Blocking and enhancement of fear conditioning by appetitive CSs

Prior research on Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer has shown that when a CS previously associated with shock (AvCS+) is presented contingent upon a choice response to a discriminative stimulus for food reinforcement, it facilitates discrimination learning. Conversely, a response-contingent CS previously associated with the absence of shock (AvCS?) retards discrimination learning. To evaluate whether these findings reflect across-reinforcement blocking and enhancement effects, two experiments investigated the effects of appetitively conditioned stimuli on fear conditioning to a novel stimulus that was serially compounded with the appetitive CS during conditioned-emotional-response (CER) training. Although there were no differential effects of the appetitive CSs in CER acquisition, Experiment 1, using a relatively weak shock US, showed that a CS previously associated with food (ApCS+) retarded CER extinction to the novel stimulus, in evidence of enhanced fear conditioning to that stimulus. In addition, Experiment 2, using a stronger shock US, showed that a CS previously associated with the absence of food (ApCS?) facilitated CER extinction to the novel stimulus, in evidence of weaker fear conditioning to that stimulus. These results parallel traditional blocking effects and indicate not only that an ApCS+ and an ApCS? are functionally similar to AvCSs of opposite sign, but that their functional similarity is mediated by common central emotional states.     

A Collective Self-Study to Improve Program Coherence of Clinical Experiences

Student feedback collected through program evaluation of secondary education licensure and Master’s program clinical experiences prompted us to conduct a collective self-study. We used a reflective framework for analysis and discussion of the shifts students in our courses made as they progressed from observers to practicing teachers. Along with our graduate students, we collected and shared data and analysis from two courses – an introductory mathematics course for pre-service teachers and a capstone self-study teacher research course for in-service teachers. Data included students’ reflective accounts of their clinical experiences, dialogue with peers in response memos and focus groups, and our meta-conversation about and interpretations of data captured in meeting notes, audio recordings of meetings, email exchanges, and video conferencing over a two-month period. Analysis resulted in reframed thinking about our teaching and implications for program coherence, including provision of meaningful participant observations in diverse settings, design of dialogic platforms for students to make connections, and support of a critical level of reflection to inform teacher professional practice. The results are informative to teacher educators and programs seeking to better understand their roles in designing dialogic spaces for students to think deeply about the connections of their courses to clinical experiences and in supporting ongoing teacher professional development. The study highlights the benefits of faculty collective self-studies and contributes to the literature on self-study for program development.     

The perception of participation in executive governance structures in Dutch universities

In 1997 a new governance act, based on the principles of New Public Management (NPM) was introduced at Dutch universities. The aims were to realise integrated management, to strengthen the position of executives at the central (executive board) and faculty (dean) levels, to introduce a Supervisory Board at the institution’s central level, and to increase the leeway for universities to design its own governance structure. This article reports on a large-scale evaluation of the governance act and focuses on student and staff participation in decision-making and on the actual appraisal of different actors within the universities (leaders, managers, staff, students) of the governance structure of their university. The empirical data reveal a mixed picture regarding the appreciation of the new governance structure, but overall—in contrast with many critical reviews of NPM in higher education—there seems to be considerable endorsement for the present situation.     

Positive and negative transfer of conditioned aversive stimuli to a conditioned appetitive excitor as a function of aversive US intensity

Rats were given Pavlovian aversive (Av) conditioning in which a weak (0.5-sec, 0.7-mA) or a strong (0.5-sec, 1.4-mA) footshock unconditioned stimulus (US) was presented alone or in a positive, zero, or negative correlation with a flashing-light conditioned stimulus (AvCS+, AvCSo, or AvCS?, respectively). Thereafter, the subjects received Pavlovian appetitive (Ap) conditioning in which the flashing-light CS was positively correlated in a forward order with the delivery of a food US. As anticipated, for subjects that had been trained with the strong shock US, the AvCS+ retarded and the AvCS? facilitated Ap conditioning relative to both the AvCSo and the novel-CS treatments, which did not differ in effect. However, the exact opposite prevailed for the AvCS+ and AvCS? subjects that had been trained with the weak shock US. On the basis of these and other data, we propose an “ABC” model of transfer that stresses the importance of affective, behavioral, and cognitive factors in accounting for the divergent results that are obtained in both Av-to-Ap and Ap-to-Av transfer paradigms.     

Variables affecting alternation behavior in the cockroach,Blatta orientalis

To investigate alternation behavior in the cockroach as an invertebrate, three T-maze experiments were conducted assessing the effects of (a) intratrial (exposure) and intertrial (exposure to test) interval, (b) brightness similarity of the alternatives and response-direction factors, and (c) an initial free-choice vs. a varying number of forced-choice exposures. Alternation was enhanced with a long exposure on Trial 1, a short interval between Trial 1 and Trial 2 (test), greater dissimilarity (or discriminability) of the arm brightnesses and more frequent forced-choice exposures to an arm prior to test. These results highlight the role of intramaze brightness cues as controlling alternation in the cockroach and accord well with a response-to-change interpretation of the phenomenon. In addition, they suggest that the alternation paradigm can be used effectively to assay short-term memory storage in neurologically simple organisms.     

The Teaching of Hebrew in the Reform Religious School

There are few educators today who would take issue with the assertion that research, and the findings of research, are beginning to dominate the American educational scene. The growing influence of science and the scientific method on every aspect of contemporary living has brought about significant change and innovation in the school, in the home and in the community at-large.