Faculty Bibliography

Odors that we encounter everyday are usually very complex. While the olfactory system is capable of discriminating complex yet similar odors (e.g. mocha and latte) with practice, the underlying mechanisms are not clear. As more data have been reported in anesthetized animals, data from awake animals are few. This experiment was therefore designed to investigate two related questions in awake rats: 1) odor coding of complex mixture in the anterior piriform cortex (a PCX) and 2) fear conditioning effects on odor coding in the a PCX. To record activity from awake animals, Long-Evans hooded rats were chronically implanted with movable bundles of microwires aimed at the a PCX. Up to 7 units were recorded simultaneously, and the electrode bundle was moved over time to sample additional cells. Odor-shock conditioning was performed to induce odor-related aversive experience on the rats, with a complex 10-odorant mixture as the conditioned stimulus (CS). The CS odor, along with overlapping odor mixtures and limonene were presented to the animals before the conditioning trials and for several days post-training. The results (n = 206 units) showed a slight decrease in percentage of units that showed excitation after conditioning, and a significant increase in suppression. A significant decrease in average spontaneous activity was observed after conditioning. Finally, an analysis of single-unit responsiveness revealed a late suppressive response after conditioning to all three mixtures overlapping with the CS but not limonene. Interestingly, while responsiveness to control odors decreased after conditioning, responses to the CS became temporally focused, with a more narrow range of onset and offset latencies. Together, odor fear conditioning should enhance signal:noise and CS coding acuity in a PCX

Reading instruction can direct attention to different unit sizes in print-to-speech mapping, ranging from grapheme-phoneme to whole-word relationships. Thus, attentional focus during learning might influence brain mechanisms recruited during reading, as indexed by the N170 response to visual words. To test this, two groups of adults were trained to read an artificial script under instructions directing attention to grapheme-phoneme versus whole-word associations. N170 responses were subsequently contrasted within an active reading task. Grapheme-phoneme focus drove a left-lateralized N170 response relative to the right-lateralized N170 under whole-word focus. These findings suggest a key role for attentional focus in early reading acquisition.

The Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) provides a framework for achieving positive outcomes for youth and families served in residential and community programs. Founded on core principles, an emerging evidence base, and acknowledged best practices, the BBI emphasizes collaboration and coordination between providers, families, youth, advocates, and policymakers to achieve its aims. Examples are presented of successful state, community, and provider practice changes, and available tools and resources to support all constituencies in achieving positive outcomes.

This article presents theory and rationale for game-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (GB-CBT), an integrative group modality for treating elementary school-aged children who have been sexually abused. GB-CBT incorporates evidence-based elements from cognitive-behavioral therapy, play therapy, and group therapy. The model's curriculum contains topics that have been demonstrated to be effective for treating child sexual abuse, including communication skills, emotional expression skills, psycho-education about child abuse, exposure and processing of sexual abuse, and self-protection and coping skills. Treatment is delivered in a fun and engaging manner utilizing developmentally appropriate games (DAGs) as the primary therapeutic technique. GB-CBT was designed to address behavioral problems and symptoms typically associated with child sexual abuse and aims to enhance children's knowledge of abuse and self-protection skills

Norepinephrine (NE) is thought to play a key role in fear and anxiety, but its role in amygdala-dependent Pavlovian fear conditioning, a major model for understanding the neural basis of fear, is poorly understood. The lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA) is a critical brain region for fear learning and regulating the effects of stress on memory. To understand better the cellular mechanisms of NE and its adrenergic receptors in the LA, we used antibodies directed against dopamine beta-hydroxylase (DbetaH), the synthetic enzyme for NE, or against two different isoforms of the beta-adrenergic receptors (betaARs), one that predominately recognizes neurons (betaAR 248) and the other astrocytes (betaAR 404), to characterize the microenvironments of DbetaH and betaAR. By electron microscopy, most DbetaH terminals did not make synapses, but when they did, they formed both asymmetric and symmetric synapses. By light microscopy, betaARs were present in both neurons and astrocytes. Confocal microscopy revealed that both excitatory and inhibitory neurons express betaAR248. By electron microscopy, betaAR 248 was present in neuronal cell bodies, dendritic shafts and spines, and some axon terminals and astrocytes. When in dendrites and spines, betaAR 248 was frequently concentrated along plasma membranes and at post-synaptic densities of asymmetric (excitatory) synapses. betaAR 404 was expressed predominately in astrocytic cell bodies and processes. These astrocytic processes were frequently interposed between unlabeled terminals or ensheathed asymmetric synapses. Our findings provide a morphological basis for understanding ways in which NE may modulate transmission by acting via synaptic or non-synaptic mechanisms in the LA