Ability In Adulthood Research Articles

Chronic administration of phosphatidylserine during ontogeny enhances subject-environment interactions and radial maze performance in C57BL/6 mice

A longitudinal behavioral study was performed in mice exposed to the bovine brain phospholipid phosphatidylserine (BC-PS) from birth until sixty days. Examination of treated and control pups revealed no effect of the treatment on body weight nor on sensorimotor reflexes. At one and two months of age, when placed in an open field and, particularly, in the presence of a novel object, treated mice were found more interactive with their environment than control mice. Finally, when submitted to a radial eight-arm maze problem, choice accuracy was higher and maze-running strategies more adaptive in treated than in control adult mice. These results suggest a stimulating effect of the treatment on subject-environment interactions during ontogeny underlying improved cognitive abilities in adulthood.

A parent-offspring adoption study of cognitive abilities in early childhood

Do cognitive abilities in early childhood relate genetically and/or environmentally to isomorphic abilities in adulthood? Are specific cognitive abilities diffentiated in early childhood in terms of their prediction of adult cognitive abilities? The present study, the first behavioral genetic analysis of specific cognitive abilities in early childhood, explored these questions using parent-offspring data for 186 adopted children and 151 nonadopted children tested in the longitudinal Colorado Adoption Project at 3 years of age and 162 adopted children and 138 nonadopted children tested at 4 years. The children's Stanford-Binet IQ and scores for four specific cognitive abilities (verbal, spatial, perceptual speed, and memory) were correlated with corresponding measures for their parents—the biological and adoptive parents of the adopted children and the natural parents of the nonadopted children. Significant correlations were found between biological mothers' IQ and the IQ of their adopted away offspring at 3 and 4 years of age, suggesting genetic influence for IQ. However, specific cognitive abilities yielded no significant correlations between biological mothers and their adopted-away offspring. These results suggest that substantial genetic continuity exists for IQ from early childhood to adulthood, but not for specific cognitive abilities.

Age Changes in the Factor Structure of Intellectual Abilities in Adulthood and Old Age

Age Changes in the Factor Structure of Intellectual Abilities in Adulthood and Old Age

Diurnal prolactin surges and sexual differentiation of the rat hypothalamus.

Neonatal exposure to testicular androgens interferes with the ability in adulthood to release an ovulatory amount of LH, with the display of female sexual behavior, and also with control mechanisms of the activity of the corpora lutea. It is likely that effects on luteal activity involve, in part, effects on the control of PRL secretion. Therefore, serum concentrations of PRL were studied in ovarian graft-bearing male rats, castrated as neonates (NC-males) or as adults (AC-males), during a luteal phase induced and temporarily sustained by an ectopic pituitary graft. Before the removal of the pituitary graft, serum PRL and progesterone levels were high at all times when measured during the day in both AC-males and NC-males. Removal of the pituitary graft, 6-7 days after ovulation led to immediate cessation of luteal activity in AC-males but not in NC-males. In the latter animals, luteal activity was maintained for at least 6 days after pituitary graft removal by intermittently high levels of PRL, i.e. around 0400 and 1900 h. However, in AC-males, PRL levels were generally low after pituitary graft removal. It is concluded that the absence of neonatal exposure to testicular secretion contributes to the ability of the adult rat to release PRL in a diurnal surge-like manner. The inability to release PRL in this way may explain the failure of AC-males to maintain luteal activity.