No abstract

Research on stereotype threat has repeatedly demonstrated that the intellectual performance of social groups is particularly sensitive to the situational context in which tests are usually administered. In the present experiment, an adaptation of the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices Test was introduced as a measure of cognitive ability. Results showed that individuals targeted by a reputation of intellectual inferiority scored lower on the test than did other people. However, when the identical test was not presented as a measure of cognitive ability, the achievement gap between the target and the control group disappeared. Using heart rate variability indices to assess mental workload, our findings showed that the situational salience of a reputation of lower ability undermined intellectual performance by triggering a disruptive mental load. Our results indicate that group differences in cognitive ability scores can reflect different situational burdens and not necessarily actual differences in cognitive ability.

On the basis of the theoretical distinction between self-centeredness and selflessness (Dambrun and Ricard, 2011), the main goal of this research was to develop two new scales assessing distinct dimensions of happiness. By trying to maximize pleasures and to avoid displeasures, we propose that a self-centered functioning induces a fluctuating happiness in which phases of pleasure and displeasure alternate repeatedly (i.e., Fluctuating Happiness). In contrast, a selfless psychological functioning postulates the existence of a state of durable plenitude that is less dependent upon circumstances but rather is related to a person’s inner resources and abilities to deal with whatever comes his way in life (i.e., Authentic–Durable Happiness). Using various samples (n = 735), we developed a 10-item Scale measuring Subjective Fluctuating Happiness (SFHS) and a 13-item scale assessing Subjective Authentic–Durable Happiness (SA–DHS). Results indicated high internal consistencies, satisfactory test–retest validities, and adequate convergent and discriminant validities with various constructs including a biological marker of stress (salivary cortisol). Consistent with our theoretical framework, while self-enhancement values were related only to fluctuating happiness, self-transcendence values were related only to authentic–durable happiness. Support for the distinction between contentment and inner-peace, two related markers of authentic happiness, also was found.

In this study, we analysed the distribution of the intermediate filament peripherin in the developing cochlea of the rat. At gestational day 16, weak immunolabeling was observed in neuronal somas throughout the spiral ganglion. At gestational day 20, the peripherin labeling increased in intensity throughout the spiral ganglion. At gestational day 20, the peripherin labeling increased in intensity throughout the cochlea but became especially strong in some ganglion neurons of the basal turn. Homogeneous immunolabeling was observed throughout the spiral ganglion of the apical turn. Double immunofluorescence labeling of the prenatal cochlea with peripherin and neurofilament (NF) antibodies revealed colocalization on the same structures. By postnatal day 3, the peripherin labeling intensity had decreased in the majority of spiral ganglion neurons, but remained strong in some cells of the basal turn. Only a few neurons continued to be immunolabeled into adulthood that correspond to Type II spiral ganglion neurons expressing both NF protein and peripherin, two classes of intermediate filament proteins. In the organ of Corti, the first immunolabeling was observed on gestational day 20 as peripheral fibers reaching the receptor cells. Positive fibers were observed below both inner (IHCs) and outer (OHCs) hair cells. At birth and at postnatal day 3, peripherin immunolabeling was still observed below both IHCs and OHCs. By postnatal day 4, peripherin labeling became more dominant in fibers below OHCs, but some immunoreactivity was still present below IHCs. No immunoreactivity was present in the intraganglionic spiral bundle (IGSB) fibers containing the olivary complex efferent fibers before birth. A few days after birth some fibers of the IGSB started to be immunoreactive.

Appraisal theories provide a framework that gives insight into emotions and could allow comparisons across species. According to these theories, events are first evaluated on their suddenness, novelty, and unpredictability. The authors examined the ability of lambs (Ovis aries) to evaluate an event according to these 3 criteria through 3 tests. The lambs responded to suddenness with a startle response coupled with an increase in heart rate and to novelty with an orientation response coupled with an increase of vagal activity. There was no clear evidence that lambs can detect the predictability of an event. Those results support the usefulness of appraisal theories to assess emotion in animals.

After a milk meal, bucket-fed calves show non-nutritive oral activities, including cross-sucking, and this can discourage producers from rearing them in groups. Sucking is known to induce a quiet state in humans and rats. We examined if nutritive sucking affects non-nutritive oral activities in calves, if it reduces arousal (assessed through behavior and cardiac activity), and if sucking a dry teat can compensate for the lack of nutritive sucking. In Exp. 1, the behavior and the cardiac activity of individually housed calves fed milk from a bucket were compared to those of calves fed milk through a teat. During the meal, the heart rate of bucket-fed calves was higher than that of teat-fed calves (P < 0.0001). After the meal, only bucket-fed calves displayed bar sucking. Compared to the teat-fed calves, they spent more time licking their pen or their neighbor (P < 0.001 and P < 0.05), their heart rate was less variable (P < 0.01), and they lay down with the head unsupported by the neck less quickly (latency to lie down: 51 min vs 42 min, P < 0.05). In Exp. 2, individually-housed bucket-fed and teat-fed calves were observed with or without access to a non-nutritive teat after the meal. Bucket-fed calves sucked the dry teat for longer than teat-fed calves (P < 0.001). In bucket-fed calves, access to the dry teat reduced the time spent nibbling (P < 0.01) and tended to shorten the latency to lie down (P < 0.10). In Exp. 3, group-housed bucket-fed calves were compared with group-housed calves fed with an automatic teat feeder system. Bucket-fed calves spent more time nibbling at 1 mo, but at 3 mo they spent less time nibbling and cross-sucking; they drank more milk and put on more weight. We conclude that, for calves housed individually, teat-feeding reduces non-nutritive oral activities after the meal and induces a calmer state than bucket-feeding. Providing calves with a dry teat partly compensates for the lack of nutritive sucking. For calves housed in groups, the use of an automatic teat feeder may not reduce calves' motivation for sucking. No improvement of growth was observed with teat-feeding either with a teat-bucket or with an automatic feeder.

Steady-state nerve growth factor (NGF) mRNA levels were estimated in male sex organs of the mouse, rat, and guinea pig by RNA blot hybridization analysis. The abundance of NGF mRNAs was in the order vas deferens greater than epididymis greater than or equal to seminal vesicles much greater than testis. NGF mRNA levels in these organs were compared with those estimated for other rat peripheral tissues and were found to correlate with the density of their sympathetic innervation, with the exception of guinea pig prostate. Castration had no significant effect on NGF mRNA levels in the guinea pig prostate, suggesting that NGF synthesis in this tissue is not under direct androgen control. NGF-like and proNGF-like immunoreactivities were localized by immunohistochemical techniques in the secretory cells of the glandular epithelium of the guinea pig prostate and in germ cells in the seminiferous tubules of the mouse testis.

We have studied the innervation of the developing cochlea by immunocytochemical staining of the cytoskeletal proteins, neurofilament (NF), and spectrin (brain spectrin and erythrocyte spectrin). NF immunoreactivity was seen in spiral ganglion cell bodies and their processes and in fibers of the intraganglionic spiral bundle (IGSB) on gestational day 16. NF immunoreactivity with monoclonal antibodies to NF160 and NF68 was present beneath both inner hair cells (the IHC) and outer hair cells (OHCs) on gestational day 20. NF200 immunostaining was located only in the IGSB and in fibers reaching the IHC. The first NF200 immunoreactivity beneath the OHCs was seen in the basal turn at birth. NF labelling began to decrease on postnatal day 9 and its intensity became more like that of the adult. Brain spectrin immunostaining was first seen in the IGSB of the basal turn on gestational day 18. It reached the fibers between the spiral ganglion and the IHC on gestational day 20. Brain spectrin immunoreactivity was first seen beneath the OHCs in the basal turn at birth. It reached all the OHCs of the cochlea by postnatal day 4, and began to decrease 9 days after birth. Erythrocyte spectrin immunostaining was first observed during the second postnatal week, when it labelled spiral ganglion cells. The distribution of NF200 and brain spectrin immunoreactivity suggested that efferent innervation of OHCs is present at birth in the rat, and confirms previous studies showing the early efferent innervation of the OHCs of the mouse and the rat at birth, and the time lag between the appearance of the two spectrin isoforms during development.