Learning generalization in problem solving by a blue-fronted parrot (Amazona aestiva)

Pepperberg (The Alex studies: cognitive and communicative abilities of gray parrots. Harvard University Press, Cambridge;1999) showed that some of the complex cognitive capabilities found in primates are also present in psittacine birds. Through the replication of an experiment performed with cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus oedipus) by Hauser et al. (Anim Behav 57:565-582; 1999), we examined a blue-fronted parrot`s (Amazona aestiva) ability to generalize the solution of a particular problem in new but similar cases. Our results show that, at least when it comes to solving this particular problem, our parrot subject exhibited learning generalization capabilities resembling the tamarins`.

The Dorsolateral Periaqueductal Gray and Its Role in Mediating Fear Learning to Life Threatening Events

The dorsolateral column of the periaqueductal gray (dlPAG) integrates aversive emotional experiences and represents an important site responding to life threatening situations, such as hypoxia, cardiac pain and predator threats. Previous studies have shown that the dorsal PAG also supports fear learning; and we have currently explored how the dlPAG influences associative learning. We have first shown that N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) 100 pmol injection in the dlPAG works as a valuable unconditioned stimulus (US) for the acquisition of olfactory fear conditioning (OFC) using amyl acetate odor as conditioned stimulus (CS). Next, we revisited the ascending projections of the dlPAG to the thalamus and hypothalamus to reveal potential paths that could mediate associative learning during OFC. Accordingly, the most important ascending target of the dlPAG is the hypothalamic defensive circuit, and we were able to show that pharmacological inactivation using beta-adrenoceptor blockade of the dorsal premammillary nucleus, the main exit way for the hypothalamic defensive circuit to thalamo-cortical circuits involved in fear learning, impaired the acquisition of the OFC promoted by NMDA stimulation of the dlPAG. Moreover, our tracing study revealed multiple parallel paths from the dlPAG to several thalamic targets linked to cortical-hippocampal-amygdalar circuits involved in fear learning. Overall, the results point to a major role of the dlPAG in the mediation of aversive associative learning via ascending projections to the medial hypothalamic defensive circuit, and perhaps, to other thalamic targets, as well. These results provide interesting perspectives to understand how life threatening events impact on fear learning, and should be useful to understand pathological fear memory encoding in anxiety disorders.

PBL and B-Learning for Civil Engineering Students in a Transportation Course

The results of a pedagogical strategy implemented at the University of Sao Paulo at Sao Carlos are presented and discussed. The initiative was conducted in a transportation course offered to Civil Engineering students. The approach is a combination of problem-based learning and project-based learning (PBL) and blended-learning (B-learning). Starting in 2006, a different problem was introduced every year. From 2009 on, however, the problem-based learning concept was expanded to project-based learning. The performance of the students was analyzed using the following elements: (1) grades in course activities; (2) answers from a questionnaire designed for course evaluation; and (3) cognitive maps made to assess the effects of PBL through the comparison of the responses provided by the students involved and those not involved in the experiment. The results showed positive aspects of the method, such as a strong involvement of several students with the subject. A gradual increase in the average scores obtained by the students in the project activities (from 6.77 in 2006 to 8.24 in 2009) was concomitant with a better evaluation of these activities and of the course as a whole (90 and 97% of options "Good" or "Very good" in 2009, respectively). A growing interest in the field of transportation engineering as an alternative for further studies was also noticed. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)EI.1943-5541.0000115. (C) 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Novelty, but Not Operant Aversive Learning, Enhances Fos and Egr-1 Expression in the Medial Prefrontal Cortex and Hippocampal Areas of Rats

Immediate early genes (IEG) are presumed to be activated in response to stress, novelty, and learning. Evidence supports the involvement of prefrontal and hippocampal areas in stress and learning, but also in the detection of novel events. This study examined whether a previous experience with shocks changes the pattern of Fos and Egr-1 expression in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), the hippocampal cornus ammonis 1 (CA1), and dentate gyrus (DG) of adult male Wistar rats that learned to escape in an operant aversive test. Subjects previously exposed to inescapable footshocks that learned to escape from Shocks were assigned to the treated group (EXP). Subjects from Group Novelty (NOV) rested undisturbed during treatment and also learned to escape in the test. The nonshock group (NSH) rested undisturbed in both sessions. Standard immunohistochemistry procedures were used to detect the proteins in brain sections. The results show that a previous experience with shocks changed the pattern of IEG expression, then demonstrating c-fos and egr-1 induction as experience-dependent events. Compared with NSH and EXP an enhanced Fos expression was detected in the mPFC and CA1 subfield of Group NOV, which also exhibited increased Egr-1 expression in the mPFC and DG in comparison to NSH. No differences were found in the DG for Fos, or in the CA1 for Egr-1. Novelty, and not the operant aversive escape learning, seems to have generated IEG induction. The results suggest novel stimuli as a possible confounding factor in studies on Fos and/or Egr-1 expression in aversive conditions.

Can neuroimaging be used as a support to diagnosis of borderline personality disorder? An approach based on computational neuroanatomy and machine learning

Several recent studies in literature have identified brain morphological alterations associated to Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) patients. These findings are reported by studies based on voxel-based-morphometry analysis of structural MRI data, comparing mean gray-matter concentration between groups of BPD patients and healthy controls. On the other hand, mean differences between groups are not informative about the discriminative value of neuroimaging data to predict the group of individual subjects. In this paper, we go beyond mean differences analyses, and explore to what extent individual BPD patients can be differentiated from controls (25 subjects in each group), using a combination of automated-morphometric tools for regional cortical thickness/volumetric estimation and Support Vector Machine classifier. The approach included a feature selection step in order to identify the regions containing most discriminative information. The accuracy of this classifier was evaluated using the leave-one-subject-out procedure. The brain regions indicated as containing relevant information to discriminate groups were the orbitofrontal, rostral anterior cingulate, posterior cingulate, middle temporal cortices, among others. These areas, which are distinctively involved in emotional and affect regulation of BPD patients, were the most informative regions to achieve both sensitivity and specificity values of 80% in SVM classification. The findings suggest that this new methodology can add clinical and potential diagnostic value to neuroimaging of psychiatric disorders. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.