Sensory experience in early postnatal life shapes neuronal connections in the brain. Here we report that the local synthesis of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in dendrites plays an important role in this process. We found that dendritic spines of layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons of the visual cortex in mutant mice lacking dendritic Bdnf mRNA and thus local BDNF synthesis were normal at 3 w...

ABSTRACT This study measured responsiveness to the immediate environment on the basis of the social (vs. neutral) content of a person's free associations, in an effort to relate this responsiveness to field-dependence. The results lend support to the view that field-dependence is associated with social responsiveness in word association. Two aspects of social responsiveness in word associations...

Buckwalter, John B., Jessica C. Taylor, Jason J. Hamann, and Philip S. Clifford. Role of nitric oxide in exercise sympatholysis. J Appl Physiol 97: 417–423, 2004. First published March 12, 2004; 10.1152/japplphysiol.01181.2003.—The production of nitric oxide is the putative mechanism for the attenuation of sympathetic vasoconstriction (sympatholysis) in working muscles during exercise. We hypot...

The production of nitric oxide is the putative mechanism for the attenuation of sympathetic vasoconstriction (sympatholysis) in working muscles during exercise. We hypothesized that nitric oxide synthase blockade would eliminate the reduction in alpha-adrenergic-receptor responsiveness in exercising skeletal muscle. Ten mongrel dogs were instrumented chronically with flow probes on the external...

This study examines and compares prominent characteristics of maternal responsiveness to infant activity during home-based naturalistic interactions of mother-infant dyads in New York City, Paris, and Tokyo. Both culture-general and culture-specific patterns of responsiveness emerged. For example, in all 3 locales infants behaved similarly, mothers also behaved similarly with respect to a hiera...

Sexual desire tends to subside gradually over time, with many couples failing to maintain desire in their long-term relationships. Three studies employed complementary methodologies to examine whether partner responsiveness, an intimacy-building behavior, could instill desire for one's partner. In Study 1, participants were led to believe that they would interact online with their partner. In r...