Susan M. Koger

Comparison of the effects of frontal cortical and thalamic lesions on measures of olfactory learning and memory in the rat.

Rats were trained on an olfactory continuous delayed nonmatching-to-sample (DNMTS) task and then given 1 of 4 treatments: sham surgery or radio-frequency lesion of the lateral internal medullary lamina of the thalamus or of the frontal cortex along the medial wall or dorsal to the rhinal sulcus. Thalamic lesions produced persistent deficits on the continuous DNMTS task, and both the cortical lesions resulted in transient impairments that disappeared with continued training. Manipulations of stimulus set size and the delay between trials affected continuous DNMTS performance but did not exacerbate group differences. All 3 lesion groups performed normally when next trained on a discrimination task with odorants and go-no-go procedures comparable to continuous DNMTS. These results indicate that lesions did not affect ability to perform go-no-go procedures, to discriminate among odorants, or to use reference memory to respond on the basis of a fixed stimulus-response rule.

Psychology and Environmental Sustainability: A Call for Integration

Environmental scientists warn that the health of the planet is rapidly deteriorating, and the primary cause of the crisis is human behavior. Psychology can contribute greatly to understanding and changing behaviors that negatively impact global ecosystems; however, environmental issues are not generally included in psychology curricula, and psychology is not often represented in environmental curricula. We describe the relevance of psychology to environmental problem solving; suggest how to integrate environmental issues into psychology courses; and urge psychology faculty to collaborate with environmental studies and science faculty to strengthen the training of future policy makers, conservation scientists, and activists. We conclude that psychology has a critical role to play in creating a sustainable society.

Beyond the roots of human inaction: Fostering collective effort toward ecosystem conservation

The term “environmental problem” exposes a fundamental misconception: Disruptions of Earth’s ecosystems are at their root a human behavior problem. Psychology is a potent tool for understanding the external and internal drivers of human behavior that lead to unsustainable living. Psychologists already contribute to individual-level behavior-change campaigns in the service of sustainability, but attention is turning toward understanding and facilitating the role of individuals in collective and collaborative actions that will modify the environmentally damaging systems in which humans are embedded. Especially crucial in moving toward long-term human and environmental well-being are transformational individuals who step outside of the norm, embrace ecological principles, and inspire collective action. Particularly in developed countries, fostering legions of sustainability leaders rests upon a fundamental renewal of humans’ connection to the natural world.

Depletion of cortical norepinephrine in rats by 6-hydroxydopamine does not impair performance of a delayed-nonmatching-to-sample task

Rats were trained on a spatial delayed-nonmatching-to-sample (DNMTS) task, matched for performance, and randomly assigned to treatment with dorsal noradrenergic bundle injections of either 6-hydroxydopamine, to deplete cortical norepinephrine (NE), or vehicle, to control for the effects of surgery. After recovery, there were no significant differences between the groups when retrained on the DNMTS task at retention intervals (RI) from 0.1 to 15.0 s. Furthermore, no differences were observed when rats were trained at a 6.0-s RI filled with distracting stimuli or when dummy information runs were added to increase proactive interference. These results demonstrate that depletion of cortical NE cannot account for the DNMTS performance deficits observed in rats recovered from pyrithiamine-induced thiamine deficiency (Knoth & Mair, 1991; Robinson & Mair, 1992).

Teaching Psychology for Sustainability: The Why and How *:

The behavioral sciences can make vital contributions to environmental sustainability efforts, as relevant basic and applied psychological research has grown considerably over the past dozen years. Recently, conservation biologists, environmental policy makers, and other experts have recognized the importance of engaging with experts on human behavior (i.e., psychologists) in order to effect behavioral change in a sustainable direction. Lagging behind this trend, however, is the curricular integration of psychology and environmental sustainability in most psychology or environmental science/studies programs (ESS). Consequently, most psychology majors are graduating with no background in applying the field to promoting sustainability, and ESS students lack explicit education focused on understanding and changing human behavior. This paper provides an introduction to the rationale for integrating sustainability topics into psychology courses, and psychological concepts into ESS classes, along with some strategies for doing so at the level of individual course units as well as full courses.