequency Code (Experiment 1) and Gussenhoven's Effort Code (Experiment 2) in British English and Dutch. Native speakers of British English and Dutch listened to a number of stimuli in their native language and judged each stimulus on four semantic…

We investigated learning-related changes in amplitude, scalp topography, and source localization of the mismatch negativity (MMN), a neurophysiological response correlated with auditory discrimination ability. Participants (n = 32) underwent two EEG recordings while they watched silent films and ignored auditory stimuli. Stimuli were a standard…

TgCRND8 mice represent a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, with onset of cognitive impairment and increasing amyloid-[beta] plaques in their brains at 12 weeks of age. In this study, the spatial memory in 25- to 30-week-old TgCRND8 mice was analyzed in two reference and one working memory Morris water maze (MWM) tests. In reference…

Cannabinoid receptors type 1 (CB1) play a central role in both short-term and long-term extinction of auditory-cued fear memory. The molecular mechanisms underlying this function remain to be clarified. Several studies indicated extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs), the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase with its downstream effector AKT, and…

The adult cerebral cortex can adapt to environmental change. Using monocular deprivation as a paradigm, we find that rapid experience-dependent plasticity exists even in the mature primary visual cortex. However, adult cortical plasticity differs from developmental plasticity in two important ways. First, the effect of adult, but not juvenile…

The widely used Pavlovian fear-conditioning paradigms used for studying the neurobiology of learning and memory have mainly used auditory cues as conditioned stimuli (CS). The present work assessed the neural network involved in olfactory fear conditioning, using olfactory bulb stimulation-induced field potential signal (EFP) as a marker of…

Narratives produced by 69 healthy Italian adults were analyzed for age-related changes of microlinguistic, macrolinguistic and informative aspects. The participants were divided into five age groups (20-24, 25-39, 40-59, 60-74, 75-84). One single-picture stimulus and two cartoon sequences were used to elicit three stories per subject. Age-related…

The research in this article focuses on the relation between self-report of attention deficit disorder (ADD) symptoms and performance on a two-alternative forced-choice task that measures repetition effects. The ADD/Hyperactive Adolescent Self-Report Scale--Short Form is administered to college students after they completed the repetition effects…

Students with emotional or behavioral disorders (E/BD) are characterized by academic deficits and classroom behavioral problems. The relationship between problem behavior and academic difficulties is complex, and some researchers have hypothesized that the classroom behavior problems of students with E/BD are responses to aversive stimuli, namely…

It has been suggested that specific reading disability (SRD) may be attributable to an impaired ability to perceive spectral differences between sounds that leads to a deficit in frequency discrimination and subsequent problems with language and literacy. The objective of the present study was threefold. We aimed to (a) determine whether children…

This article reports the results of an experiment investigating the role of comic strips on ESL learners' reading comprehension. The students' proficiency levels were estimated, and students were organized into a low intermediate-level proficiency group (low-level students) and a high intermediate-level proficiency group (high-level students).…

Zoo projects that encourage reflective learning and are legitimate undertakings for untrained undergraduates are hard to develop. In this article, the author, as a professor in anthropology, discusses and teaches primate studies. His pedagogical goal in teaching primate studies is to enhance the process of learning, and to consider that students…