Individuals diagnosed with developmental disabilities often lack the skills needed to gain meaningful employment in the community. One crucial skill is interviewing as this is the first and often the only pre-job interaction an individual has with his or her employer. In a short interaction, the person must convey information about specific work history, employability, and a general impression of character. This study evaluated the effectiveness of video feedback in improving job interview behaviors for three young adults with developmental disabilities. The interview related-behaviors were appropriate greeting, responses to interview questions, and appropriate closing statement. The performance across the participants was assessed in simulated interviews under a multiple-baseline design across behaviors and participants, with all participants reaching 100% correct performance of all three behaviors after video feedback was implemented. The social validity supports the feasibility of this video feedback intervention. Issues related to future research and implications for the field are discussed.

Precision Teaching (PT) is a data-based educational tool that allows individual changes to be made to educational programs based specifically on the needs of the learner. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of session distribution on the material learned in the context of a PT intervention program. Typical children, ages 3- to 5-years-old, whom were enrolled in a church-based child development program, participated. The goal of this study was to assess if the administration of PT sessions one day-a-week or five days-a-week effected the acquisition, retention, and endurance of material learned. Results indicate that there was minimal difference in the rate of acquisition, retention, and endurance on the material learned between session distributions for four of the five children.

This study examined the effects of three fixed-duration free operant access conditions on rates of automatically maintained stereotypic behavior and correct task responding during discrete trial training (DTT) with two children diagnosed with autism. Following a functional analysis, confirming automatic function, interviews/observations were conducted to identify behavioral indicators of satiation and an average satiation level. In this endeavor, participants were exposed to a free operant condition to validate satiation of stereotypic responding. Once satiation level was averaged, two durational conditions were computed: Long (75% access) and Short (25% access). A third condition, Deprivation, involved blocking all attempts at the stereotypic response for the average duration till satiation. An alternating treatment design was used to examine the effects of these three conditions on stereotypy and correct responding during subsequent discrete trial tasks. For both, participants correct responding did not seem to be affected by the length of the pre-session access to the stereotypic behavior prior to the DTT session. For Marcus, the Long condition may have acted as an abolishing operation (AO) during DTT. Following the Short condition he engaged in higher rates of the stereotypic behaviors during his DTT sessions compared to the other conditions. For the Sara, it appears that pre-session access to stereotypy had little effect on stereotypic behavior during DTT sessions.

Translational research provides a unique opportunity to investigate innate and conditioned fear to develop an integrated understanding of anxiety disorders, ultimately improving treatment for those afflicted. Many fear conditioning paradigms use physically aversive stimuli to induce fear but ethological stimuli may better represent psychological disorders from a translational standpoint. Natural predators and immobilization have been successful in inducing both innate and contextually conditioned fear in rodents but an inhibitory avoidance paradigm that uses ethologically relevant stimuli has yet to be developed. To expand the use of these stimuli into inhibitory avoidance conditioning, an inhibitory avoidance paradigm was developed to include a range of ethologically relevant psychologically (predator exposure, physical restraint) and physically aversive stimuli (electric shock). Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were conditioned using a step-through inhibitory avoidance model to associate crossing between two compartments with the presentation of an aversive stimulus. Subjects were assessed for conditioned fear measured by crossing latency, freezing behavior and defecation during conditioning and a contextual memory test. Freezing behavior within the conditioning chamber remained constant throughout conditioning regardless of stimulus but all groups conditioned with an aversive stimulus showed significant increases in crossing latency both overtime and during the retention test compared to subjects that received no aversive stimulus after crossing, indicating that inhibitory avoidance conditioning was achieved. Significant increases in defecation were also observed for footshock and predator exposed animals and this effect was intensified by predator exposure, but only after repeated exposures. With this, both predator based and restraint-based variations of the inhibitory avoidance model (PBIA and RBIA, respectively) have been successfully established and have been shown to induce evidence of emotionality similar to those seen in traditional shock-based inhibitory avoidance (SBIA) models. Successful development of PBIA and RBIA expands the range of stimuli that can be used with conventional inhibitory avoidance models, allowing for investigation into topics that have yet to be addressed in inhibitory avoidance conditioning.

In resurgence, a target behavior (R1) is acquired in an initial phase and extinguished in a second phase while an alternative behavior (R2) is reinforced. When reinforcement for the second response is removed, however, R1 behavior returns or “resurges.” The resurgence paradigm may have implications for understanding relapse after behavioral interventions in humans such as contingency management, or CM, in which (for example) drug users can earn vouchers contingent upon drug abstinence. The present experiments examined the effectiveness of a putative retrieval cue for treatment in attenuating the resurgence effects and determined the likely mechanism by which this cue functions. Experiment 1 established that a 2-second cue associated with delivery of the alternative reinforcer in Phase 2 can attenuate R1 resurgence and promote R2 behavior during testing. Experiment 2 demonstrated that this effect occurs regardless of whether the cue is delivered contingently or noncontingently on responding during the resurgence test, and Experiment 3 demonstrated that for the cue to be effective in reducing resurgence, it must be paired with alternative reinforcement during Phase 2. This might mean that pairing the cue with reinforcement serves to maintain attention to the cue. Experiment 4 suggested that a cue paired with alternative reinforcement did not serve as a conditioned reinforcer in that making it contingent on a new behavior did not increase the likelihood of that behavior. Experiment 5 demonstrated that the cue must be experienced in sessions that also include the extinction of R1. Experiment 6 found that a cue produced by R1 during the second phase of a resurgence paradigm (analogous to a conditioned inhibitor) does not attenuate resurgence of an extinguished instrumental response. Together, the results suggest that a neutral cue can serve as an effective cue that attenuates resurgence if it is first paired with alternative reinforcement and presented in sessions in which R1 is extinguished. One way to view the results is that creating greater generalization between the extinction context and the testing context results in less resurgence.

Research relating to police stress has typically focused on officers working in urban areas, neglecting their rural counterparts. This is especially true of conservation officers, who are tasked with enforcing laws in state parks and other recreational areas. To date, only a handful of studies have sought to better understand their experiences and perceptions. The current study seeks to further our understanding of conservation officer stress in three unique ways: (1) via applying McCreary and Thompson’s (2006) operational police stress scale (PSQ-Op) to the population, (2) determining whether officer characteristics (e.g., age, education, length of service) affect perceived stress, and (3) exploring the influence of various job duties on these perceptions. Survey data are gathered from officers located in several states, with results serving to improve our understanding of conservation officer stress.

The neural mechanisms that support learning and memory are still poorly understood. Much work has focused on changes in neurotransmitter receptor expression, while changes in voltage-gated ion channel expression have been largely unexplored, despite the fact that voltage-gated ion channels govern neuronal excitability. Here we used eyeblink conditioning (EBC) in rats, a model of learning and memory with a well-understood neural circuit, to examine regulation of voltage-gated ion channels as a consequence of learning. EBC is a form of classical conditioning that involves pairings of a behaviorally neutral conditioned stimulus (CS) and an eyeblink eliciting unconditioned stimulus (US) over many trials to produce an eyeblink conditioned response (CR) to the CS in anticipation of the US. The acquisition and generation of the eyeblink CR is governed by plasticity at various sites in the cerebellum, both in the cerebellar cortex and the interpositus nucleus (IPN). Purkinje cells (PCs) are the primary neuron in the cerebellar cortex and these cells represent the sole output of the cerebellar cortex. PCs tonically inhibit the neurons of the IPN; the IPN is the start of the eyeblink pathway. In order for a CR to be generated, the inhibition of the IPN by PCs must be lifted. Basket cells (BCs) are small inhibitory interneurons that form synapses near the PC soma. These neurons are strategically located to strongly regulate PC output through inhibitory input near the axon hillock. BC axon terminals have the highest expression of Kv1.2, an alpha subunit of the Kv1 (Shaker) family of voltage-gated potassium channels, in the cerebellum. In addition, significant Kv1.2 expression is found on PC dendrites. Blocking Kv1.2 leads to increased GABAergic input to PCs and facilitates EBC. In the current work, we addressed the question of whether EBC itself regulates surface expression of Kv1.2 in cerebellar cortex. Rats received three days of either EBC, explicitly unpaired stimulus presentations, or no stimuli, and cerebellar tissue was harvested and analyzed via biotinylation/western blot (WB) and multiphoton microscopy (MP) techniques. In the first experiment, the Unpaired group showed significantly reduced surface Kv1.2 expression at BC axon terminals as measured by MP, but no changes observed with the WB measure, which measures expression at both BC axon terminals and PC dendrites. The second experiment used the same procedures but examined cerebellar tissue following a shorter training procedure. We hypothesized that the Paired and Unpaired groups would show similar Kv1.2 surface expression earlier in training. The Unpaired group showed increased surface Kv1.2 compared to the other two groups in the WB measures, but no differences were observed in the MP measure. Paired group rats that did not exhibit CRs showed the same pattern as the Unpaired group. Overall, we observed training and location specific changes in surface Kv1.2 expression, suggesting that learning does appear to regulate voltage-gated ion channel expression in the mammalian brain. Increased surface Kv1.2 early in training before CR expression emerges may set the stage for other mechanisms to govern the expression of the learned response. Prolonged stimulus input that is unmodulated by expression of a learned response, such as in the Unpaired group in the first experiment, leads to long-term changes in surface Kv1.2 expression exclusively at BC axon terminals.

Chronic or repeated exposure to stressful stimuli can result in several maladaptive consequences, including increased anxiety-like behaviors and altered peptide expression in brain structures involved in emotion. Among these structures, the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) has been implicated in emotional behaviors as well as regulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity. In rodents, chronic variate stress (CVS) has been shown to increase BNST pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) and its cognate PAC1 receptor transcript, and BNST PACAP signaling may mediate the maladaptive changes associated with chronic stress. In order to determine whether chronic stress would potentiate the behavioral and/or endocrine response to subthreshold BNST PACAP infusion, rats were exposed to a 7 day CVS paradigm previously shown to upregulate BNST PAC1 receptor transcripts; control rats were not stressed. Twenty-four hours following the last stressor, stressed and control rats were bilaterally infused into the BNST with 0.5 µg PACAP. Startle response to intra-BNST PACAP infusion was assessed post-infusion in Experiment 1. In Experiments 2 and 3, blood was sampled via a tail nick 30 min following PACAP infusion to assess the corticosterone response to PACAP following CVS. We found an increase in startle amplitude and an increase in plasma corticosterone levels 30 minutes following BNST PACAP infusion only in rats that had been previously exposed to CVS. These results were likely mediated via PAC1 receptors, as equimolar infusion of the VPAC1/2 receptor ligand vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) had no effect on plasma corticosterone levels. These results suggest that repeated exposure to stressors sensitizes the neural circuits underlying the behavioral and endocrine responses to BNST PACAP infusion and BNST PACAP/PAC1 receptor signaling likely plays a critical role in mediating stress responses.

Introduction: Most pregnant smokers report abruptly reducing their cigarettes per day (CPD) by ~50% shortly after learning of pregnancy and of making further smaller reductions over the remainder of their pregnancy. Laboratory and naturalistic studies with non-pregnant smokers have found that these types of reductions often lead to changes in smoking topography (i.e., changes in smoking intensity to maintain a desired blood-nicotine level). 19, 20 If pregnant women engage in compensatory smoking, they may expose themselves and their offspring to the same level of toxicants despite reporting reductions in CPD. Methods: Pregnant and non-pregnant female smokers (n = 17 and 91, respectively) participated. At the experimental session, after biochemical confirmation of acute abstinence, all participants smoked one of their usual brand cigarettes ad lib through a Borgwaldt CReSS Desktop Smoking Topography device. Carbon monoxide (CO) and measures of nicotine withdrawal, craving, and reinforcement derived from smoking were also collected. Results: The two groups did not differ on any demographic or smoking characteristics at screening, except nicotine metabolism rate, which as expected, was faster in pregnant smokers. Analyses suggest that none of the smoking topography parameters differed between pregnant and non-pregnant smokers, although pregnant smokers had a significantly smaller CO boost. Both groups reported similar levels of relief of withdrawal and craving after smoking, but other self-report data suggest that pregnant smoker find smoking less reinforcing than non-pregnant smokers. Conclusions: Pregnant smokers do not smoke cigarettes differently as compared to non-pregnant female smokers, but appear to find smoking less reinforcing.

Youth violence is a public health threat in the United States. Inadequate sleep is identified as a risk factor, however, the majority of previous studies were cross-sectional and focused only on adolescents. This study aimed to investigate the association between average hours of sleep during adolescence and violent behavior among youths. Individuals who participated in both Waves II (1996) and III (2000-2001) of National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent and Adult Health (n=3,557) were included. A composite variable on violent behavior was created using three different questions on fighting or using a weapon. Age, gender, ethnicity, violent behavior during adolescence, depressive symptoms, impulsivity, and current sleep hours were considered as covariates. Negative binomial regressions were conducted using SAS 9.4. The mean age of the participants was 15.85 years (SD=1.62) and 21.29 years (SD=1.60) in waves II and III, respectively. The majority of the participants were female (54.15%) and non-Hispanics (88.93%). Average hours of sleep during adolescence was not significantly associated with violent behavior during young adulthood (p=0.75). In the final model, gender (beta=1.65, p<0.001), age (beta=-0.1267, p<0.001), history of violent behavior (wave II) (beta=0.3158, p<0.0001), current average hours of sleep (wave III) (beta=-0.073, p=0.044), depressive symptoms (beta=0.0834, p <0.0001), and impulsivity (beta=0.1379, p<0.0001) were significantly associated with violent behavior in early adulthood. Reduced number of sleep hours during early adulthood, unlike during adolescence, increased the likelihood of getting involved in violent activities during early adulthood. This information is useful to promote healthy behavior among individuals in all phases of their life.