Impairment of hippocampal function precedes frontal and parietal cortex impairment in human Alzheimer's disease(AD). Neurotrophins are critical for behavioral performance and neuronal survival in AD. We used complex and radial mazes to assess spatial orientation and learning in wild-type and B6-Tg(ThylAPP)23Sdz (APP23) animals, a transgenic mouse…

Previous studies showed that the serum- and glucocorticoid-inducible kinase ("sgk") gene plays an important role in long-term memory formation. The present study further examined the role of SGK in long-term potentiation (LTP). The dominant-negative mutant of "sgk," SGKS422A, was used to inactivate SGK. Results revealed a time-dependent increase…

Classical fear conditioning requires the recognition of conditioned stimuli (CS) and the association of the CS with an aversive stimulus. We used Affymetrix oligonucleotide microarrays to characterize changes in gene expression compared to naive mice in both the amygdala and the hippocampus 30 min after classical fear conditioning and 30 min after…

Damage to the medial region of the thalamus, both in clinical cases (e.g., patients with infarcts or the Korsakoff's syndrome) and animal lesion models, is associated with variable amnesic deficits. Some studies suggest that many of these memory deficits rely on the presence of lateral thalamic lesions (LT) that include the intralaminar nuclei,…

eThese experiments examined the effects of posttrial peripheral and intra-amygdala injections of the cholinergic muscarinic receptor agonist oxotremorine on memory consolidation underlying extinction of amphetamine conditioned place preference (CPP) behavior. Male Long-Evans rats were initially trained and tested for an amphetamine (2 mg/kg) CPP.…

False memories are often demonstrated using the misinformation paradigm, in which a person's recollection of a witnessed event is altered after exposure to misinformation about the event. The neural basis of this phenomenon, however, remains unknown. The authors used fMRI to investigate encoding processes during the viewing of an event and…

Deletions, translocations, or point mutations in the CREB-binding protein (CBP) gene have been associated with Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome; a human developmental disorder characterized by retarded growth and reduced mental function. To examine the role of CBP in memory, transgenic mice were generated in which the CaMKII[alpha] promoter drives…

Metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) are known to play a role in synaptic plasticity and learning. We have previously shown that mGluR7 deletion in mice produces a selective working memory (WM) impairment, while other types of memory such as reference memory remain unaffected. Since WM has been associated with Theta activity (6-12 Hz) in…

Information storage in the brain is a temporally graded process involving different memory phases as well as different structures in the mammalian brain. Cortical plasticity seems to be essential to store stable long-term memories, although little information is available at the moment regarding molecular and cellular events supporting memory…

This paper is a response to a review of the conference titled, "Unintegration, Disintegration and Integration", written by Cathy Urwin and Maria Rhode in the ACP Bulletin. The review mentioned Michael Fordham, noting that he referred to a "good" kind of unintegration. In this paper, I point out that this is a somewhat misleading reference to what…

The Kuhn and Pease (p. 279, this issue) article advances the fields of cognitive development and learning by integrating work on executive functions, metacognition, and scientific reasoning. The article also expands developmental work to older children and adults, to personal beliefs, and to social information, and reinvigorates the construct of…

Objective: The authors investigated line bisection performance in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) subtypes. Previous research with neurotypical children found a rightward bias with right-hand use and a leftward bias with left-hand use; however, research with AD/HD participants has failed to similarly measure the…

The idea of the human "individual year" (IY) refers to the span of time from one birthday to the next and provisionally divided into trimesters: the first trimester consisting of months one through three from the date of birth, the second consisting of months four through six, the third consisting of months seven through nine, and the…

Autism involves a basic impairment in social cognition. This study investigated early stage face processing in young children with autism by examining the face-sensitive early negative event-related brain potential component in 3-4 year old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), typical development, and developmental delay. Results…

This volume contains papers submitted to the 10th Annual Conference of the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society, held in Kyustendil, Bulgaria, 12-15 June 2012. The overall goal of the 10th BCES conference is to facilitate discussion of different perspectives on international education providing a forum for scientific debate and constructive…