Moderate Alcohol Consumption and Psychological Stress during Pregnancy Induce Attention and Neuromotor Impairments in Primate Infants

This study examined the effect of moderate alcohol and/or psychological stress during prenancy on off-spring growth and behavior in 33 rhesus monkey infants ( Macaca mulatta ). Infants were derived from 1 of 3 groups of female: (1) alcohol-consuming,0.6g/Kg, Daily throughou gestation (equivalet, to 1-2 drinks), beginning 5 day prior to breeding;(2) alcohol-consuming (as above) and exposed to mild psychological stress(removal from home cage and exposed to 3 random noise bursts); (3) sucrose-consuming, equivolemic, and equicaloric to the alcohol solution.Beginning on day 4 postpartum, intantrs underwent brief weekly separations from their mother for assessment of growth, behavior, and facial dimensions. Results indicated that moderate alcohol consumption throughout pregnancy was sufficient to affect attention and neuromotor functioning, even though the infants were normol in birthweight, gestational length, and facial dimensions, Moreover, alcohol-induced neuromotor impairments were exacerbated by maternal exposure to psychological stress, and males from the alcohol/stress condition had reduced birthweights. Finally, although all females consuming alcohol produced viable offspring, alcohol accompanie by stress during gestation resulted in 23% fetal losses (abortion and stillbirths).     

Self-controlled feedback is effective if it is based on the learner's performance

The study follows up on the contention that self-controlled feedback schedules benefit learning because they are more tailored to the performers' needs than externally controlled feedback schedules (Chiviacowsky & Wulf, 2002). Under this assumption, one would expect learning advantages for individuals who decide whether they want to receive feedback after a trial rather than before a trial. Participants practiced a sequential timing task, and all could decide the trials on which they received feedback. One group ("self-after") decided after every trial whether they wanted to receive feedback for that trial while another group ("self-before") made that decision before each trial The self-after group showed learning benefits on a delayed transfer test (novel absolute timing requirements) with regard to overall timing and relative-timing accuracy. Thus, self-controlled feedback was more effective when the learner could make a decision about receiving feedback after the trial. This seems to support the view that self-controlled feedback benefits learning, because learners can make a decision about feedback based on their performance on a given trial.     

Feedback about more accurate versus less accurate trials: differential effects on self-confidence and activation

One purpose of the present study was to examine whether self-confidence or anxiety would be differentially affected byfeedback from more accurate rather than less accurate trials. The second purpose was to determine whether arousal variations (activation) would predict performance. On day 1, participants performed a golf putting task under one of two conditions: one group received feedback on the most accurate trials, whereas another group received feedback on the least accurate trials. On day 2, participants completed an anxiety questionnaire and performed a retention test. Shin conductance level, as a measure of arousal, was determined. The results indicated that feedback about more accurate trials resulted in more effective learning as well as increased self-confidence. Also, activation was a predictor of performance.