The interaction of conditioned taste aversions and schedule-induced polydipsia: Effects of repeated conditioning trials

In Experiment 1, rats poisoned following schedule-induced saccharin consumption showed a moderate reduction in the schedule-induced consumption of saccharin. With repeated poisoning, schedule-induced saccharin polydipsia was markedly reduced. Acquisition of conditioned aversion under the schedule-induced procedure was significantly slower than acquisition under water deprivation. In addition, recovery of consumption of the previously poisoned solution during extinction was more rapid under schedule-induced polydipsia. Experiment 2 revealed that schedule-induced polydipsia was less sensitive to suppression by conditioned aversions than a prandial drinking condition in which subjects were equally food deprived but were given a mass feeding instead of spaced pellet deliveries, suggesting that the relative insensitivity of schedule-induced polydipsia to conditioned taste aversions is not simply a function of different levels of food deprivation. This relative insensitivity is offered as a partial basis for the occurrence and maintenance of schedule-induced alcohol polydipsia.     

In practice: Weaving the campus safety net by integrating student health issues into the curriculum

Georgetown University has developed an innovative approach to addressing student health and wellness issues through curriculum infusion—a collaborative pedagogy that introduces real-life health issues faced by college students into their academic courses.     

Joining together with other associations: Strategies for cooperation

Presidents of professional education associations and parent organizations were surveyed in Mississippi to determine the perceived interests and needs of their members in relation to gifted education. All of the respondents reported interest in gifted education workshops at future state conferences. A mean priority of 3.9 on a scale of 1 to 6 was given to gifted education by the presidents of the surveyed associations. Strategies for working with organizations and associations interested in gaining information on the gifted are discussed.     

A history of morphine-induced taste aversion learning fails to affect morphine-induced place preference conditioning in rats

Drugs of abuse have both rewarding and aversive effects, as indexed by the fact that they support place preferences and taste aversions, respectively. In the present study, we explored whether having a history with the aversive effects of morphine (via taste aversion conditioning) impacted the subsequent rewarding effects of morphine, as measured in the place preference design. In Experiment 1, rats were exposed to a taste aversion procedure in which saccharin was followed by morphine. Place preference conditioning was then initiated in which animals were injected with morphine and placed on one side of a two-chambered apparatus. Animals with a taste aversion history acquired place preferences to the same degree as controls without such a history, suggesting that morphine’s affective properties condition multiple effects, dependent on the specific stimuli present during conditioning. To determine whether these results were a reflection of processes operating in traditional associative conditioning, in a modified blocking procedure, place preference conditioning was attempted in the presence of a taste previously associated with morphine (Exp. 2). Under these conditions, animals still acquired morphine-induced place preferences comparable to those of animals without a morphine or conditioning history. These results are consistent with the position that drugs of abuse have multiple stimulus effects (positive and negative) that are differentially associated with specific stimuli (environmental and taste) that drive different behavioral responses (approach and avoidance).     

Longitudinal Trajectories of Four Domains of Parenting in Relation to Adolescent Age and Puberty in Nine Countries

Children, mothers, and fathers in 12 ethnic and regional groups in nine countries (N = 1,338 families) were interviewed annually for 8 years (M_age child = 8–16 years) to model four domains of parenting as a function of child age, puberty, or both. Latent growth curve models revealed that for boys and girls, parents decrease their warmth, behavioral control, rules/limit-setting, and knowledge solicitation in conjunction with children’s age and pubertal status as children develop from ages 8 to 16 across a range of diverse contexts, with steeper declines after age 11 or 12 in three of the four parenting domains. National, ethnic, and regional differences and similarities in the trajectories as a function of age and puberty are discussed.     

The applicability of undergraduate education in jobs

The primary goals of this study are to determine the degree of applicability of undergraduate education in jobs and to evaluate some of the benefits accruing to a college educated person in the labor force. Closely related to this study is the question of whether a relationship exists between the usefulness of college training in jobs and the levels of job satisfaction and income. Some of the principal findings suggest that a large percentage of college graduates feel that their college major is related to their jobs and that the quality of job performance is dependent upon college training and on-the-job training. In addition, where college majors are applicable to job requirements, job satisfaction is high.