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Lifespan developmental neurotoxicity of
methylmercury.
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A five year grant supported by the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to study the long-term
effects of in utero exposure to methylmercury, and how n-3 fatty
acids or selenium may modulate those effects. |
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We are primarily interested in effects on
motor function (high-rate operant behavior), timing, behavior in
transition, and neurochemical substrates underlying the effects. |
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Collaborator: Dr. Margaret Craig-Schmidt,
Nutrition and Food Sciences, Auburn University. |
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Interaction of dietary omega-3 fatty acids
and methylmercury.
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Supported by Auburn University Environmental
Institute to characterize visual function, glutamante transport, and
astrocyte function associated with in utero methylmercury
exposure. |
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Collaborator: Dr. Elaine Coleman. College of
Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University. |
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Aquatic ecotoxicology.
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Supported by the U. S. EPA. This entails the
development of a laboratory model of foraging in bluegill, with the
intent extending it to examine compounds, such as pesticides, that
commonly contaminate ecosystems. |
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Methods Development.
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High-rate behavior as an indicator of motor
function.
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Differential reinforcement of high-rate
behavior (DRH) schedules to generate high-rate behavior and
functional units of bursts of short interresponse times. |
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Percentile schedules in which each
interresponse time is compared with a sample of recent interresponse
times and targeted for reinforcement only if it is faster than some
proportion of those. |
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The role of sensory feedback for
criterion responses. |
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Behavior under concurrent schedules in
transition.
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Development of a rapid assessment of
behavior change under concurrent schedules during single sessions
(single-session transitions). |
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Quantitative descriptions of behavior
change. |
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Interactions with behaviorally active
drugs and toxic substances. |
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Application of quantitative descriptors of
behavior to the assessment of risk.
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Application of novel approaches to risk
assessment, developed by Glowa and MacPhail, that incorporate
individual susceptibility and natural within- and between-subject
variability into the assessment of risk. |
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Examination of reinforcement processes
in mice.
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Examination of the validity and
independence of terms of a recently developed quantitative model
that separates the ongoing stream of voluntary behavior neatly into
separate motivational and motor components. |
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Laboratory Automation.
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Information management and laboratory
automation are important components of the laboratory efforts. |
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We conduct behavior sessions with
approximately 200 rats/day in several different experiments.
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Depending on the experiment we collect
and update between 50 and several thousand data points/rat/day. |
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We keep track of each rat individually
throughout the course of its 2-1/2 year lifespan. |
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We monitor the behavior of each rat
individually by automatically updating the rat's data file and
generating graphical displays daily of its recent behavior. This is
conducted daily with a single command. |
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The laboratory includes a local area network
of six or so computers running a mix of Windows NT, Windows 2000, and
Windows XP, with web access to NT-based network drives and automatic
nightly backup of all data. Behavioral data are collected using Med
PC and automatic data-management is accomplished using RS1 data
management software and their RPL language. |
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Application of stimulus equivalence to teach
drug names.
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The title says it all. Every drug has many
names and this can be very confusing. Here we attempt to apply a
phenomenon called stimulus equivalence to teach the names of drugs and
to associate properly the generic name of a drug with its proprietary
(brand) name(s). |
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Year Round School.
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