scholarly journals Decreased environmental complexity during development impairs habituation of reinforcer effectiveness of sensory stimuli

2018 ◽  
Vol 337 ◽  
pp. 53-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruixiang Wang ◽  
Kathryn A. Hausknecht ◽  
Samir Haj-Dahmane ◽  
Roh-Yu Shen ◽  
Jerry B. Richards
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Complexity ◽  
Sensory Stimuli ◽  
Reinforcer Effectiveness

Heart Rate Variability, Homeostasis, and Brain Function

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 178-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Riganello ◽  
Sergio Garbarino ◽  
Walter G. Sannita
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Heart Rate Variability ◽  
Vegetative State ◽  
Communication Disorders ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Cardiovascular Research ◽  
Sensory Stimuli ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Brain Injured

Measures of heart rate variability (HRV) are major indices of the sympathovagal balance in cardiovascular research. These measures are thought to reflect complex patterns of brain activation as well and HRV is now emerging as a descriptor thought to provide information on the nervous system organization of homeostatic responses in accordance with the situational requirements. Current models of integration equate HRV to the affective states as parallel outputs of the central autonomic network, with HRV reflecting its organization of affective, physiological, “cognitive,” and behavioral elements into a homeostatic response. Clinical application is in the study of patients with psychiatric disorders, traumatic brain injury, impaired emotion-specific processing, personality, and communication disorders. HRV responses to highly emotional sensory inputs have been identified in subjects in vegetative state and in healthy or brain injured subjects processing complex sensory stimuli. In this respect, HRV measurements can provide additional information on the brain functional setup in the severely brain damaged and would provide researchers with a suitable approach in the absence of conscious behavior or whenever complex experimental conditions and data collection are impracticable, as it is the case, for example, in intensive care units.

The Emergence and Maintenance of Ethical Leadership in Organizations

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silke Astrid Eisenbeiß ◽  
Steffen R. Giessner
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Ethical Leadership ◽  
Leadership Behavior ◽  
Peer Group ◽  
Organizational Characteristics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Environmental Complexity ◽  
Group Influence ◽  
Analysis Society ◽  
Different Levels

The present paper gives a review of empirical research on ethical leadership and shows that still little is known known about the contextual antecedents of ethical leadership. To address this important issue, a conceptual framework is developed that analyzes the embeddedness of organizational ethical leadership. This framework identifies manifest and latent contextual factors on three different levels of analysis – society, industry, and organization – which can affect the development and maintenance of ethical leadership. In particular, propositions are offered about how (1) societal characteristics, notably the implementation and the spirit of human rights in a society and societal cultural values of responsibility, justice, humanity, and transparency; (2) industry characteristics such as environmental complexity, the content of the organizational mandate, and the interests of stakeholder networks; and (3) intra-organizational characteristics, including the organizational ethical infrastructure and the ethical leadership behavior of a leader’s peer group, influence the development and maintenance of ethical leadership in organizations. This list of factors is not exhaustive, but illustrates how the three levels may impact ethical leadership. Implications for managerial practice and future research are discussed.

The utility of a paired-choice preference assessment in predicting reinforcer effectiveness for an infant.

2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 247-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karena S. Rush ◽  
Patricia F. Kurtz ◽  
Tara L. Lieblein ◽  
Michelle D. Chin
Keyword(s):  
Preference Assessment ◽  
Choice Preference ◽  
Reinforcer Effectiveness

scholarly journals Adaptive response to a future life challenge: consequences of early-life environmental complexity in dual-purpose chicks

2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Yan ◽  
Kate Hartcher ◽  
Wen Liu ◽  
Jinlong Xiao ◽  
Hai Xiang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Plasma Corticosterone ◽  
Adaptive Plasticity ◽  
Environmental Complexity ◽  
Dual Purpose ◽  
Stress Related Genes ◽  
Life Challenge ◽  
Environmental Challenge

Abstract Conditions in early life play profound and long-lasting effects on the welfare and adaptability to stress of chickens. This study aimed to explore the hypothesis that the provision of environmental complexity in early life improves birds’ adaptive plasticity and ability to cope with a challenge later in life. It also tried to investigate the effect of the gut-brain axis by measuring behavior, stress hormone, gene expression, and gut microbiota. One-day-old chicks were split into 3 groups: (1) a barren environment (without enrichment items) group (BG, n = 40), (2) a litter materials group (LG, n = 40), and (3) a perches with litter materials group (PLG, n = 40). Then, enrichment items were removed and simulated as an environmental challenge at 31 to 53 d of age. Birds were subjected to a predator test at 42 d of age. In the environmental challenge, when compared with LG, PLG birds were characterized by decreased fearfulness, lower plasma corticosterone, improved gut microbial functions, lower relative mRNA expression of GR, and elevated mRNA expressions of stress-related genes CRH, BDNF, and NR2A in the hypothalamus (all P < 0.05). Unexpectedly, the opposite was true for the LG birds when compared with the BG (P < 0.05). Decreased plasma corticosterone and fearfulness were accompanied by altered hypothalamic gene mRNA expressions of BDNF, NR2A, GR, and CRH through the HPA axis in response to altered gut microbial compositions and functions. The findings suggest that gut microbiota may integrate fearfulness, plasma corticosterone, and gene expression in the hypothalamus to provide an insight into the gut-brain axis in chicks. In conclusion, having access to both perches and litter materials in early life allowed birds to cope better with a future challenge. Birds in perches and litter materials environment may have optimal development and adaptive plasticity through the gut-brain axis.

scholarly journals Implication of the Sensory Environment in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Perspectives from School

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (14) ◽  
pp. 7670
Author(s):  
Ana Gentil-Gutiérrez ◽  
José Luis Cuesta-Gómez ◽  
Paula Rodríguez-Fernández ◽  
Jerónimo Javier González-Bernal
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Sensory Processing ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Sensory Profile ◽  
School Factors ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Sensory Stimuli ◽  
Children With Asd

(1) Background: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) frequently have difficulties in processing sensory information, which is a limitation when participating in different contexts, such as school. The objective of the present study was to compare the sensory processing characteristics of children with ASD in the natural context of school through the perception of professionals in the field of education, in comparison with neurodevelopmental children (2) Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study as conducted with study population consisting of children between three and ten years old, 36 of whom were diagnosed with ASD and attended the Autismo Burgos association; the remaining 24 had neurotypical development. The degree of response of the children to sensory stimuli at school was evaluated using the Sensory Profile-2 (SP-2) questionnaire in its school version, answered by the teachers. (3) Results: Statistically significant differences were found in sensory processing patterns (p = 0.001), in sensory systems (p = 0.001) and in school factors (p = 0.001). Children with ASD who obtained worse results. (4) Conclusions: Children with ASD are prone to present sensory alterations in different contexts, giving nonadapted behavioral and learning responses.

scholarly journals Green Innovation in Environmental Complexity: The Implication of Open Innovation

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
Ieva Meidute-Kavaliauskiene ◽  
Şemsettin Çiğdem ◽  
Aidas Vasilis Vasiliauskas ◽  
Bülent Yıldız
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Open Innovation ◽  
Environmental Uncertainty ◽  
Environmentally Friendly ◽  
Maximum Level ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Green Innovation ◽  
Environmental Complexity ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Innovation Activities

People have become more conscientious about the environment in recent years. Increasing environmental awareness drives customers to be more selective about environmentally friendly products and forces governments to adopt environmentally friendly policies. As a result, competition in the market becomes more challenging. Thus, companies cannot remain indifferent to adopting environmentally friendly strategies to be sustainable. In this regard, this study investigates the effect of green innovation on firm performance. We also examined whether the environmental uncertainty moderates the investigated effect. For this purpose, first, data were collected from the first 1000 exporting firms declared in 2019 by the Turkey Exporters Assembly using a survey method. Secondly, factor analyses and regression analyses were performed with the data set obtained from 136 companies. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that green innovation increases both environmental performance and economic performance. It also was found that green innovation positively affects firm performance, but environmental uncertainty reduces this effect. According to these results, it was offered that firms should increase their green innovation activities to achieve better outputs and seek ways to reduce environmental uncertainty to keep these outputs at the maximum level. Finally, the research includes some considerations on the positive implications and potential of green innovation in an open-innovation context.

scholarly journals Sensory over-responsivity is related to GABAergic inhibition in thalamocortical circuits

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily T. Wood ◽  
Kaitlin K. Cummings ◽  
Jiwon Jung ◽  
Genevieve Patterson ◽  
Nana Okada ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Sensory Stimulation ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Resonance Spectroscopy ◽  
Gamma Aminobutyric Acid ◽  
Sensory Stimuli ◽  
Brain Responses

AbstractSensory over-responsivity (SOR), extreme sensitivity to or avoidance of sensory stimuli (e.g., scratchy fabrics, loud sounds), is a highly prevalent and impairing feature of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD), anxiety, and ADHD. Previous studies have found overactive brain responses and reduced modulation of thalamocortical connectivity in response to mildly aversive sensory stimulation in ASD. These findings suggest altered thalamic sensory gating which could be associated with an excitatory/inhibitory neurochemical imbalance, but such thalamic neurochemistry has never been examined in relation to SOR. Here we utilized magnetic resonance spectroscopy and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the relationship between thalamic and somatosensory cortex inhibitory (gamma-aminobutyric acid, GABA) and excitatory (glutamate) neurochemicals with the intrinsic functional connectivity of those regions in 35 ASD and 35 typically developing pediatric subjects. Although there were no diagnostic group differences in neurochemical concentrations in either region, within the ASD group, SOR severity correlated negatively with thalamic GABA (r = −0.48, p < 0.05) and positively with somatosensory glutamate (r = 0.68, p < 0.01). Further, in the ASD group, thalamic GABA concentration predicted altered connectivity with regions previously implicated in SOR. These variations in GABA and associated network connectivity in the ASD group highlight the potential role of GABA as a mechanism underlying individual differences in SOR, a major source of phenotypic heterogeneity in ASD. In ASD, abnormalities of the thalamic neurochemical balance could interfere with the thalamic role in integrating, relaying, and inhibiting attention to sensory information. These results have implications for future research and GABA-modulating pharmacologic interventions.

scholarly journals Brain morphology predicts social intelligence in wild cleaner fish

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zegni Triki ◽  
Yasmin Emery ◽  
Magda C. Teles ◽  
Rui F. Oliveira ◽  
Redouan Bshary
Keyword(s):  
Social Intelligence ◽  
Brain Plasticity ◽  
Decision Rules ◽  
Brain Morphology ◽  
Brain Anatomy ◽  
Environmental Complexity ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
Cleaner Fish ◽  
High Performing ◽  
Selective Pressures

AbstractIt is generally agreed that variation in social and/or environmental complexity yields variation in selective pressures on brain anatomy, where more complex brains should yield increased intelligence. While these insights are based on many evolutionary studies, it remains unclear how ecology impacts brain plasticity and subsequently cognitive performance within a species. Here, we show that in wild cleaner fish (Labroides dimidiatus), forebrain size of high-performing individuals tested in an ephemeral reward task covaried positively with cleaner density, while cerebellum size covaried negatively with cleaner density. This unexpected relationship may be explained if we consider that performance in this task reflects the decision rules that individuals use in nature rather than learning abilities: cleaners with relatively larger forebrains used decision-rules that appeared to be locally optimal. Thus, social competence seems to be a suitable proxy of intelligence to understand individual differences under natural conditions.

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