Social order: Using the sequential structure of social interaction to discriminate abnormal social behavior in the rat
We present a simple approach to the quantification of behavioral sequences that requires minimal additional analytical steps after individual behaviors are coded. We implement this approach to identify altered social behavior in rats exposed to alcohol during prenatal development, and show that the frequency of several pairwise sequences of behavior discriminate controls from ethanol-exposed rats when the frequency of individual behaviors involved in those sequences does not. Thus, the approach described here may be useful in detecting subtle deficits in the social domain and identifying neural circuits involved in the org...
Source: Learning and Motivation - July 5, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Insights from rodent food protection behaviors
Publication date: February 2018Source: Learning and Motivation, Volume 61Author(s): Megan Marie Martin St. PetersAbstractThis review aims to provide an update on the current state of research in food protection behaviors. This includes a detailed description of food protection behaviors, theoretical considerations, neuroscientific results, a separate examination of robbers’ behaviors, and some suggestions on future studies. The goal is to provide a succinct overview of food protection behaviors while showcasing their usefulness through an ethologically gestalt lens in which to examine underlying systems of interest not o...
Source: Learning and Motivation - July 5, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
String-pulling for food by the rat: Assessment of movement, topography and kinematics of a bilaterally skilled forelimb act
Publication date: February 2018Source: Learning and Motivation, Volume 61Author(s): Ashley A. Blackwell, Jenny R. Köppen, Ian Q. Whishaw, Douglas G. WallaceAbstractA variety of behavioral tests have been developed to assess skilled forelimb function in the rat, including tests that assess use of a single limb in reaching for food and placing it in the mouth for eating. The present study describes bilateral hand use in string-pulling to obtain a food reward. The movement consists of alternating forelimb movements in which a limb is advanced to grasp a string and withdraw it toward the body in order to retrieve a food rewar...
Source: Learning and Motivation - July 5, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Use of the parallel beam task for skilled walking in a rat model of cerebral ischemia: A qualitative approach
Publication date: February 2018Source: Learning and Motivation, Volume 61Author(s): Brian Ficiur, Jamshid Faraji, Gerlinde A.S. MetzAbstractThe parallel beam task (PBT), in which animals walk across two elevated parallel beams, is commonly used to assess motor deficits in laboratory rodents. Performance of the PBT challenges postural balance, inter-limb coordination and skilled walking abilities, and is typically assessed by quantitative measures such as number of foot slips and/or successful traversals. We proposed that including qualitative movement analysis of skilled walking would increase resolution and sensitivity of...
Source: Learning and Motivation - July 5, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Examining the influence of CS duration and US density on cue-potentiated feeding through analyses of licking microstructure
Publication date: February 2018Source: Learning and Motivation, Volume 61Author(s): Alexander W. JohnsonAbstractIn the current study, groups of mice were trained with either short (20 s) or long (120 s) conditioned stimulus (CS) durations associated with different rates of sucrose unconditioned stimulus (US) delivery, to examine whether different behavioral forms of cue-potentiated feeding in sated mice would be evoked. In training mice received presentations of an auditory CS for 20 s during which a sucrose US was delivered at a density of 1/9 s (Group-20-s). A second group of mice received an auditory...
Source: Learning and Motivation - July 5, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Reprint of: Using video modeling with voiceover instruction plus feedback to train implementation of stimulus preference assessments
Publication date: Available online 25 June 2018Source: Learning and MotivationAuthor(s): Casey L. Nottingham, Jason C. Vladescu, Antonia R. Giannakakos, Lauren K. Schnell, Joshua L. LipschultzAbstractBehavior analysts frequently use stimulus preference assessments to identify putative reinforcers for consumers with autism spectrum disorder. The current study evaluated the effect of video modeling with voiceover instruction and on-screen text (VMVOT) and performance feedback to train staff to implement the multiple-stimulus-without-replacement, paired-stimulus, and single-stimulus preference assessments. Generalization prob...
Source: Learning and Motivation - July 5, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Evaluation of renewal mitigation of negatively reinforced socially significant operant behavior
Publication date: August 2018Source: Learning and Motivation, Volume 63Author(s): Michael E. Kelley, Corina Jimenez-Gomez, Christopher A. Podlesnik, Andrew MorganAbstractRenewal is a relapse phenomenon that occurs when previously treated target behavior re-emerges as a result of context change. Typically, a target response is reinforced in Context A, extinguished in Context B, and then re-emerges in Context A - despite the continuation of the extinction procedure. In the current study, we initially reinforced inappropriate mealtime behavior or aggression in Context A across three children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Dis...
Source: Learning and Motivation - July 5, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Effects of extended extinction and multiple extinction contexts on ABA renewal
Publication date: August 2018Source: Learning and Motivation, Volume 63Author(s): Kirra A. Krisch, Siavash Bandarian-Balooch, David L. NeumannAbstractThe return of fear following exposure therapy suggests that extinction does not result in a permanent unlearning of the association between a conditional stimulus (CS) and an unconditional stimulus (US). One proposed mechanism of return of fear is ABA renewal in which a CS is paired with a US in context A, presented alone in context B, and followed by test trials in context A. The current study examined the effects of extended extinction and multiple extinction contexts on AB...
Source: Learning and Motivation - July 5, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Relapse of conditioned taste aversion in rats exposed to constant and graded extinction treatments
Publication date: August 2018Source: Learning and Motivation, Volume 63Author(s): Sadahiko Nakajima, Takaya Ogai, Ayano SasakiAbstractIn a generalized bait-shyness preparation of rats, the graded extinction procedure was not effective in preventing the relapse of conditioned aversion to a target taste. The present study is a replication of this finding in a conventional taste aversion preparation using a sodium chloride (NaCl) solution as the conditioned stimulus (CS) and an injection of poisonous lithium chloride (LiCl) as the unconditioned stimulus (US). After aversive conditioning of salty taste by a CS-US pairing, its ...
Source: Learning and Motivation - July 5, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Pre-exposure and retrieval effects on generalization of contextual fear
Publication date: August 2018Source: Learning and Motivation, Volume 63Author(s): Dieuwke Sevenster, Lucas de Oliveira Alvares, Rudi D’HoogeAbstractThe degree of generalization from a fearful context to other contexts is determined by precision of the original fear memory. Experiences before and after fear learning affect memory precision. Pre-exposure to a similar context before context conditioning results in increased generalization to the similar context. In contrast, exposure to the conditioning context after fear learning reduces fear generalization. In the current study we aimed to investigate whether the events b...
Source: Learning and Motivation - July 5, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Retention intervals enhance associative competition produced by a preexposed CS
Publication date: August 2018Source: Learning and Motivation, Volume 63Author(s): Diana Klakotskaia, Rachel A. Richardson, Paige N. Michener, Todd R. SchachtmanAbstractEarlier studies have shown that a latent inhibitor is poor at competing for learning with another conditioned stimulus on a compound conditioning trial. Previous research also has shown that the poor conditioned response produced to a latent inhibitor can be reversed by a retention interval placed after conditioning and prior to testing the conditioned response. In the present conditioned taste aversion experiments, a CS flavor (“A”) was given CS-alone p...
Source: Learning and Motivation - July 5, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Working for beverages without being thirsty: Human Pavlovian-instrumental transfer despite outcome devaluation
Publication date: August 2018Source: Learning and Motivation, Volume 63Author(s): Matteo De Tommaso, Tommaso Mastropasqua, Massimo TurattoAbstractThe incentive-motivational salience acquired by a Pavlovian conditioned stimulus (CS) is reflected by its ability to strengthen the performance of a separately learned instrumental action exerted to obtain an outcome, a phenomenon known as Pavlovian-Instrumental transfer (PIT). By means of a PIT paradigm, the present study addressed whether the CS motivational properties vary dynamically with the value of the associated outcome. Previous studies on human PIT and outcome devaluati...
Source: Learning and Motivation - July 5, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
A positive psychological intervention for failing students: Does it improve academic achievement and motivation? A pilot study
Publication date: August 2018Source: Learning and Motivation, Volume 63Author(s): Anna Muro, Joaquim Soler, Àusias Cebolla, Ramon CladellasAbstractIn the last decade, positive psychology interventions (PPI) applied in both clinical and non-clinical samples have demonstrated a proven efficacy to increase positive emotions, well-being, and life satisfaction. However, few studies have used objective indicators of performance to explored the efficacy of PPI to increase students' motivation to study or to improve performance. Therefore, we developed and applied a PPI in a sample of high-school students with poor academic achie...
Source: Learning and Motivation - July 5, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Impact of parenting, reward, and prior achievement on task persistence
Publication date: August 2018Source: Learning and Motivation, Volume 63Author(s): Hüseyin KotamanAbstractThe purpose of this study was to test the impact of reward, prior achievement, parenting style, and parents’ educational and income levels on second graders’ task persistence in the face of a challenging task. The participants were 179 s graders enrolled in one of three public schools in the Şanlıurfa. Participants were randomly assigned to success, no-reward, and reward groups. On the pre- and posttest, participants’ task persistence was measured through engagement with an unsolvable labyrinth puzzle. Stepwi...
Source: Learning and Motivation - July 5, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
The effect of monetary compensation on cognitive training outcomes
Publication date: August 2018Source: Learning and Motivation, Volume 63Author(s): Benjamin Katz, Susanne M. Jaeggi, Martin Buschkuehl, Priti Shah, John JonidesAbstractRecent work has established the possibility that messaging and incentive during recruitment may influence the outcome of cognitive training. These factors may impact intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to complete a training intervention, and one provocative single session study suggests that recruitment messaging may be responsible for an expectancy effect in certain training experiments. To examine the effects of payment and payment messaging during recruitm...
Source: Learning and Motivation - July 5, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
