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PubMed2006

Developmental changes in personal goal orientation from young to late adulthood: from striving for gains to maintenance and prevention of losses.

Using a multimethod approach, the authors conducted 4 studies to test life span hypotheses about goal orientations across adulthood. Confirming expectations, in Studies 1 and 2 younger adults reported a primary growth orientation in their goals, whereas older adults reported a stronger orientation toward maintenance and loss prevention. Orientation toward prevention of loss correlated negatively with well-being in younger adults. In older adults, orientation toward maintenance was positively associated with well-being. Studies 3 and 4 extend findings of a self-reported shift in goal orientation to the level of behavioral choice involving cognitive and physical fitness goals. Studies 3 and 4 also examine the role of expected resource demands. The shift in goal orientation is discussed as an adaptive mechanism to manage changing opportunities and constraints across adulthood.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Establishment and maintenance of preference for natural and artificial olfactory stimuli in juvenile rats.

The role of sensory-affective bias and of two types of experience (simple exposure to an odor and exposure to an odor in association with conspecifics) in the establishment and maintenance of preference of rat pups for odorants was investigated. (a) Simple exposure of pups to a mildly aversive odorant (peppermint extract) from birth to 21 days of age was sufficient to establish a preference for that odorant in 21-day-olds as strong as their normal preference for maternal excreta. (b) Simple exposure of pups to peppermint extract for 33 days following birth was not sufficient to maintain preference for peppermint extract to 33 days of age. (c) Exposure of pups to peppermint extract painted on the dam for 33 days following birth was sufficient to maintain pup preference for peppermint extract to 33 days of age. (d) Pups reared artificially with very limited contact with conspecificies, exhibited robust preferences for conspecific odors. Taken together, the data suggest that a variety of mechanisms play complementary roles in the development and maintenance of preference for olfactory stimuli.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1982

An assessment of the reinforcing properties of foods after amygdaloid lesions in rhesus monkeys.

The reinforcing strengths of foods were assessed in rhesus monkeys before and after bilateral radio-frequency lesions of the lateral amygdala (n = 4), basolateral amygdala (n = 4), and total amygdala (n = 3). None of these lesions altered preoperative preferences between three highly palatable foods. Moreover, the lesions had no discernible effect on the animals' responses to different food rewards as measured by a progressive ratio schedule, although performance on this schedule proved sensitive to the size and type of food reward and to the degree of deprivation. The results suggest that amygdalectomy leaves a normal appreciation of at least this one class of rewards, foods. The dietary changes typically seen after amygdalectomy, such as meat eating, which were also observed in the same animals, probably reflect a loss of neophobia.

Amygdala↗
PubMed2005

Preferring one taste over another without recognizing either.

Stimuli can be discriminated without being consciously perceived and can be preferred without being remembered. Here we report a subject with a previously unknown dissociation of abilities: a strong behavioral preference for the taste of sugar over saline, despite a complete failure of recognition. The pattern of brain damage responsible for the dissociation suggests that reliable behavioral choice among tastes can occur in the absence of the gustatory cortex necessary for taste recognition.

Aged↗
PubMed2005

Uncertainty-based competition between prefrontal and dorsolateral striatal systems for behavioral control.

A broad range of neural and behavioral data suggests that the brain contains multiple systems for behavioral choice, including one associated with prefrontal cortex and another with dorsolateral striatum. However, such a surfeit of control raises an additional choice problem: how to arbitrate between the systems when they disagree. Here, we consider dual-action choice systems from a normative perspective, using the computational theory of reinforcement learning. We identify a key trade-off pitting computational simplicity against the flexible and statistically efficient use of experience. The trade-off is realized in a competition between the dorsolateral striatal and prefrontal systems. We suggest a Bayesian principle of arbitration between them according to uncertainty, so each controller is deployed when it should be most accurate. This provides a unifying account of a wealth of experimental evidence about the factors favoring dominance by either system.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Midbrain dopamine neurons encode decisions for future action.

Current models of the basal ganglia and dopamine neurons emphasize their role in reinforcement learning. However, the role of dopamine neurons in decision making is still unclear. We recorded from dopamine neurons in monkeys engaged in two types of trial: reference trials in an instructed-choice task and decision trials in a two-armed bandit decision task. We show that the activity of dopamine neurons in the decision setting is modulated according to the value of the upcoming action. Moreover, analysis of the probability matching strategy in the decision trials revealed that the dopamine population activity and not the reward during reference trials determines choice behavior. Because dopamine neurons do not have spatial or motor properties, we conclude that immediate decisions are likely to be generated elsewhere and conveyed to the dopamine neurons, which play a role in shaping long-term decision policy through dynamic modulation of the efficacy of basal ganglia synapses.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Circadian preference, sleep and daytime behaviour in adolescence.

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between circadian preferences, regularity of sleep patterns, sleep problems, daytime sleepiness and daytime behaviour. As a part of an epidemiological survey on sleep in a representative sample of Italian high-school students, a total of 6631 adolescents, aged 14.1-18.6 years, completed the School Sleep Habits Survey, a comprehensive questionnaire including items regarding sleep, sleepiness, substance use, anxiety and depressed mood, use of sleeping pills, school attendance and a morningness/eveningness scale. The sample consisted of 742 evening-types (315 males and 427 females; mean age 17.1 years) and 1005 morning-types (451 males and 554 females; mean age 16.8 years). No significant sex differences were found for morningness/eveningness score. Eveningness was associated with later bedtime and wake-up time, especially on weekends, shorter time in bed during the week, longer weekend time in bed, irregular sleep-wake schedule, subjective poor sleep. Moreover, evening types used to nap more frequently during school days, complained of daytime sleepiness, referred more attention problems, poor school achievement, more injuries and were more emotionally upset than the other chronotype. They referred also greater caffeine-containing beverages and substances to promote sleep consumption. Our results suggest that circadian preference might be related not only to sleep pattern, but also to other adolescent behaviours.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Mate choice theory and the mode of selection in sexual populations.

Indirect new data imply that mate and/or gamete choice are major selective forces driving genetic change in sexual populations. The system dictates nonrandom mating, an evolutionary process requiring both revised genetic theory and new data on heritability of characters underlying Darwinian fitness. Successfully reproducing individuals represent rare selections from among vigorous, competing survivors of preadult natural selection. Nonrandom mating has correlated demographic effects: reduced effective population size, inbreeding, low gene flow, and emphasis on deme structure. Characters involved in choice behavior at reproduction appear based on quantitative trait loci. This variability serves selection for fitness within the population, having only an incidental relationship to the origin of genetically based reproductive isolation between populations. The claim that extensive hybridization experiments with Drosophila indicate that selection favors a gradual progression of "isolating mechanisms" is flawed, because intra-group random mating is assumed. Over deep time, local sexual populations are strong, independent genetic systems that use rich fields of variable polygenic components of fitness. The sexual reproduction system thus particularizes, in small subspecific populations, the genetic basis of the grand adaptive sweep of selective evolutionary change, much as Darwin proposed.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Dynamic properties of the Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase in Drosophila: identification of a synapsin I-like protein.

Visual adaptation with blue light induces a change in a special light/dark choice behavior in Drosophila. On the molecular level adaptation induces long-term modulation of the in vitro autophosphorylation capacity of a Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase. Here I describe a Drosophila phosphoprotein that is a substrate of this protein kinase. The molecular mass and phosphopeptide composition of this protein are similar to those of rat synapsin I. Furthermore, the Drosophila protein shows immunological cross-reactivity with monoclonal antibodies against rat synapsin I. I conclude that this 86-kDa protein in Drosophila is homologous to the vertebrate synapsin I.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

A human science for the study of movement: an integration of multiple ways of knowing.

Although the physical science approach to the study of movement was originally adopted as sufficient for the study of humans, the limitations of this approach are increasingly being recognized. This recognition of limitations has led to the widespread use of an often confusing variety of research methodologies. The variety of research methods can be readily understood when differentiated in two ways: first, according to the level of reality to which they refer and, second, according to the specific interest in the inquiry--whether the interest is technical manipulation, the understanding of meaning, or emancipation. The necessity for this realities-based framework is grounded in the recognition that the human world of movement, in addition to relating to the material realm, also includes meaning. This framework then provides an integration of ways of knowing and methodologies for one of the most profound scientific potentials necessary for a human science--understanding meaning.

Attitude↗
PubMed1998

Direct evaluation of adolescent HIV counseling and testing services.

The incidence of HIV disease in adolescents is increasing. Studies indicate this population is not receiving adequate information or support to bring about healthy behavior choices that prevent infection, reinfection, or infection of a partner. Physicians themselves, according to a study, are providing services well below the current established guidelines. The current study provides direct evaluation of services provided to youths by adolescents trained to address critical issues using fictional (undercover) stories at actual sites advertising HIV/AIDS counseling and testing to teenagers. Thirty-three health-care sites were identified within the Washington, DC, area; eight were eliminated during the process, leaving 25 sites for appraisal. Less than 40% of the participating clinics that advertised HIV testing qualified for recommendation. In addition, many female youth evaluators reported they received unsolicited advice regarding abstinence or reduction of sexual activity; male evaluators did not report similar findings. Results of the study were translated into recommendations in the form of reports to those sites that chose to receive them. The authors recommend implementing a similar study on an annual basis of similar sites with publication of results in order to improve staff training and maintain standards that will encourage adolescent and young adult clients to be tested and follow through for test results and appropriate education and counseling.

AIDS Serodiagnosis↗
PubMed1979

A study of age categorization.

This study used photo (stimulus persons) to explore age categorization in a sample of 150 subjects of diverse ages: 15 males and 15 females in each of five age groups: 18--21, 22--28, 29--38, 39--55, and 56--76. Two sets of 33 photos each (a male and a female set) were presented to subjects for chronological age estimation, age categorization (as adolescent, young, middle-aged, elderly, and aged adult), and preference. Results indicated considerable overlapping of estimated ages across age categories, suggesting that the boundaries between adjacent age stages are highly permeable. Sex-of-photo exerted a major influence on categorization and preference. Female, relative to male, stimulus persons were assigned to older age categories, were perceived to attain middle-aged and elderly status sooner, and were younger when chosen as most preferred (but only for male subjects). These sex-bias effects were mitigated in the oldest respondent. Relevance of the present research to problems of age stereotyping is discussed.

Adolescent↗