Two longitudinal studies involving 29 raters concerning the construct validity, temporal stability, and interrater reliability of the latent common factors underlying subjective assessments by human raters of personality traits in the stumptail macaque and the zebra finch illustrate the use of generalizability analysis to test prespecified…

Presents some classic information on the biology of insects as well as some new research on ants, butterflies, and beetles. Contains 22 references. (WRM)

Presents an experiment on mouse behavior in which students learn to observe, pay attention to details, record field notes, and ask questions about their observations. Uses a white mouse to eliminate the risk of disease that a wild rodent might carry. Lists materials, set up, and procedure. (YDS)

Describes using domesticated, wild, or feral animals to teach students about nature and animal behavior. Connections can be made with psychology, economics, genetics, history, art, and other disciplines. The study of animal behavior provides opportunities for harmless student experimentation. (SAH)

Eight crows were taught to discriminate overlapping pairs of visual stimuli (A+ B-, B+ C-, C+ D-, and D+ E-). For 4 birds, the stimuli were colored cards with a circle of the same color on the reverse side whose diameter decreased from A to E (ordered feedback group). These circles were made available for comparison to potentially help the crows…

Recent experiments suggest that the effects of drugs of abuse on the discrimination of the passage of time may differ for experimenter-imposed and subject-produced events. The current experiment examined this suggestion by determining the effects of morphine on the discrimination of interresponse times (IRTs). Pigeons pecked a center key on a…

Learning and memory are central topics in behavioral neuroscience, and inbred mice strains are widely investigated. However, operant conditioning techniques are not as extensively used in this field as they should be, given the effectiveness of the methodology of the experimental analysis of behavior. In the present study, male C57Bl/6 mice,…

The notion that non-human animals are capable of episodic memory is highly controversial. Here, we review recent behavioral work from our laboratory showing that the fundamental features of episodic memory can be observed in rats and that, as in humans, this capacity relies on the hippocampus. We also discuss electrophysiological evidence, from…

It is important to encourage both "visible students" and "invisible students" to establish self-confidence and to live naturally, being themselves. It is also important to help students grow as humane adults who can accept diversity, respect each other, and support minorities. This article presents a lesson plan that aims to help students learn…

A simple and effective field exercise that demonstrates factors affecting predation on bird nests is described. With instructor guidance, students in high school biology or college-level biology, ecology, animal behavior, wildlife management or ornithology laboratory courses can collaborate to design field experiments related to nest depredation.

Studies of gene expression following fear conditioning have demonstrated that the inducible transcription factor, "egr-1," is increased in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala shortly following fear conditioning. These studies suggest that "egr-1" and its protein product Egr-1 in the amygdala are important for learning and memory of fear. To…

The effects of rate of conditioned reinforcement on the resistance to change of operant behavior have not been examined. In addition, the effects of rate of conditioned reinforcement on the rate of observing have not been adequately examined. In two experiments, a multiple schedule of observing-response procedures was used to examine the effects…

Two experiments examined whether postsample signals of reinforcer probability or magnitude affected the accuracy of delayed matching to sample in pigeons. On each trial, red or green choice responses that matched red or green stimuli seen shortly before a variable retention interval were reinforced with wheat access. In Experiment 1, the…

Two experiments with pigeons examined the effects of unsignaled, nonresetting delays of reinforcement on responding maintained by different reinforcement rates. In Experiment 1, 3-s unsignaled delays were introduced into each component of a multiple variable-interval (VI) 15-s VI 90-s VI 540-s schedule. When considered as a proportion of the…

This learning packet, one in a group of eight, was developed by the Merchants Millpond State Park in North Carolina to teach students in grades 4-6 about the habitat and lifestyle of the beaver. Loose-leaf pages are presented in nine sections that contain: (1) introductions to the North Carolina State Parks System, the Merchants Millpond State…