Focus: Addiction: Relapse Prevention and the Five Rules of Recovery

There are four main ideas in relapse prevention. First, relapse is a gradual process with distinct stages. The goal of treatment is to help individuals recognize the early stages, in which the chances of success are greatest. Second, recovery is a process of personal growth with developmental milestones. Each stage of recovery has its own risks of relapse. Third, the main tools of relapse prevention are cognitive therapy and mind-body relaxation, which are used to develop healthy coping skills. Fourth, most relapses can be explained in terms of a few basic rules. Educating clients in these rules can help them focus on what is important: 1) change your life (recovery involves creating a new life where it is easier to not use); 2) be completely honest; 3) ask for help; 4) practice self-care; and 5) don’t bend the rules.     

The ant Lasius niger shows no relationship between task efficiency and body size variation among workers

In ants, workers of different sizes may perform various tasks, even in so-called monomorphic species with relatively low body size variation. However, it is unclear if the body size diversity of monomorphic workers correlates with task efficiency, especially in stressful contingencies. Here we tested if the body size variation of workers corresponds with its efficiency in transferring pupae. Transferring brood is a pre-set behavioral response to stress, e.g. suboptimal temperature. Here we applied a laboratory experiment simulating nest damage. The study was performed on the common garden ant (Lasius niger (Linnaeus, 1758)) – a species with no distinct worker subcastes. The efficiency of workers was measured as the latency of transferring pupae from a lit part of the experimental colony to a darkened part, while the body size diversity was expressed as the within-colony coefficient of variation in head width. We did not find any significant correlation between efficiency and body size variation. Summarizing the existing studies and the present results, we propose the hypothesis that the body size diversity of L. niger may have implications for workers’ division of labor but not for their task efficiency in a stressful contingency.     

高苯丙氨酸血症大鼠脑内单胺类递质的研究

以3d龄Sprague-Dawley大鼠腹腔注射苯丙氨酸(Phe)诱导高苯丙氨酸血症,荧光法测定大脑皮层及其突触体中去甲肾上腺素(NE)、多巴胺(DA)和5-羟色胺(5-HT)含量;Y型电迷宫法测其学习记忆能力.结果显示:高苯丙氨酸血症大鼠大脑皮层NE、DA及5-HT含量降低38.6%～67.4%,突触体中NE、DA和5-HT含量降低51.9%～70.2%,学习记忆能力明显低于对照组.结果提示,苯酮尿症智力障碍可能与大脑皮层及其突触体中某些单胺类递质含量降低相关.     

Lateralization of olfactory processes

Over the last ten years, methods of cerebral imaging have revolutionized our knowledge of cognitive processes in humans. An impressive number of papers dealing with cerebral imaging for olfaction have been published to date. Whereas the early works revealed those structures participating in the processing of odours presented passively to subjects, researchers later recorded brain activity when subjects performed specific olfactory tasks based on memory, emotion and identification. From these results, we suggest that there is a dissociation of olfactory processes, with involvement of the right hemisphere in memory processes and the left hemisphere in emotional processes. The review concludes with a summary of how these lateralized processes are consistent with the gestalt-nature of our olfactory perception.     

Fragile X mental retardation protein is required for chemically-induced long-term potentiation of the hippocampus in adult mice

Fragile X syndrome (FXS), a common form of inherited mental retardation, is caused by the lack of fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP). The animal model of FXS, Fmr1 knockout mice, have deficits in the Morris water maze and trace fear memory tests, showing impairment in hippocampus-dependent learning and memory. However, results for synaptic long-term potentiation (LTP), a key cellular model for learning and memory, remain inconclusive in the hippocampus of Fmr1 knockout mice. Here, we demonstrate that FMRP is required for glycine induced LTP (Gly-LTP) in the CA1 of hippocampus. This form of LTP requires activation of post-synaptic NMDA receptors and metabotropic glutamateric receptors, as well as the subsequent activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2. However, paired-pulse facilitation was not affected by glycine treatment. Genetic deletion of FMRP interrupted the phosphorylation of ERK1/2, suggesting the possible role of FMRP in the regulation of the activity of ERK1/2. Our study provide strong evidences that FMRP participates in Gly-LTP in the hippocampus by regulating the phosphorylation of ERK1/2, and that improper regulation of these signaling pathways may contribute to the learning and memory deficits observed in FXS.     

短期身心训练可以引起大脑灰质变化吗

持续数月的运动学习或者工作记忆训练可以引发成年人大脑灰质的变化,其结构变化的区域与任务有关.是否短期身心训练可以引起类似的大脑大脑灰质变化尚不清楚.在前期工作基础上,本文研究了连续两周的整体身心调节法训练以及放松训练对大脑可塑性的影响.结果表明:采用基于像素的形态学方法,没有发现两周整体身心调节法训练以及放松训练可以引起大脑结构变化.下一步的研究将以大样本并增加训练时间采探索训练引发的神经可塑性规律.     

基于潜意识理论的青少年网络成瘾研究

本文综述了青少年网络成瘾的预防和戒除方法,坚持了"习惯说",保留了对"疾病说"的看法。基于潜意识理论,将网络成瘾视为心理亚健康状态,分析了青少年网络成瘾的发生机理、提出了其预防和戒除原则。青少年网络成瘾的成因是心理上的缺失感,与青少年自我防护意识差、自我控制能力小、心理弹性弱,以及潜意识具有反复影响才可改变的特点有关。戒除网络成瘾的原则是淡化评判试测的标准、分散注意力、培养成就感、增强自信心、坚持以心治心等。     

生物实验学习软环境的创设

以情境认知和学习理论为指导,结合生物实验学习实际运用的成效,阐述了生物实验学习软环境创设的操作要领。     

Virtual navigation in humans: the impact of age, sex, and hormones on place learning

Certain cognitive processes, including spatial ability, decline with normal aging. Spatial ability is also a cognitive domain with robust sex differences typically favoring males. However, tests of spatial ability do not seem to measure a homogeneous class of processes. For many, mentally matching rotated three-dimensional images is the gold standard for measuring spatial cognition in humans, while the Morris water task (MWT) is a preferred method in the domain of nonhuman animal research. The MWT is sensitive to hippocampal damage, a structure critical for normal learning and memory and often implicated in age-related cognitive decline. A computerized (virtual) version of the MWT (VMWT) appears to require and engage human hippocampal circuitry, and has proven useful in studying sex differences and testing spatial learning theories. In Experiment 1, we tested participants (20-90 years of age) in the VMWT and compared their performance to that on the Vandenberg Mental Rotation Test. We report an age-related deficit in performance on both tasks. In Experiment 2, we tested young (age 20-39) and elderly (age >60) participants in the VMWT and correlated their performance to the circulating levels of testosterone and cortisol. Our findings indicate that the persistence of male spatial advantage may be related to circulating testosterone, but not cortisol levels, and independent of generalized age-related cognitive decline.