Beta-adrenergic receptors ([beta]-ARs) prime hippocampal synapses to stabilize long-term potentiation (LTP). This "metaplasticity" can persist for 1-2 h after pharmacologic activation of [beta]-ARs. It requires activation of PKA (cAMP-dependent protein kinase) during [beta]-AR priming. A-kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs) tether PKA to…

NMDA receptors (NMDARs) are considered critical for the consolidation of extinction but recent work challenges this assumption. Namely, NMDARs are not required for extinction retention in infant rats as well as when extinction training occurs for a second time (i.e., reextinction) in adult rats. In this study, a possible third instance of…

We describe a simple, cost-effective experiment to demonstrate cardiovascular integration of heart rate and blood pressure to accommodate the environmental and dietary factors of gravity and caffeine. Specific learning objectives associated with this include understanding the effects of posture on blood pressure and heart rate, coupled with the…

Studies showed that two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) educational content contributes to learning. Although there were many studies with 3D stereoscopic learning environments, only a few studies reported on the differences between real, 2D, and 3D scenes, as far as cognitive load and attentional demands were concerned. We used…

Cognitive flexibility is one of the essential mental abilities underlying creative thinking. Previous findings have shown that cognitive flexibility can be enhanced by schema violations, and it has been suggested that active involvement is needed for schema violations to facilitate cognitive flexibility. The possibility that identification with an…

Creativity has been conceptualized as involving 2 distinct components; divergent thinking, the search for multiple solutions to a single problem, and convergent thinking, the quest for a single solution either through an analytical process or the experience of insight. Studies have demonstrated that these abilities can be improved by cognitive…

Memory performance in linear order reasoning tasks (A > B, B > C, C > D, etc.) shows quicker, and more accurate responses to queries on wider (AD) than narrower (AB) pairs on a hypothetical linear mental model (A -- B -- C -- D). While indicative of an analogue representation, research so far did not provide positive evidence for spatial…

In this study, novel and old scientific innovations (NSI and OSI) were selected as materials to explore the electrophysiological correlates of scientific innovation induced by heuristic information. Using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to do so, college students solved NSI problems (for which they did not know the answers) and OSI problems…

This paper explores the research perspective of neuroscience by documenting the brain cell (neuron) drawings of undergraduates, trainee scientists, and leading neuroscience researchers in a single research-intensive university. Qualitative analysis, drawing-sorting exercises, and hierarchical cluster analysis are used to answer two related…

In four experiments, task-switching processes were investigated with variants of the alternating runs paradigm and the explicit cueing paradigm. The classical diffusion model for binary decisions (Ratcliff, 1978) was used to dissociate different components of task-switching costs. Findings can be reconciled with the view that task-switching…

Figural aftereffects are commonly believed to be transient and to fade away in the course of milliseconds. We tested face aftereffects using familiar faces and found sustained effects lasting up to 1 week. In 3 experiments, participants were first exposed to distorted pictures of famous persons and then had to select the veridical face in a…

In multiple-list learning, retrieval during learning has been suggested to improve recall of the single lists by enhancing list discrimination and, at test, reducing interference. Using electrophysiological, oscillatory measures of brain activity, we examined to what extent retrieval during learning facilitates list encoding. Subjects studied 5…

Response preparation usually facilitates performance, but it may also interfere with other concurrent tasks. In this article, the authors used event-related brain potentials to study how intervening tasks affect response preparation. In 3 experiments, participants performed intervening tasks during the preparation of a precued hand choice…

To this day, it remains unresolved whether experimental amnesia reflects failed memory storage or the inability to retrieve otherwise intact memory. Methodological as well as conceptual reasons prevented deciding between these two alternatives: The absence of recovery from amnesia is typically taken as supporting storage impairment…

Processes engaged when information is encoded into memory are an important determinant of whether that information will be recovered subsequently. Also influential, however, are processes engaged at the time of retrieval, and these were investigated here by using event-related potentials (ERPs) to measure a specific class of retrieval operations.…