Attempts to evaluate the hypothesis that rats are more hesitant to ingest novel-flavored substances while they are under the influence of a toxic agent than in the normal state. (Author/RK)

Assesses the present status of behaviorism by dividing this study into an evaluation of Behaviorism 1, based explicitly on Pavlov's conception of conditioned-response learning, and Behaviorism 11, single-handedly launched and almost completely dominanted by Professor B. F. Skinner. (Author/RK)

Our everyday language is full of images drawn from animal life. Looking at such images can provide young people with insights into the creative use of language. (Author/RK)

Analyzes children's books as a means of socializing children and helping them become more humane. (DD)

Explains how to use bats to introduce different biological concepts such as classification and phylogeny, altruistic behavior, flight, coevolution, or physiological adaptations. Discusses common myths regarding bats and provides information on additional classroom materials. (YDS)

This brief statement supports more research on the linguistic and cognitive abilities of animals, particularly primates, and sees direct applicability of such research to language learning by humans with mental retardation who have not learned to speak. (DB)

Notes that rodents and rabbits share many characteristics that make them suitable classroom pets and gives background information on rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, and gerbils. Offers advice on buying a classroom pet, the pet's home, feeding, helping the children handle the pet, and pet health and family planning. (TJQ)

Presents an example of an authentic inquiry-based investigation of living organisms that can be easily performed in a school setting or students' neighborhood using pillbugs. Students observe, ask questions, collect data, classify and compare, measure, and analyze data to draw conclusions about pillbug behavior. (SAH)

Investigates children's knowledge about animals by examining the mental models they reveal through their talk when they see animal representations. Presents a study in which representations were provided by robotic models in a museum, preserved animals in a museum, and preserved animals borrowed from a museum and presented in a school setting.…

It is often said that a dog is a best friend. In fact, after cattle, dogs are the oldest domesticated animals. Dogs have lived with humans for over 10,000 years and have been selectively bred for various types of domestication. Domesticated dogs have performed many roles in society throughout history-rescue dogs, hunting dogs, guide dogs, and…

Few people realize that coyotes prowl the country's major urban areas. By tracking them on their turf, one Boston-area high school teacher and his students are helping scientists to learn more about the oft-misunderstood animals. Here, the author features David Eatough, a science teacher at Revere High School just north of Boston, and his…

Decreases in behavioral investigation of novel stimuli over time may be mediated by a variety of factors including changes in attention, internal state, and motivation. Sensory cortical adaptation, a decrease in sensory cortical responsiveness over prolonged stimulation, may also play a role. In olfaction, metabotropic glutamate receptors on…

The sunk cost effect is the increased tendency to persist in an endeavor once an investment of money, effort, or time has been made. To date, humans are the only animal in which this effect has been observed unambiguously. We developed a behavior-analytic model of the sunk cost effect to explore the potential for this behavior in pigeons as well…

Four rats responded under a "self-control" procedure designed to obtain delay- discount functions within sessions. Each session consisted of seven blocks, with seven trials within each block. Each block consisted of two initial forced- choice trials followed by five free-choice trials. On choice trials, the rats could press either of two…

Lesion studies indicate that rats without the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) have difficulty recalling fear extinction acquired the previous day. Several electrophysiological studies have also supported this observation by demonstrating that extinction-related increases in neuronal activity in the mPFC participate in expression of fear…