Social working memory: Memory for another rat's spatial choices can increase or decrease choice tendencies

In two experiments using a radial-arm maze, pairs of rats made choices among eight maze locations, each containing a large quantity of one of two food types. The choices made by 1 rat affected the choices made by the other rat. Under most conditions, visits by 1 rat increased the tendency of the other rat to subsequently choose that maze location. However, the effect depended on the quality of the food available in a particular location. When it was possible for the rats to observe each other on the maze arms and a rat had experienced that a location contained the less preferred food type, a previous visit to that location by the foraging partner decreased the tendency to visit that location. These effects are attributed to working memory for the spatial choices of another rat, and they indicate that memory produced by a rat’s own visit to a maze location is integrated with memory for the behavior of another rat to determine spatial choice     

默顿对科学社会学的贡献

这篇文章是关于默顿及其科学社会学工作的回忆与评论.作者自1960年起先后作过默顿的学生、助手和同事,前后达15年之久,可以说对默顿非常熟悉.文中主要讨论了默顿关于清教与科学的博士论文、关于科学规范的论述、以及关于"马太效应"的文章.作者评论道,默顿一方面未能赋予其清教论题以更一般化的陈述,另一方面又未能对经验资料给予足够的关注,从而导致人们怀疑其马太效应理论的正确性.     

Creatine kinase,myosin heavy chains and magnetic resonance imaging after eccentric exercise

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between myosin heavy chain (MHC) release as a specific marker of slow-twitch muscle fibre breakdown and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of skeletal muscle injury after eccentric exercise. The effects of a single series of 70 high-intensity eccentric contractions of the quadriceps femoris muscle group (single leg) on plasma concentrations of creatine kinase and MHC fragments were assessed in 10 young male sport education trainees before and 1 and 4 days after exercise. To visualize muscle injury, MRI of the loaded thigh was performed before and 4 days after the eccentric exercise. All participants recorded an increase ( P ? 0.05) in creatine kinase after exercise. In five participants, T2 signal intensity was unchanged post-exercise compared with pre-exercise and MHC plasma concentration was normal; however, they showed an increase ( P ? 0.05) in creatine kinase after exercise. For the remaining five participants, there was an increase in T2 signal intensity of the loaded vastus intermedius and vastus lateralis. These changes in MRI were accompanied by an increase in MHC plasma concentration ( P ? 0.01) as well as an increase in creatine kinase ( P ? 0.01). We suggest that changes in MRI T2 signal intensity after muscle damage induced by eccentric exercise are closely related to damage to structurally bound contractile filaments of some muscle fibres. Additionally, MHC plasma release indicates that this damage affects not only fast-twitch fibres but also some slow-twitch fibres.     

Combining verbal and visual cueing: Fostering learning pictorial content by coordinating verbal explanations with different types of visual cueing

Instructional Science - Multimedia learning scenarios in which a picture is the main focus often use combinations of verbal and visual cueing. Based on models of picture processing and multimedia...     

What do we learn from docutainment? Processing hybrid television documentaries

This study examined how hybrid documentary formats, which embed educational contents into narratives, are cognitively processed. Based on existing research and theories, two reception modes were identified: processing with a focus on the narrative plotline and processing with a focus on the thematic structure. In two experiments, two markers of narrative processing could be found for hybrid television documentaries: the experience of transportation and the narrative distance effect. In the first experiment, it could be shown that re-enactments and personal variables enhance the experience of transportation. The second experiment confirmed the narrative distance effect, which occurs independently of reception goals. This means that educational facts which are closely tied to the narrative plotline were learned better than distant facts, regardless of whether the recipients watched the documentary for information or entertainment purposes. The study supplements prior theories on hybrid processing and provides conditions under which narratives are appropriate for learning.