Jaylan S. Turkkan

The short-term impact of two classroom-based preventive interventions on aggressive and shy behaviors and poor achievement☆

Abstract Two classroom-based preventive interventions were carried out on an epidemiologically defined, varied population of children in a metropolitan area in the United States. This is a report of the short-term impact and specificity of the two interventions from fall through spring of first grade. The first intervention, the Good Behavior Game, was aimed at reducing aggressive behavior and shy behavior. Aggressive behavior has been shown to be an important developmental antecedent in first grade of later delinquency and heavy drug use, particularly when coupled with shy behavior. The second intervention, Mastery Learning, was designed to improve poor reading achievement, which has been shown to be an antecedent for later depressive symptoms, as well as a correlate of aggressive and shy behaviors. Each of the two interventions had a significant and very specific impact only on its own proximal target(s). In addition to main effects, there were theoretically important variations of impacts among subgroups of children. The Good Behavior Game appeared to have a greater impact in reducing aggressive behavior among the more aggressive children. The nature of the impact of Mastery Learning differed by gender, with female high achievers benefiting more from the intervention than female low achievers, and male low achievers benefiting more than male high achievers. Developmental epidemiologically based preventive trials provide a powerful means of addressing questions about etiology and development, particularly around the issue of the malleability of developmental processes. Important questions that future work could test are whether achievement is improved by improving aggressive or shy behaviors and whether aggressive or shy behaviors are improved by improving achievement. Such investigation would inform our understanding of their etiology.

Hyperdipsia in the baboon during operant conditioning of blood pressure elevation.

Water intake was monitored in intact baboons during acquisition stages of blood pressure conditioning (Experiment 1) and during 24-hr periods (Experiment 2). Water intake was elevated during noncontingent food pellet delivery, and more so during early acquisition stages of operantly conditioned blood pressure elevations. Changes in blood pressure, heart rate, and water intake were found to correspond closely during conditioning sessions. Several possible sources of control over drinking are discussed, such as the role of food-related discriminative stimuli, and hypothalamic integration of cardiovascular hemodynamics, water ingestion, and thermal regulation.

Behavioral performance effects of verapamil in normotensive and renovascular hypertensive baboons

Behavioral performances of normotensive and hypertensive adult male baboons were tested before, during, and following chronic oral dosing with verapamil. Performances during a five-color simultaneous match-to-sample task were measured for two doses (2.0, and 3.2 mg/kg/day) and vehicle. Each dose was administered for 21 consecutive days preceded and followed by 14-day baseline and recovery periods, respectively. Choice reaction times increased by 9% during the lower dose of verapamil, compared to vehicle; choice reaction times were unchanged at the higher dose. At baseline and during vehicle administration, the yellow and white stimuli were the most difficult to discriminate correctly; discrimination of these colors was slightly impaired by the lower, but not the higher dose of verapamil. Verapamil’s behavioral effects were not modulated by blood pressure changes since both baboon groups showed equivalent changes in behavioral performance, but only renovascular hypertensive baboons showed blood pressure decreases. Verapamil appears to be an effective hypotensive and does not produce profound psychomotor impairment at clinically used doses during the first weeks of treatment.