Learning and memory are complex phenomena; numerous biochemical and neurobiological mechanisms subserving these functions have been identified. A key molecular component involved in learning and memory, the NMDA-R (N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor) is impaired by MK-801(dizocilpine), an antagonist compound. Here I analyze the effects of MK-801 on the performance characteristics of zebrafish (Danio rerio) as these in turn can significantly influence the outcome of learning tasks. Subsequently, I study the effects of MK-801 on the acquisition, consolidation, and recall of memory in a plus maze, a new task I adapted from zebrafish literature. Although MK-801 seemed to have no effect on acquisition of memory in zebrafish, it disrupted their ability to consolidate and recall in the plus maze, echoing results found in rodent literature. Combined, these results suggest that zebrafish can be used as a tool to further advance the discovery of learning and memory.

Learning and memory are complex phenomena; numerous biochemical and neurobiological mechanisms subserving these functions have been identified. A key molecular component involved in learning and memory, the NMDA-R (N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor) is impaired by MK-801(dizocilpine), an antagonist compound. Here I analyze the effects of MK-801 on the performance characteristics of zebrafish (Danio rerio) as these in turn can significantly influence the outcome of learning tasks. Subsequently, I study the effects of MK-801 on the acquisition, consolidation, and recall of memory in a plus maze, a new task I adapted from zebrafish literature. Although MK-801 seemed to have no effect on acquisition of memory in zebrafish, it disrupted their ability to consolidate and recall in the plus maze, echoing results found in rodent literature. Combined, these results suggest that zebrafish can be used as a tool to further advance the discovery of learning and memory.

Proactive classroom management involves teacher use of a range of positive interaction and intervention strategies for managing student behaviour in the classroom. This approach to classroom management has been shown to positively influence student academic achievement, behaviour, and social-emotional well-being, as well as teacher job satisfaction, stress levels, and turnover rate. Unfortunately, teachers often receive minimal training in such strategies, leading them to use more reactive forms of classroom management as a means of controlling problematic student behaviour. Given that reactive procedures can have many unintended negative side effects, there is a need for in-service provision of additional teacher training in proactive approaches, especially in classrooms where student problem behaviours are rampant. The present study was designed to address this need by examining the effectiveness of Errorless Classroom Management (ECM), a proactive classroom management program that builds student tolerance to classroom challenges by teaching them four keystone skills: compliance, social skills, on-task behaviour, and communication. We provided ECM training to two staff members (one teacher and one educational assistant) who were working in a special education classroom for students demonstrating extremely high levels of severe antisocial behaviour. The goal of this in-service training program was to alter staff members’ classroom management practices in order to engender covariant improvements in student behaviour. Using time-series observations, we examined staff and student behaviour before and after ECM training. We also investigated the social validity of treatment effects through the use of staff-report questionnaires. Data revealed that staff members effectively reduced their use of reactive strategies following training but were inconsistent in their application of proactive strategies. In turn, student problem behaviour markedly declined following training; however, improvements on other student outcome measures were not consistently observed. Moreover, variability in staff members’ satisfaction ratings and stress scores suggest a modest overall level of social validity. These findings provide early support for the ECM training program as a socially acceptable form of intervention. These results also suggest that it is possible to effect change in student behaviour by training staff members in positive forms of classroom management.

Proactive classroom management involves teacher use of a range of positive interaction and intervention strategies for managing student behaviour in the classroom. This approach to classroom management has been shown to positively influence student academic achievement, behaviour, and social-emotional well-being, as well as teacher job satisfaction, stress levels, and turnover rate. Unfortunately, teachers often receive minimal training in such strategies, leading them to use more reactive forms of classroom management as a means of controlling problematic student behaviour. Given that reactive procedures can have many unintended negative side effects, there is a need for in-service provision of additional teacher training in proactive approaches, especially in classrooms where student problem behaviours are rampant. The present study was designed to address this need by examining the effectiveness of Errorless Classroom Management (ECM), a proactive classroom management program that builds student tolerance to classroom challenges by teaching them four keystone skills: compliance, social skills, on-task behaviour, and communication. We provided ECM training to two staff members (one teacher and one educational assistant) who were working in a special education classroom for students demonstrating extremely high levels of severe antisocial behaviour. The goal of this in-service training program was to alter staff members’ classroom management practices in order to engender covariant improvements in student behaviour. Using time-series observations, we examined staff and student behaviour before and after ECM training. We also investigated the social validity of treatment effects through the use of staff-report questionnaires. Data revealed that staff members effectively reduced their use of reactive strategies following training but were inconsistent in their application of proactive strategies. In turn, student problem behaviour markedly declined following training; however, improvements on other student outcome measures were not consistently observed. Moreover, variability in staff members’ satisfaction ratings and stress scores suggest a modest overall level of social validity. These findings provide early support for the ECM training program as a socially acceptable form of intervention. These results also suggest that it is possible to effect change in student behaviour by training staff members in positive forms of classroom management.

Excitatory M5 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors are expressed at the highest level in the brain, in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH). M5 knockout (KO) mice emit fewer ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) during mating, and show 40-50% lesser morphine-induced locomotion as compared to wild-type (WT) mice. Following viral transfection of M5 muscarinic receptors in the ventral tegmentum (VTA), KO mice depict restored mating-induced USVs and enhanced morphine-induced locomotion. The VMH is important for motivational processes, such as, feeding and producing USVs in rats. With a Herpes simplex virus (HSV), the M5 receptor gene was transfected into the VMH of WT mice. M5 transfection into neurons of the VMH increased locomotion in mice injected with 10mg/kg morphine. When a D2-selective dopamine blocker was injected into the same mice, locomotion was drastically reduced. There were no significant differences in amount of USVs produced. VMH may exert its effects on morphine through a DA dependent VTA pathway.

Excitatory M5 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors are expressed at the highest level in the brain, in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH). M5 knockout (KO) mice emit fewer ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) during mating, and show 40-50% lesser morphine-induced locomotion as compared to wild-type (WT) mice. Following viral transfection of M5 muscarinic receptors in the ventral tegmentum (VTA), KO mice depict restored mating-induced USVs and enhanced morphine-induced locomotion. The VMH is important for motivational processes, such as, feeding and producing USVs in rats. With a Herpes simplex virus (HSV), the M5 receptor gene was transfected into the VMH of WT mice. M5 transfection into neurons of the VMH increased locomotion in mice injected with 10mg/kg morphine. When a D2-selective dopamine blocker was injected into the same mice, locomotion was drastically reduced. There were no significant differences in amount of USVs produced. VMH may exert its effects on morphine through a DA dependent VTA pathway.

In the wake of 21 year old Don Sanderson’s death (January 1st, 2009), the direct result of head injuries sustained during an on-ice hockey fight, the social and political appetite for eliminating violence in amateur hockey appears to be at an all time high. Unfortunately, due to a variety of methodological and conceptual limitations previous research is currently unable to provide a unified and valid explanation for sport-specific aggression (Kirker, Tenenbaum, & Mattson, 2000). One of the primary impediments facing our understanding of sport-specific aggression is the descriptive and fragmented nature of the current body of literature. Over the years a number of independent lines of research have been undertaken, through which several psychological and social factors have been identified as potential determinants. However, in many cases these constructs have yet to be tested against athletes’ actual aggressive behaviour in sport and thus their predictive contribution to our understanding is still unknown. Consequently, the purpose of the current investigation was to assess the predictive influence of several commonly cited psychosocial constructs on amateur hockey players actual within-competition use of aggressive behaviour over a competitive season. A trait aggressive personality disposition emerged as the strongest and most stable predictor of athletes’ aggressive behaviour, accounting for 10 – 40% of the statistical variance depending upon the age and competitive level of the athletes under investigation. Differences in the overt expression of the this trait aggressive disposition between age cohorts (bantam / midget) and competitive levels (house league / rep) suggests that environmental and contextual factors also play a significant role in facilitating or repressing athletes’ aggressive behaviour. As such, the results of the current study support an interactive explanation for hockey-related aggression, whereby situational (e.g., team norms, perceived reinforcement) and personal factors (e.g., trait aggressive disposition, ego orientation) interact to either increase or decrease an athlete’s likelihood for committing aggressive penalty infractions over a competitive season. The current results are plotted and discussed within the parameters of Anderson and Bushman’s (2002) General Aggression Model (GAM), which is a frequently cited interactionist framework used in the broader study of human aggression.

A crucial question in drug addiction research concerns whether the varying reports of dopamine-independent and dopamine-dependent motivation can be integrated. According to one theory, the prior drug history of a subject — that is to say, whether they have received minimal or chronic drug exposure — determines whether opiate motivation is dependent upon the brainstem tegmental pedunculopontine nucleus (TPP) or dopamine neurotransmission. The biological analogue of this change is thought to be a switch in the signalling properties (from hyperpolarizing to depolarizing) of ventral tegmental area (VTA) gamma-aminobutyric acid subtype-A (GABAA) receptors. In this thesis, I demonstrate that the mechanisms underlying opiate motivation can be selected artificially by manipulating the signalling properties of VTA GABAA receptors, irrespective of the past drug history of the subject. Furthermore, I suggest that these same VTA GABAA receptors also play a similar role in controlling ethanol motivation. Indeed, the mechanisms underlying ethanol motivation can be doubly dissociated in a manner similar to that observed with opiates. However, whereas opiate motivation is TPP-dependent in the drug-naive state, I found that ethanol motivation was dependent on dopamine neurotransmission (via the D2 receptor) in drug-naive animals. Conversely, ethanol motivation was TPP-dependent in ethanol-deprived mice (as opposed to opiate motivation being dopamine-dependent in opiate-deprived animals). These effects are consistent with a VTA GABAA receptor switching mechanism identical to the one seen in the case of opiate motivation.

This experiment studied relapse by assessing the separate/combined effects of two instigators: alcohol cues and stress on the salience of alcohol/gambling target stimuli and inhibitory control in twelve male problem gamblers and twelve male comorbid drinker-gamblers. Our study day consisted of two test sessions. Subjects received alcohol (non-alcoholic beer) and/or stress (uncontrollable noise) in a counterbalanced method. Hypotheses were tested using computer-based tasks, including the modified Stroop, gambling-word Shift Task, and the conventional and modified Stop-Signal Tasks. Stimuli with incentive value divert attention (i.e., are salient) selectively based on their clinical relevance to the subject and the nature of the instigating factor – stress (expected negative reinforcement) vs. anticipation of alcohol (expected positive reinforcement). Results suggest that alcohol cues and stress have differing effects on incentive salience, and disinhibit behaviour in both pathological populations. These findings have the potential to facilitate treatment and improve understanding for relapse prevention in these subjects.

Vision is important for the control of upper limb movements (Woodworth, 1899). How and when vision is used during a limb movement continues to be debated. In this thesis, I examined the use of visual feedback as a function of retinal limb position. Individuals made rapid upper limb aiming movements to a target location and vision was provided when the limb was at varying degrees of retinal eccentricity. The temporal characteristics, endpoint accuracy and precision, as well as the spatial variability of the limb trajectories were recorded and analyzed. No relationship was observed between retinal limb positions and the use of visual feedback during the movements. These results suggest that the use of vision during limb movements is not directly tied to the neuroanatomy of the eye and challenges continuous models of upper limb control.