Investigatory behavior inthe plains garter snake (Thamnophis radix) and several additional species

Garter snakes (Thamnophis radix), hognose snakes (Heterodon platyrhinos), and rattlesnakes (Crotalus species) flick their tongues and crawl about in an open field containing no food or sexual (i.e., reproductive) odors. As Experiment I shows, the taxa differ reliably in both rate of tongue flicking and rate of locomotion. In Experiment II, garter snakes (Thamnophis radix) placed into an open field for 5 min showed more tongue flicking than snakes that were handled and placed directly back into their home cages, indicating that the first group was exploring the apparatus rather than responding only to handling. During Minutes 3 through 5 (Experiment III) in the open field, garter snakes emitted fewer tongue flicks than they did during the first minute, and after 20 min, the rate of tongue flicking was virtually zero. However, snakes were capable of responding to presentation of new objects and/or odors, indicating that the previous response decrement was not derived from effector fatigue but rather from some habituatory process. Experiment IV revealed that satiated snakes habituated more rapidly than hungry snakes during exploration of the open field. Hence, exploratory behavior in these snakes is at least partially under the control of the same factors which mediate food-related appetitive activities.     

Being Alone, Playing Alone, and Acting Alone: Distinguishing among Reticence and Passive and Active Solitude in Young Children

3 forms of solitude were studied in young children—reticence (onlooker and unoccupied behavior), solitary-passive behavior (solitary-constructive and -exploratory play), and solitary-active behavior (solitary-functional and -dramatic play). 48 4-year-old children grouped in quartets of same-sex unfamiliar peers were observed in several situations. Mothers completed the Colorado Temperament Inventory. Results indicated that (1) solitary-passive, solitary-active, and reticent behaviors were nonsignificantly intercorrelated; (2) reticence was stable and associated with the demonstration of anxiety and hovering near others, whereas solitary-passive and solitary-active play were stable yet unrelated to anxiety and hovering; (3) reticence during free play was generally associated with poor performance and displays of wariness in several other social situations, while solitary-passive and -active play were not; (4) reticence was associated with maternal ratings of child shyness, while solitary-active behavior was associated with maternal ratings of impulsivity. Results are discussed in terms of the underlying mechanisms associated with reticence and passive and active withdrawal.     

Frontal Activation Asymmetry and Social Competence at Four Years of Age

The pattern of frontal activation as measured by the ongoing electroencephalogram (EEG) may be a marker for individual differences in infant and adult disposition to respond with either positive or negative affect. We studied 48 4-year-old children who were first observed in same-sex quartets during free-play sessions, while making speeches, and during a ticket-sorting task. Social and interactive behaviors were coded from these sessions. Each child was subsequently seen 2 weeks later when EEG was recorded while the child attended to a visual stimulus. The pattern of EEG activation computed from the session was significantly related to the child's behavior in the quartet session. Children who displayed social competence (high degree of social initiations and positive affect) exhibited greater relative left frontal activation, while children who displayed social withdrawal (isolated, onlooking, and unoccupied behavior) during the play session exhibited greater relative right frontal activation. Differences among children in frontal asymmetry were a function of power in the left frontal region. These EEG/behavior findings suggest that resting frontal asymmetry may be a marker for certain temperamental dispositions.     

Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Attributes of School Counselor Trainees

The authors report results from a correlational study of 225 school counselor trainees' emotional intelligence and leadership qualities. Higher emotional intelligence correlated with higher leadership self‐efficacy and self‐leadership. The results indicate that emotional intelligence may be a relevant aspect of leadership training for school counselor graduate students.     

Flavor aversions and deprivation state

In the first four experiments, it was found that aversions to saccharin solution produced by contingent poisoning were similar regardless of whether the rats had been trained under the test deprivation or under a different deprivation; the two deprivation states used were thirst and satiety. In Experiment 5, rats were poisoned after drinking grape juice while hungry or poisoned after drinking milk while thirsty, but they were not poisoned after grape-thirst or milk-hunger combinations. In abstract terms, poisoning occurred after AX and BY stimulus combinations, but did not occur after AY and BX combinations. There was some learning under these discrimination conditions.     

Effective Professional Development in Science and Mathematics Education: Teachers' and Facilitators' Views

This study compares the views of teachers and professional development facilitators about effective professional development (PD). We analyzed interviews with 72 teacher participants and 23 PD facilitators involved in nine science and mathematics PD projects. The teachers' themes for characterizing effective PD included classroom application, teacher as learner, and teacher networking. Similarly, the PD facilitators discussed effective PD as having classroom application and experiences for teachers as learners. In addition, PD facilitators shared the need to develop collegial relationships with teachers and improve teacher knowledge. These views correspond to some of the standards and recommendations described in policy and research documents on effective PD. Criteria of effective PD in these documents that the participants did not mention included: (1) challenging teachers' content and pedagogical content knowledge with transformative learning experiences, (2) encouraging teacher leadership for sustained support, and (3) focusing on student learning by instructing teachers on how to use student data to inform their teaching practice. Our findings have implications for designing PD that reflects the criteria of standards-based reform.     

Reacquisition of learned taste aversions

In four experiments, it was found that rats subjected to extinction of conditioned taste aversions readily reacquired these aversions when subjected to conditioning once again. Two of the present procedures were very similar to those used by Danguir and Nicolaides in unsuccessful attempts to obtain reconditioning of extinguished taste aversions.     

Child Care Subsidy and Program Quality Revisited

Research Findings: Previous research has documented conflicting results on the relationship between program quality and the percentage of children receiving subsidized child care (subsidy density) in early childhood centers. This research examined the relationship between subsidy density and the quality of infant and preschool classrooms in child care centers, taking into consideration teacher education and salary as well as other structural variables associated with quality. A multimethod evaluation was conducted with 110 child care centers utilizing an interview of center directors as well as classroom observations using standardized measures of quality and language/literacy in the classroom. Regression analyses indicate that subsidy density does not predict the quality of infant classrooms. However, subsidy density is a significant predictor of the quality of preschool classrooms. Teacher education is predictive of some quality indicators, but teacher salary is not. Practice or Policy: Practice and policy implications are discussed to promote the quality of child care centers that serve low- income children. Statewide initiatives should target centers with higher subsidy density for quality improvements. Local programs and state policy should provide teachers with opportunities to obtain additional education and then offer incentives to remain in their current early childhood settings.     

Enhancing Resource Sharing Access Through System Integration

The application and IT ecosystem of academic libraries typically includes multiple systems, with crucial functions requiring using or sharing information between them. However, library systems are often not well integrated, making workflows and system interactions less than optimal for both staff and patrons. The method to integrate systems that the IDS Project took was to create a middleware platform, IDS Logic, that can connect multiple library systems and open or vendor web services to create the best resource sharing experience for staff and patrons. One specific application that is hosted within the IDS Logic middleware platform is Article Gateway, which uses resource-sharing technology and workflows to deliver fast or instant access to research material to users with little or no staff time and removes as many barriers to user access as possible. Where resource sharing has typically sought to deliver articles in one-to-two days, libraries using Article Gateway typically deliver a significantly higher percentage of articles to patrons within a few hours.     

Rats exhibit asymmetrical retention functions for hedonic and nonhedonic samples in many-to-one symbolic delayed matching to sample

Rats were initially trained in a symbolic delayed matching-to-sample task either to discriminate hedonic samples that consisted of food or no food or to discriminate tone samples that differed in frequency and location. The retention functions for both the hedonic and tone samples were asymmetric, with forgetting of the food sample or the high-frequency tone occurring more rapidly than forgetting of the no-food sample or the low-frequency tone. Next, many-to-one (MTO) training was given in which tone samples were added for the rats initially trained with hedonic samples, and hedonic samples were added for the rats initially trained with tone samples. For both groups, a food sample and a tone sample (tone-F) were associated with responding to one lever (e.g., stationary), and a no-food sample and a different tone sample (tone-NF) were associated with responding to the alternative lever (e.g., moving). During retention testing, we found equivalent forgetting for the food and no-food samples, but forgetting of the tone-F sample occurred more rapidly than forgetting of the tone-NF sample. This is the first MTO study to suggest that rats, like pigeons, may use hedonic samples as the basis for the common coding of nonhedonic samples in MTO delayed matching.