In the past decade, we have seen an increased focus on measuring the impact of zoos, aquariums, and other free-choice learning environments on the conservation-related knowledge, attitudes and behavior of the visiting public. However, no such studies have been conducted on the impact of such environments on the staff working in these…

Although dogs seemingly follow the optimal path where they get to a ball thrown into the water, they certainly do not know the minimization function proposed in the calculus books. Trading the optimization problem for a related rates problem leads to a mathematically identical solution, which, it is argued here, is a more plausible model for the…

We examined 3- to 6-year-old children's attributions of pretence when their own or another's behaviours were characterized as similar (usually unintentionally) to that of a real or nonexistent animal. In some pretence tasks, we asked children if they were trying to look like or looked like the animal they were characterized as looking like; in…

Axonal degeneration contributes to the development of non-remitting neurological deficits and disability in multiple sclerosis, but the molecular mechanisms that underlie axonal loss in multiple sclerosis are not clearly understood. Studies of white matter axonal injury have demonstrated that voltage-gated sodium channels can provide a route for…

The paper reports on studies of the impact of harvesting on a prey-predator system with non-monotonic functional response and intra-specific competition in the predator growth dynamics. The existence of its steady states and their stability are studied using eigenvalue analysis. The possibility of the existence of bionomic equilibria has been…

A simple problem relating to birds chasing each other gives rise to a homogeneous differential equation. The solution draws on student skills in differential equations and basic co-ordinate geometry.

In this article, the author reviews material that deals with the infection pathways taken by three different animal viruses. The comparative study would be useful for discussions involving intermediate and advanced undergraduates. Before discussing the videos, the author first describes the method he followed in selecting these research records.…

It has been found that disoriented children could use geometric information in combination with landmark information to reorient themselves in large but not in small experimental spaces. We tested domestic chicks in the same task and found that they were able to conjoin geometric and nongeometric (landmark) information to reorient themselves in…

We investigated the role of acetylcholine (ACh) during encoding and retrieval of tone/shock-induced fear conditioning with the aim of testing Hasselmo's cholinergic modulation model of encoding and retrieval using a task sensitive to hippocampal disruption. Lesions of the hippocampus impair acquisition and retention of contextual conditioning with…

The terrestrial slug "Limax" is able to acquire short-term and long-term memories during aversive odor-taste associative learning. We investigated the effect of the selective serotonergic neurotoxin 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine (5,7-DHT) on memory. Behavioral studies indicated that 5,7-DHT impaired short-term memory but not long-term memory. HPLC…

Protein synthesis-dependent late phase of LTP (L-LTP) is typically induced by repeated high-frequency stimulation (HFS). This form of L-LTP is reduced in the aged animal and is positively correlated with age-related memory loss. Here we report a novel form of protein synthesis-dependent late phase of LTP in the CA1 region of hippocampus induced by…

Fear conditioning is a popular model for investigating physiological and cellular mechanisms of memory formation. In this paradigm, a footshock is either systematically associated to a tone (paired conditioning) or is pseudorandomly distributed (unpaired conditioning). In the former procedure, the tone/shock association is acquired, whereas in the…

Spontaneous recovery from extinction is one of the most basic phenomena of Pavlovian conditioning. Although it can be studied by using a variety of designs, some procedures are better than others for identifying the involvement of underlying learning processes. A wide range of different learning mechanisms has been suggested as being engaged by…

Much recent research on mechanisms of learning and memory focuses on the role of heterosynaptic neuromodulatory signaling. Such neuromodulation appears to stabilize Hebbian synaptic changes underlying associative learning, thereby extending memory. Previous comparisons of three related sea-hares (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia) uncovered interspecific…

Episodic memory in humans is the conscious recollection of a past event. Animal models of episodic-like memory assess the memory for "what" happened, "where" it happened, and either "when" it happened, or in "which" context it happened, although recollection on such tasks is often difficult to measure. Here we present the first evidence of…