Here, we describe a laboratory experiment as part of an upper-level vertebrate physiology course for biology majors to investigate the physiological response of vertebrates to osmoregulatory challenges. The experiment involves measuring plasma osmolality and Na[superscript +] -K[superscript +] -ATPase activity in gill tissue of teleost fish…

Students' views about science were correlated with their approaches to lab practice. Three distinct cases are discussed in detail: empiricist-oriented, rationalist-oriented, and constructivist-oriented students. A coherent epistemological theory was constructed for each case, by considering the different degrees of certainty and confidence each…

Describes an experiment using the method of magnitude estimation to scale odorant intensities when the subject is in a nonadapted state, in an adapted state, and in a cross-adapted state. (Author/KC)

A common cellular alteration, reduced post-burst afterhyperpolarization (AHP) in CA1 neurons, is associated with acquisition of the hippocampus-dependent tasks trace eyeblink conditioning and the Morris water maze. As a similar increase in excitability is correlated with these two learning paradigms, we sought to determine the interactive…

Visual discrimination tasks are increasingly used to explore the neurobiology of vision in rodents, but it remains unclear how the animals solve these tasks: Do they process shapes holistically, or by using low-level features such as luminance and angle acuity? In the present study we found that when discriminating triangles from squares, rats did…

Examined generalizability of social-skills and social-anxiety global ratings made by judges trained in six different experimental laboratories. Found moderate degrees of generalizability across laboratories for the social-skills and social-anxiety ratings based on brief role plays. For more extended interaction, obtained moderate generalizability…

Studied increased self-reported daydreaming as measured by the daydreaming frequency scale of the Imaginal Processes Inventory, after treatments of being presented with either a positive or neutral talk about the value of daydreaming and training v no training in the use of imagery. (Author)

The purpose of this study was to: (1) develop and implement training modules designed to change appropriately certain counseling skills among students enrolled in the counseling practicum; (2) assess the effect of the training modules on certain counseling skills of students; and (3) investigate the effects of modular skill training during the…

Discusses the viability of cognitive apprenticeship for learning science in relation to findings from an investigation of a research project involving high school students working in a university chemical engineering laboratory under the mentorship of a university-based scientist. Reports that students were empowered to seek empirically viable…

After extinction of fear to a Pavlovian conditional stimulus (CS), contextual stimuli come to regulate the expression of fear to that CS. There is growing evidence that the context dependence of memory retrieval after extinction involves the hippocampus. In the present experiment, we examine whether hippocampal involvement in memory retrieval…

Fear extinction is defined as a decline in conditioned fear responses (CRs) following nonreinforced exposure to a feared conditioned stimulus (CS). Behavioral evidence indicates that extinction is a form of inhibitory learning: Extinguished fear responses reappear with the passage of time (spontaneous recovery), a shift of context (renewal), and…

Assessed outcome in 10 British and American sensitivity training workshops in terms of reported self-benefit and benefit to one's relations with others not present. Found differing patterns of change between the two outcome variables, suggesting that they embody separate models of workshop learning processes. (Author/NB)

A problem solving, laboratory experience was devised in which first-year medical students were given a case description and then required to make judgments about what microbiology specimens should be collected and to analyze the results of laboratory tests in terms of implications for patient care. Over a four-year period revisions were made in…

Inquiry and lecture/lab methods of instruction yield different results in conceptual and problem-solving tests, while no difference exists in factual tests. The author recommends that the inquiry method of teaching be refined so that it can become a practical classroom instructional strategy. (CT)

In a five-year study, second-year human physiology students were grouped for laboratory according to previous physiology and laboratory experience. No significant differences in course or board examination performance were found, though correlations were found between predental grade-point averages and grouping. (MSE)