The return to drug seeking, even after prolonged periods of abstinence, is a defining feature of cocaine addiction. The neural circuitry underlying relapse has been identified in neuropharmacological studies of experimental animals, typically rats, and supported in brain imaging studies of human addicts. Although the nucleus accumbens (NAcc),…

Neuroscientific approaches to drug addiction traditionally have been based on the premise that addiction is a process that results from brain changes that in turn result from chronic administration of drugs of abuse. An alternative approach views drug addiction as a behavioral disorder in which drugs function as preeminent reinforcers. Although…

This book presents essential learning approaches. It introduces educational and training activities, as well as various innovative methods aiming at the development of practical skills, in order to strengthen the continuous process of environmental education, and in particular the education for sustainable development (ESD). In doing so, it…

This article describes an upstate school in New York that integrates animals into their curriculum. Milbrook School has all the usual classes one might expect at a high-caliber private high school. Millbrook is a school with a zoo in its center. Or maybe it's more accurately described as a zoo surrounded by a school. Either way, it's an unusual…

Young human children at around 2 years of age fail to predict the correct location of an object when it is dropped from the top of an S-shape opaque tube. They search in the location just below the releasing point (Hood, 1995). This type of error, called a "gravity bias", has recently been reported in dogs and monkeys. In the present study, we…

Pavlovian fear learning depends on predictive error, so that fear learning occurs when the actual outcome of a conditioning trial exceeds the expected outcome. Previous research has shown that opioid receptors, including [mu]-opioid receptors in the ventrolateral quadrant of the midbrain periaqueductal gray (vlPAG), mediate such predictive fear…

It has been discovered recently that monocular deprivation in young adult mice induces ocular dominance plasticity (ODP). This contradicts the traditional belief that ODP is restricted to a juvenile critical period. However, questions remain. ODP of young adults has been observed only using methods that are indirectly related to vision, and the…

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief review of current research in fragile X syndrome (FXS) with regards to the morphology and behavioral phenotype associated with FXS and the use of psychotropic medication for the treatment of behavior problems (e.g., aggression) often seen in FXS (full mutation). The lack of production of the fragile…

The neural plasticity necessary for acquisition and retention of eyeblink conditioning has been localized to the cerebellum. However, the sources of sensory input to the cerebellum that are necessary for establishing learning-related plasticity have not been identified completely. The inferior colliculus may be a source of sensory input to the…

Color, texture, line, shape, and form are just some of the words the author's students learn as they study the environment around them. In this article, the author describes an art lesson wherein her fifth grade students look at the richness of form, pattern, and color in different animals. This lesson on close-up views helps her students see the…

Physics instruction that is student oriented will generate a long-term individual interest and therefore a lifelong openness to science. Phenomena of nature are part of the fields of interest which provide context leading to greater student interest. In this paper we present the locomotion of fish and sperm in a way which can be used to teach in…

Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

Developing good record-keeping habits is essential for organizing, processing, and communicating experimental results objectively. Therefore, the authors designed an interactive method of teaching first graders to record, organize, and interpret data as they studied the life cycle of the spotted salamander ("Ambystoma maculatum"). In their…

It is well documented that people are less interested in studying plants than animals. We tested whether university students would selectively recall more animal images than plant images even when equally-nameable plant and animal images were presented for equal lengths of time. Animal and plant images were pre-tested and 14 animal-plant pairs…