The development of the effector pattern of the unconditioned and instrumental conditioned audio-visual targeting reflex was studied. EOG and EMG electrodes were implanted to analyze the movements of the pinna, eye and head, when the animals localized a sound source placed in different positions in space. When the acoustic stimulus was repeated, the unconditioned targeting reflex was characteriz...

During Pavlovian conditioning the expression of a conditioned response is typically taken as evidence that an association between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) has been formed. However, learning-related changes in the unconditioned response (UCR) produced by a predictable UCS can also develop. Learning-related reductions in UCR magnitude are often referred to a...

In many territorial species androgens respond to social interactions. This response has been interpreted as a mechanism for adjusting aggressive motivation to a changing social environment. Therefore, it would be adaptive to anticipate social challenges and reacting to their clues with an anticipatory androgen response to adjust agonistic motivation to an imminent social challenge. Here we test...

Conditioned barpress suppression was used to examine the effects of qualitative changes in the unconditioned stimulus (US) between Phases 1 and 2 of a blocking paradigm. In Phase 1, rats received pairings of a conditioned stimulus (CS) with footshock. In Phase 2, experimental subjects received a single trial of the same CS or a different CS compounded with a second stimulus and followed either ...

The variety and availability of casual video games presents an exciting opportunity for applications such as cognitive training. Casual games have been associated with fluid abilities such as working memory (WM) and reasoning, but the importance of these cognitive constructs in predicting performance may change across extended gameplay and vary with game structure. The current investigation exa...

CONTEXT Few studies of incarcerated women have examined potential associations between risky sexual behavior and relationship context factors; thus, little is known about the correlates of intentions to use condoms with main and casual partners in this underserved population. METHODS A sample of 221 women incarcerated in a Rhode Island Department of Corrections facility in 2002-2003 were inte...

This paper presents a study investigating cooperation between players in casual games. Although widely used in co-located or asynchronous settings, cooperative gameplay elements are not popular in networked synchronous casual games. In our study, we have analyzed different types of cooperation between players in casual games. Each of these is based on a certain cooperative game design pattern, ...