Islamic boarding schools as educational institutions in Indonesia have contributed to national education in terms of the contribution of knowledge and figures in government. On the other hand, the limitations of pesantren funding sources must be solved by good entrepreneurial management so that pesantren are independent of donors or the…

Increasing numbers of young children are experiencing mild to moderate mental health issues that require support in addition to that typically provided by family members and teachers. The services of professional counselors can be particularly useful when children need help adjusting to and coping with various stressors and situations. Many school…

Collaborative learning methods are increasing in popularity as a way of improving student performance and involvement in undergraduate courses. For this study, a group quiz format was used in an attempt to improve course grades and engagement in an introductory meat science course. Six group quizzes and six individual quizzes were taken by 70…

The context in which reward-paired cues are encountered can resolve ambiguity and set the occasion for appropriate reward-seeking. The psychological processes by which contexts regulate reward-seeking remain unclear as contexts are diffuse and difficult to isolate from other stimuli. To overcome this, we modeled a context as a phasic and discrete…

Purpose: The zebra finch is used as a model to study the neural circuitry of auditory-guided human vocal production. The terminology of birdsong production and acoustic analysis, however, differs from human voice production, making it difficult for voice researchers of either species to navigate the literature from the other. The purpose of this…

Sensory feedback shapes ongoing behavior and may produce learning and memory. Motor responses to edible or inedible food in a reduced Aplysia preparation were examined to test how sensory feedback affects behavior and memory. Feeding patterns were initiated by applying a cholinomimetic onto the cerebral ganglion. Feedback from buccal muscles…

The loss of behavioral flexibility is common across a number of neuropsychiatric illnesses. This may be in part due to the loss of the ability to detect or use changes in action-outcome contingencies to guide behavior. There is growing evidence that the ventral hippocampus plays a critical role in the regulation of flexible behavior and…

This research was a phenomenological study that explored the research question: How do school counselors experience working alongside therapy dogs in their schools? The research sub-questions supporting the main question were: (a) What benefits do school counselors experience working with therapy dogs at their schools? and (b) What challenges do…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate preference for and reinforcing efficacy of a therapy dog to increase verbal statements across different contingencies. Five children with autism spectrum disorder ages 3-8 years participated. Alternating treatments and reversal designs were used to compare conditions in which (a) a therapy dog was not…

The likeability of organisms is an effective tool for conservation education. However, stimulating the cute appeal of animals can also bolster the desire to possess them, and thus can encourage the trade in animals as pets. We assessed the perception of primary French schoolchildren (7-11 years old) for the Hermann tortoise (Testudo hermanni), a…

The delayed match-to-sample task (DMS) is used to probe working memory (WM) across species. While the involvement of the PFC in this task has been established, limited information exists regarding the recruitment of broader circuitry, especially under the low- versus high-WM load. We sought to address this question by using a variable-delay…

Learning and memory involves a large neural network of many brain regions, including the notable hippocampus along with the retrosplenial cortex (RSC) and lateral septum (LS). Previous studies have established that the dorsal hippocampus (dHPC) plays a critical role during the acquisition and retrieval/expression of episodic memories. However, the…

Growth hormone (GH) deficiency is associated with cognitive decline which occur both in normal aging and in endocrine disorders. Several brain areas express receptors for GH although their functional role is unclear. To determine how GH affects the capacity for learning and memory by specific actions in one of the key areas, the hippocampus, we…

This article describes the design and implementation of an embedded therapy dog program through the counseling center at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. This program involves having a certified therapy dog present in the counseling center, in the waiting area, during counseling appointments, and during group therapy. It is discussed the…

Translational research means different things to different people. In the biomedical research community, translational research is the process of applying knowledge from basic biology and clinical trials to techniques and tools that address critical medical needs such as new therapies. Translational research then is a "bench to bedside"…