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Biomedical subjects

R Boice

Publications and source records attributed to R Boice.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Combining writing block treatments: theory and research.

Four traditional formats of treatment for writing blocks (automaticity, regimen, self-control, and social skills training) proved insufficient to maintain unblocking in professorial writers for periods of an academic year. A combined application of the four historically prominent interventions was clearly more effective in terms of stable productivity, manuscripts finished and submitted, and manuscripts accepted for publication. Because writing blocks are too often conceptualized and treated by way of lore, a theory of blocking is proposed that clarifies the fundamental steps in effecting lasting unblocking.

Anxiety Disorders

Procrastination, busyness and bingeing.

The first inquiry employed repeated surveys and direct observations of procrastinators to question two traditional assumptions about procrastinators--that they are reliable reporters of how they spend workweeks, and that they are not easily observed in the act of procrastinating. The second inquiry tested an intervention for procrastination (helping new faculty find brief, daily sessions in which to write) that proved effective and relatively unaversive. The effectiveness of the intervention helped to confirm the notion that procrastination of a relatively unstructured activity like scholarly writing has at least two central components, bingeing and busyness.

Achievement

Genetic influences on digging behaviors in mice (Mus musculus) in laboratory and seminatural settings.

Digging behaviors of several inbred strains of laboratory mice and some of their crosses were examined in three contexts. In laboratory burrow boxes, C57BL/6Abg mice constructed more sophisticated burrow systems than did BALB/cAbg mice. Their F1 hybrids built burrow systems more complex than either parental strain. The same pattern of genetic influence was observed in an outdoor pen. In an escape task that required digging, BALB/c mice escaped more quickly than did C57BL/6 mice; their F1 hybrids showed dominance toward the BALB/c phenotype. These results indicate that behavioral polymorphisms in digging behavior, which may relate to habitat selection, have a genetic basis. The dominance and overdominance toward the better digging parental strain in each type of task suggest the possible evolutionary importance of these digging behaviors.

Animals

Burrows of wild and albino rats: effects of domestication, outdoor raising, age, experience, and maternal state.

Burrows dug by albino rats were compared with those of wild Norway rats in an outdoor pen and in observation chambers in the laboratory. Burrows, in terms of measurements, configurations, or sequential development, were indistinguishable in wild and domestic rats. Burrowing for both wild and domestic rats was unaffected by raising in outdoor burrows, by availability of nesting material, or by pregnancy. Prior experience in burrowing did make it more efficient in a second trial, which suggests that learning may have a limited role in what appears to be a behavior with a strong genetic basis. Feralization of domestic rats in the outdoor pen was especially productive in answering claims of degeneracy in these animals: Albino rats were hardy throughout climatic extremes, they maintained a stable population for two years, they constructed and lived in burrows, and they showed a vaiety of wild-type behaviors.

Age Factors

Domestication.

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Adaptation, Biological