Mechanisms consistent with long-term depression in the perirhinal cortex (PRh) play a fundamental role in object recognition memory; however, whether AMPA receptor endocytosis is involved in distinct phases of recognition memory is not known. To address this question, we used local PRh infusions of the cell membrane-permeable Tat-GluA2[subscript…

Receiver operating characteristics (ROCs) have been used extensively to study the processes underlying human recognition memory, and this method has recently been applied in studies of rats. However, the extent to which the results from human and animal studies converge is neither entirely clear, nor is it known how the different methods used to…

We have investigated the effect of protein kinase Mzeta (PKM[zeta]) inhibition in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) upon the retention of a nonspatial learned active avoidance response and conditioned taste-aversion (CTA) acquisition in rats. ZIP (10 nmol/[mu]L) injected into the BLA 24 h after training impaired retention of a learned…

According to behavioral momentum theory, preference and relative resistance to change in concurrent chains schedules are correlated and reflect the relative conditioned value of discriminative stimuli. In the present study, we explore the generality of this relation by manipulating the temporal context within a concurrent-chains procedure through…

This article describes a survey conducted by 20 university students in Guangzhou, China since January 2008 on the live turtle trade in markets. Lectures on the Asian turtle conservation problem, turtle identification skills and survey techniques were given to the students before on-site surveys. After guided observation with teachers, students…

Parallel experiments with rats and pigeons examined reasons for previous findings that in choices with probabilistic delayed reinforcers, rats' choices were affected by the time between trials whereas pigeons' choices were not. In both experiments, the animals chose between a standard alternative and an adjusting alternative. A choice of the…

Unpredictability of an unconditioned stimulus (US) typically produces context conditioning in animals and humans. We modified the Martians task--a computer game measuring learning of Pavlovian associations through conditioned suppression--for assessing context conditioning in humans. One between-subjects and one within-subjects study are reported.…

Gaze following is a fundamental component of triadic social interaction which includes events and an object shared with other individuals and is found in both human and nonhuman primates. Most previous work has focused only on the immediate reaction after following another's gaze. In contrast, this study investigated whether gaze following is…

We examined whether repeated reactivations of a context memory would prevent the typical amnesic effects of post-training damage to the hippocampus (HPC). Rats were given a single contextual fear-conditioning session followed by 10 reactivations, involving a brief return to the conditioning context (no shock). Subsequently, the rats received sham…

Household pets can have a positive influence on quality of life for individuals who live with them (Bryant, 1990). Little previous research has investigated issues related to interaction between individuals with developmental disabilities and pets. In this study, we used simple behavioral intervention procedures to decrease pet mistreatment by a…

These activities, prepared for key stage 5 students (ages 16-18) and also suitable for key stage 4 (ages 14-16), show that physical appearance is not necessarily the best way to classify mammals. DNA structure is examined to show how similarities and differences between DNA sequences of mammals can be used to establish evolutionary relationships.…

Previous work has established a relationship between knowledge and environmental concern. Different factors may contribute to this knowledge and animal-related leisure activities may also contribute to this knowledge. 390 participants in Leipzig, Germany were interviewed to assess their animal-related leisure activities, their demographic status…

We compared the effect of D-cycloserine (DCS) on immediate (10 min after conditioning) and delayed (24 h after conditioning) extinction of learned fear in rats. DCS facilitated both immediate and delayed extinction when the drug was administered after extinction training. However, DCS did not facilitate immediate extinction when administered prior…

We have recently hypothesized that NO-cGMP-PKG signaling in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA) during auditory fear conditioning coordinately regulates ERK-driven transcriptional changes in both auditory thalamic (MGm/PIN) and LA neurons that serve to promote pre- and postsynaptic alterations at thalamo-LA synapses, respectively. In the…

Chronic adrenalectomy (ADX) causes a gradual and selective loss of granule cells in the dentate gyrus (DG) of the rat. Here, we administered replacement corticosterone to rats beginning 10 wk after ADX. We then tested them in three discrimination tasks based on object novelty, location, or object/context association. Only during testing of the…