Receptive Posture Research Articles

“I Contain Multitudes”: The Divine Basis for the Theological Interpretation of Scripture

Theological interpretation of Scripture has often been understood in terms of method. This essay, drawing on Christian, Jewish, and Islamic reflection, as well as the anarchic metaphysics of Paul Feyerabend, argues that the category of “method” or “methodology” does not apply to theological interpretation, which ought instead to be understood as a human posture of receiving divine speech. This receptive posture is shaped especially by the infinitely complex character of divine speech that the Scripture constitutes, and it is just this character that subverts “method” itself as an adequate conceptuality for defining how one hears and understands God's Word.

"Stand still": Delta Wedding and the Perils of Perception

"Stand still":Delta Wedding and the Perils of Perception Ryan Sinni [A]s soon as the least of us stands still, that is the moment something extraordinary is seen to be going on in the world. —Welty, "Place in Fiction" 787 [H]e had seen the bird most purely at its moment of death. —Welty, "A Still Moment" 239 You couldn't stop me. —Welty, Delta Wedding 159 Eudora Welty's One Time, One Place: Mississippi in the Depression contains an unassuming photo entitled "Town in a store window" (56). At first glance, this photo might seem to offer a simple depiction of items, such as clocks and lanterns, that are for sale in a local store. Upon closer examination, however, "Welty's diminutive silhouette can be seen slightly hunched over in the act of snapping the picture" (Wright 65). This image is a reminder that every photo, no matter how objective it may seem, is the product of a human perceiver. Although Welty may have been alerted to this reality through her photography, she explores it in detail in her fiction. The role of the human perceiver is an especially prominent theme in Welty's 1946 novel Delta Wedding. In this work, Welty's engagement with the theme of human perception is funneled through the concept of stillness. This concept is especially important to one of the story's most important characters, Ellen Fairchild, for whom the phrase "stand still" is a habitual command (158). Despite its prominence in Delta Wedding, the theme of stillness has not received sustained treatment in the scholarship on the novel, although some critics have addressed related themes. Louise Hutchings Westling and Allison Deming Goeller both read Delta Wedding as working with the pastoral genre; Kelly Cannon comes closest to focusing on stillness in her [End Page 243] article "The Power of Silence in Delta Wedding." But none of these critics offer a detailed analysis of the way Welty engages with the concept of stillness. In this essay, I will provide such an analysis by reading Welty's novel in light of her essay "Place in Fiction" and her short story "A Still Moment." Each of these works reveals a different angle on Welty's use of the phrase "stand still." In "Place in Fiction," standing still is the posture in which one perceives mystery. "A Still Moment" does not contradict this claim but rather complicates it. Like "Place in Fiction," "A Still Moment" portrays stillness as an appropriate posture for the perceiving subject, but it also warns against imposing such a posture on the perceived object. I argue that the ambivalence toward stillness that characterizes "A Still Moment" also characterizes Delta Wedding. In both of these fictions, a receptive posture allows one to perceive an object of perception, whereas an active posture allows the object of perception to slip through one's grasp. In "Place in Fiction," Welty points to primeval religious experience to illustrate the connection between place and feeling: "From the dawn of man's imagination, place has enshrined the spirit: as soon as man stopped wandering and stood still and looked about him, he found a god in that place; and from then on, that was where the god abided and spoke from if ever he spoke" (787). What is important to note here is the relationship between standing still and perceiving the supernatural. The phrase "as soon as" indicates that this perception immediately followed upon standing still. The god is portrayed as already present, simply waiting for an attentive human perceiver to arrive. A few paragraphs later, Welty links standing still with the perception of the "extraordinary" ("Place" 787). Welty wonders about the connection between place and perception: "It may be that place can focus the gigantic, voracious eye of genius and bring its gaze to a point" (787). Welty defines this "focus" as "awareness, discernment, order, clarity, insight" (787). She then claims that focusing has both intrinsic and extrinsic value: "The act of focusing itself has beauty and meaning; it is the act that, continued in, turns into meditation, into poetry" (787). In the context of this "act of focusing," Welty again employs our key phrase: "Indeed, as...

The Birth of Philosophy, The Philosophy of Birth: Heidegger, Plato, and the Gift of Being

ABSTRACT This article explores certain structural resonances between Plato’s Theaetetus and Martin Heidegger’s (1979) Heraclitus lectures from 1943 to 1944. Specifically, it is argued that these two texts, each in their own way and from out of their own unique historical contexts, present philosophy as a matter of reception, of learning how to receive the truth of things as it is given. Furthermore, in developing this receptive philosophical posture, each text offers a radical critique of a certain understanding of power – or, more precisely, the will to power – both in its philosophical and political registers.

Toward a Holistic Contemplative Vision:

Ignatian spirituality is characterized by an emphasis on contemplation as a means of discernment, an approach that highlights the unity of the interior and ethical dimensions of the Christian life. Yet Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises are also defined by the modus operandi of the contemplative method outlined therein, one that highlights the imagination’s role in a receptive and interactive engagement with the person of Christ as depicted in the Gospels. Though 20th century German Catholic philosopher Josef Pieper is most commonly associated with his popular works on Aquinas and the cardinal virtues, there is a contemplative undercurrent throughout his writing that corresponds with the thought of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Pieper defines contemplation as “a visual perception prompted by loving acceptance,” stressing both the receptive posture of the individual but also the intrinsic pairing of contemplation and ethics in an active response of embracing existence. Much as Ignatius believes the imagination, the inner capacity that links creativity and memory in an individual, to be pertinent to spiritual development, so Pieper asserts that an imaginative representation of Being through the creation of art and participation in communal worship proceeds from love and cultivates the individual’s capacity to perceive lovingly.

Individual preference functions exist without overall preference in a tropical jumping spider

Female mate choice is a widespread and well-recognized phenomenon. Nevertheless, individual variation in female preference has not yet received the same attention, although such preferences can have important effects on evolutionary dynamics. Here we assess and compare population- and individual-level female preferences for male ornaments and size in the tropical jumping spider Hasarius adansoni in two sets of laboratory experiments. First, we paired females with a single male and quantified receptive behaviours (e.g. receptive posture, number of copulations) and unreceptive behaviours (e.g. attacking the male, running away from a male). We assessed whether these male traits were related to offspring quality and quantity to determine whether there was selection on female preferences. Then, we paired different females with three different-sized males, one per day, and scored similar behaviours to measure preference functions (relationship between male traits and female receptivity). Generally, the population of females did not show a consistent average preference for male traits, despite our finding that females mated to larger males produced more offspring. However, at the individual level, females showed different preference functions for male size, such that some females preferred larger males, while others preferred smaller males. We discuss these data in terms of the causes and consequences of individual preference functions, highlighting the importance of including individual preference functions in future studies that focus on sexual selection and how individual preference can maintain phenotypic variation in wild populations.

Discovering the Living World: Discussion of “Life on Her Own Terms: A Story of Reclamation”

Lisa Beritzhoff’s paper is considered in the light of contemporary developments in clinical theory. Her active approach to helping her patient reclaim the world of live objects offers a striking illustration of the vitalizing or “inductive” dimension of the analyst’s presence. This aspect of analytic activity, which entails engagement at the level of shared psycho-sensory experience, lies at the very heart of the therapeutics of psychoanalysis, even if it has remained largely in the background of clinical theory. More than maintaining an interpretive and receptive posture, it entails the development of a proprioceptive readiness in the analyst; it is marked by the activity of sensing things together as the essential underpinning and prelude to emotional engagement and play and co-creation of symbolic meanings. The paper shows vividly how, especially in treating cases of traumatic early loss and deprivation, this active dimension of the analyst’s embodied presence becomes the explicit center of the analyst’s technique; but this inductive activity is also a vital factor in all effective analytic work, keeping the clinical field alive to the world of objects.

Mating and egg-laying behavior of Hasarius adansoni (Araneae: Salticidae) and the influence of sexual selection

Jumping spiders perform multi-modal displays during courtship and this has been used to study sexual selection and mate choice. However, studies have focused on only a few groups of spiders. Here we describe for the first time the breeding behavior of the tropical jumping spider Hasarius adansoni (Audouin, 1826). Animals were collected in the field and reared in the laboratory until adulthood. We took male body measurements, paired couples in mating trials, and then collected subsequent clutches. We confirmed the presence of a multi-modal display with visual and vibratory signals (tremulations) by the males. Females responded with their own tremulations and occasionally a receptive posture. Otherwise, they avoid mating by attacking or running away from the male. No measured male morphological attributes were important for male mating success and future studies should focus on other morphological measurements to understand how the mate choice process functions in this species. Multiple matings were common and females laid numerous clutches while enclosed in silk cocoons. Number of young per clutch decreased over the course of laying bouts.

Universalism and Utilitarianism, Two Worlds Apart or Inextricably Linked?

Most authors and researchers consistently perceive ethics as being invariably divided into two clearly discernible divisions. The Kantian categorically imperative and universalistic divinity prescribes a somewhat non-negotiable and positivistic duty based maxim that guide the actualization of altruism. Conversely, the contemporary but more relative utilitarian approach advocates that an action that produces the greatest wellbeing of good for the greatest number is undeniably the ethical one. Clearly, it makes little sense and very negligible contribution to literature if corporations are continuously misled to believe that such strict and fervent dichotomy exist. On one hand, business firms in this globalized era are increasingly pressured to comply with emerging universalistic international laws. On the other, business firms cannot remain entirely altruistic. Corporations greatly need the flexibility and capability to relate dissimilar cultural contents and moral distorts. This paper maintains that there is an inextricable link between universalism and utilitarianism. The association between the two is at best complex and intricate. Business firms commonly usurp a utilitarian slant where relativity and ability to adapt is pivotal. However, a firm is estopped from usurping utilitarianism if a firm’s conduct falls below the threshold and minimum content of morality. This would immediately instigate a punctuated equilibrium in the firm triggered through a tsunamic impact, causing the firm to refresh into a universalistic mode. This punctuated equilibrium is frequently activated by external factors that are adequately vigorous to refresh and reset the moral values of a firm. Consider Shell’s defensive posture over the Brent Oil Spar allegation which left the firm with diving stock value and tarnished branding. Shell since then has taken a more Kantian receptive posture of apologizing for their catastrophic mistakes which resembled a renewed commitment to the betterment of human kind. This paper contributes to better the understanding of this ethical transition that firms might experience in their course of organization life cycle and how it can be managed tactfully.

The Impact of Oxytocin Gene Knockout on Sexual Behavior and Gene Expression Related to Neuroendocrine Systems in the Brain of Female Mice.

Social relations are built and maintained from the interaction among individuals. The oxytocin (OT), vasopressin (VP), estrogen, dopamine, and their receptors are involved in the modulation of sexual behavior in females. This study aimed to analyze the impact of OT gene knockout (OTKO) on sexual behavior and the gene expression of oxytocin (OTR), estrogen alpha (ERα), estrogen beta (ERβ), vasopressin (V1aR), and dopamine (D2R) receptors in the olfactory bulb (OB), prefrontal cortex (PFC), hippocampus (HPC), and hypothalamus (HPT), as well as in the synthesis of VP in the HPT of female mice. Wild-type (WT) littermates were used for comparisons. The CDNAs were synthesized by polymerase chain reaction and the gene expression was calculated with the 2-ΔΔCt formula. Our results showed that the absence of OT caused an increase in the frequency and duration of non-receptive postures and a decrease in receptive postures in the OTKO. OTKO females showed a significant decrease in the gene expression of OTR in the HPC, V1aR in the HPT, and ERα and ERβ in the PFC. There was no significant difference in the gene expression of D2R of OTKO. However, OTKO showed an increased gene expression of V1aR in the HPC. There is no significant difference in VP mRNA synthesis in the HPT between OTKO and WT. Our findings demonstrate that the absence of OT leads to significant changes in the expression of the studied genes (OTR, ERα, ERβ, V1aR), and these changes may contribute to the decreased sexual behavior observed in OTKO females.

Considering Improvisation: Play, Transitional Space, and Discovery

This article explores the concept of improvisation in the therapeutic setting as a complex construction when elaborated in the idiom of jazz music. A composite clinical case is offered that illustrates an impasse and how improvisational thinking offers a way forward. Improvisation has recently been conceptualized through the metaphor of theater improvisation, dance, and rhythm. The therapeutic hour is considered an improvisational dialogue with the main theme (melody) and counter melodies, and harmonic possibilities that underlie the rhythmic pulse of the hour. Improvisation requires a reflective/interpretive process that draws on patterns, structures, and experiences reformulated in the relational field of the participants. The client initiates the call and response pattern, from which improvisation emerges as a mutual process of discovery. A more relaxed, receptive, and reflective posture extends Winnicott’s 1971 notion of play to integrate classic understanding and relational interaction.

Female receptivity, mating history, and familiarity influence the mating behavior of cuttlefish

Animals attempt to maximize their reproductive fitness by employing discrimination tactics that increase their fertilization success. Semelparous species are faced with high energy and time constraints. These constraints are predicted to affect the extent of discrimination tactics that may be employed. The semelparous giant Australian cuttlefish, Sepia apama, seek multiple mates during their single breeding season, yet the discrimination tactics used to assess mates remain ambiguous. We combined field observations and laboratory-controlled mating experiments to determine (i) the relationship between the female signal (i.e., white lateral stripe) and mating outcome and (ii) the effects of the white lateral stripe, receptive postures, mating history, and familiarity on mating behavior. Females were less likely to mate when they expressed the white lateral stripe, suggesting that this signal conveys non-receptivity. Female mating history appeared to predict their likelihood of mating because females that had not recently mated were more likely to perform receptive postures and less likely to express the white lateral stripe. Familiarity with the males did not affect female expression of the white lateral stripe nor receptive postures. In males, mating behavior was not affected by the females’ expression of the white lateral stripe nor female receptive postures; however, familiarity with the female did affect male mating behavior. Males exerted a strong preference for unfamiliar females, providing evidence for familiarity discrimination. This research suggests that distinct selection pressures may be driving different discrimination capabilities in the sexes and provides the first empirical evidence of familiarity discrimination in a cephalopod species.

Anticipatory Guidance: A Hospital-Based Intervention for Adolescents with Perinatal Loss

There are well documented complexities and challenges of pregnancy in the adolescent years. Social workers are usually the front line workers with the adolescent population and are often called to provide bereavement services in a hospital setting. This article describes a pathway for short term intervention in working with adolescents experiencing a perinatal loss and focuses on brief intense anticipatory guidance as the optimal way to provide care under these circumstances. This described approach includes: the developmental level of the adolescent, the receptive posture of the social worker, the adolescent’s stage of acceptance of the pregnancy; the meaning of the loss; her emotional strengths; environmental resources and risk factors.

Ultrastructural evidence for a direct excitatory pathway from the nucleus retroambiguus to lateral longissimus and quadratus lumborum motoneurons in the female golden hamster

During mating, the female golden hamster displays a stereotyped specific receptive posture, characterized by lordosis of the back, elevation of the tail, and extension of the legs. Muscles involved in this posture are thought to be iliopsoas, cutaneus trunci, lateral longissimus (LL), and quadratus lumborum (QL). Lesion studies in rats suggest that mating behavior is controlled by the mesencephalic periaqueductal gray (PAG). The PAG does not project directly to the motoneurons innervating the muscles involved in mating, but is thought to make use of the nucleus retroambiguus (NRA) as relay. The NRA is located ventrolaterally in the most caudal medulla, and projects directly to iliopsoas and cutaneus trunci motoneuronal cell groups. The question is whether this is also true for LL and QL muscles. Retrograde HRP tracing experiments revealed that LL and QL motoneurons are located medially in the ventral horn of the T12-L6 and T13-L4 segments, respectively. A subsequent ultrastructural study combined wheatgerm agglutinin-conjugated horseradish peroxidase injections in the NRA with cholera-toxin B-subunit injections in LL and QL muscles. The results revealed monosynaptic contacts between anterogradely labeled NRA-fiber terminals with retrogradely labeled dendrites of both LL and QL motoneurons. Almost all these terminals had asymmetrical synapses and contained spherical vesicles, suggesting an excitatory function of this NRA-motoneuronal pathway. These results correspond with the hypothesis that in hamster the PAG-NRA-motoneuronal projection not only involves motoneurons of iliopsoas and cutaneus trunci but also of LL and QL.

Systematic education and utilization of volunteer patient advocates for cancer clinical trial information dissemination at NCCTG community sites

1031 Background: Cancer patients are often unaware of cancer clinical trials or fearful of participation because of mistrust and misunderstanding of cancer clinical trial methods and protocols. Methods: The Patient Advocacy Committee of NCCTG has developed a five-prong approach of education and support of volunteer community patient advocates who are cancer survivors. Trained, volunteer patient advocates intervening at the individual and community level may have a positive impact on cancer clinical trials accrual. This program includes: 1) Yearly two-day training symposium; 2) Regular individual mentor telephone contact; 3) Quarterly three-hour long conference calls; 4) Co-chair community site visits; 5) Listserv membership. Member patient advocates are educated and supported in working proactively in their communities to share general information about cancer clinical trials in a non-threatening, non-coercive environment, moving people to a more positive, receptive posture. Activities of trained advocate...

Identification and synthesis of a male-produced sex pheromone from the stink bug Chlorochroa sayi.

The reproductive behavior of the stink bug Chlorochroa sayi was studied in the laboratory. There was a sexual maturation period of about 10 days before bugs began mating. Sexually mature adult bugs engaged in courtship consisting of antennation and head-butting of the female by the male, before the female adopted a receptive posture and copulation occurred. Both sexes mated multiple times during their life-spans, with the mean duration of copulations of virgin bugs (42.3 +/- 19.6 min) and experienced bugs (37.3 +/- 28.4 min) being similar. Most matings were initiated in the late afternoon or evening, when pheromone production by males was greatest. Males transferred sperm and nutrients constituting about 17% of their body weight to females during mating. Three male-specific components, methyl geranate, methyl citronellate, and methyl (E)-6-2,3-dihydrofarnesoate in a ratio of 100:0.45:1.6, were first detected in volatiles collected from male bugs on green beans about 9-12 days after the final molt to the adult stage. In vertical Y-tube bioassays, females were attracted to odors from mature male bugs, and to a blend of the three male-produced components. Low numbers of females also were attracted in field trials with the three-component blend. The relatively weak attraction may be a result of other, as yet unknown cues being required in addition to the pheromone, such as visual or substrate-borne vibrational cues.

A Question of Posture: Engaging the World with Justin Martyr, George Lindbeck and Hans Frei

This essay explores the posture adopted towards the world by one ancient and two contemporary Christian writers: Justin Martyr, George Lindbeck and Hans Frei. They respectively represent what are designated as defensive, receptive, and reciprocal postures, postures which determine the extent to which, and the manner in which, these writers appropriate insights and knowledge from beyond the Christian tradition. The theology and, to a lesser extent, the cultural background of each approach are studied. The particular doctrinal locus in question is Christology. An assessment is made of the link made by each author between the place of Jesus Christ in their theological framework and the posture which they adopt towards the rest of the world. Using the approaches of Justin and Lindbeck as a foil, Frei's idiosyncratic work will be shown to demonstrate that a high level of reciprocity between the church and the rest of the world is compatible with an orthodox Christology.

Monosynaptic projections from the lateral periaqueductal gray to the nucleus retroambiguus in the rhesus monkey: implications for vocalization and reproductive behavior.

The periaqueductal gray (PAG) is known to be essential for vocalization and reproductive behavior. The PAG controls components of these behaviors by means of projections to the nucleus retroambiguus (NRA), a group of premotor neurons in the caudal medulla oblongata. In the accompanying study (VanderHorst et al., 2000 [accompanying study]), the NRA and its lumbosacral projections have been identified in the rhesus monkey. The present light and electron microscopical tracing study describes the PAG-NRA pathway in primates. To locate midbrain neurons projecting to the NRA, wheat germ agglutinin horseradish peroxidase (WGA-HRP) was injected into the NRA in six monkeys. To determine the distribution pattern of PAG axons in the medulla oblongata, WGA-HRP was injected into the PAG and adjacent tegmentum in three additional monkeys. In one of these three monkeys, biotinylated dextran amine and cholera toxin subunit b were injected into the lumbosacral cord to retrogradely identify NRA neurons. The results show that a compact group of neurons in the medial part of the lateral PAG at the intercollicular level sends a dense projection to the NRA. The projection is bilateral with a clear ipsilateral predominance. At the ultrastructural level, there are monosynaptic contacts between PAG fibers and NRA neurons, including NRA neurons that project to the lumbosacral cord. The synaptic contacts were primarily asymmetrical and the labeled terminal profiles contained spherical and dense core vesicles. It is concluded that there exists a strong and direct PAG-NRA pathway in the rhesus monkey. Because NRA neurons projecting to the lower lumbar cord are included, the PAG-NRA projection is likely to be involved not only in vocalization but also in other behaviors, such as receptive posture.

Sensory and motor components of reproductive behavior: pathways and plasticity

Reproductive behavior in most mammalian species consists of a highly stereotyped pattern of movements, is elicited by specific sensory stimuli and is sex steroid dependent. The present paper describes a concept of the pathways in the midbrain, brainstem and spinal cord which control the receptive posture of the female cat. The midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG), which is an important structure in the Emotional Motor System (EMS), receives direct input from a distinct group of neurons in the dorsal horn of the lumbosacral cord. This cell group overlaps with the location of pelvic and to lesser extent, pudendal nerve primary afferents, which convey information from the pelvic viscera and sex organs to the central nervous system. The PAG, in turn, controls various motor components of female receptive behavior using different pathways. For example, immobility, which is one of the characteristics of receptive behavior, might be mediated by a diffuse pathway from the PAG, via the ventral part of the medial medullary tegmentum, to all parts of the spinal ventral horn. More specific components, such as hindlimb treading, lateral deviation of the tail and elevation of the lower back, are thought to be controlled by a circumscribed projection from the PAG to the nucleus retroambiguus (NRA). The NRA is a group of interneurons at the transition between brainstem and spinal cord and projects directly to distinct lumbosacral motoneuronal cell groups, which innervate muscles that are likely to be involved in the female receptive posture. Estrogen induces axonal sprouting of the NRA-lumbosacral pathway in adult female cats, which explains why female cats only display receptive behavior when estrogen levels are high.

The SUPPORT Project: Lessons for Action

One of greatest living scholars of quality, Professor Noriaki Kano of Tokyo University, and his American colleague, Tom Nolan, suggest that system improvements can come in three categories: 1. Reductions of defects experienced by customers; 2. Reductions of cost, while maintaining or improving experiences of customers; and 3. Creating and satisfying a new need, or satisfying an old need to an unprecedented degree.[1] Kano and Nolan suggest further that, at any specific time, improvements in one of these three categories are strategically most important. A modem computer manufacturer, for example, must be focusing on improvements of Type 3, or it will be shortly out of business. In computer industry, production costs are already low and computer purchasers simply will not tolerate noticeable defects. By contrast, most Americans, asked what improvements ought to occur in U.S. postal system, will immediately cite as key issue. Few will mention cost of stamps, and even fewer will request some new, delightful, unexpected service or product. The postal service needs Type 1 improvement most. For American medicine today, improvements that matter--the ones that contain strongest seeds of organizational survival--are Type 2 improvements: reduction in cost while maintaining or improving experiences of those who depend on these improvements today: payers, governments, patients, and families. This is one of reasons that report from SUPPORT project is so important, and, at this stage, so teasingly disappointing. Many, many opportunities exist in health care to reduce costs while maintaining or improving quality, but few are as direct and consequential as opportunity to stay our hand from delivering invasive, painful, undignified, and wasteful high-technology care to patients who neither want nor can benefit from that care. At best, such care is profligate; at worst, it is abusive. Despite opportunity, interventions of SUPPORT project came up dry. Aside from a few, marginally significant gains, patients offered voice, participation, and new communication channels experienced as much costly, painful, and unwanted care as did patients in usual system. What happened? Are potential gains from more appropriate use of technology at end of life out of our reach? Not at all. The SUPPORT study shows in this phase only that systems of care are complex, nonlinear, and difficult to manipulate in simple, cause-and-effect experimental modes. Here are some clues worth investigating further. In first place, one of crucial findings of study is that only half of doctors allegedly given information about patient preferences acknowledged that they had ever seen such information. Furthermore, only one-sixth of those who did recognize existence of SUPPORT information said that it affected their decisions regarding treatment. These results suggest that issues in communication may be crucial to success of future efforts to mold care at end of life--not efferent communication of desires from patients (which this study confirms is possible), but afferent communication of information to medical decisionmakers in receptive postures. The doctors in this study were poor receptors. How could we improve transfer and use of this crucial information? First, psychology of adult learning may help us to shape better effects next time. We know, for example, that adults learn better when they initiate questions, not when they receive answers never asked for. (When student is ready, says Zen aphorism, the teacher appears.) The SUPPORT intervention system appears to have lacked element of curiosity among doctors, who, like most adults, rejected or ignored answers to questions they never asked. Second, we know that leaders can help to create a context for learning, and yet there is little evidence of such a context in design of SUPPORT system. …

Altered sexual partner preference in male ferrets given excitotoxic lesions of the preoptic area/anterior hypothalamus

Numerous experiments suggest that perinatal exposure of male vertebrates to testosterone (T), or its estrogenic metabolites, masculinizes aspects of coital function, including males' characteristic preference to seek out and mate with a female as opposed to another male conspecific. Other research has shown that this perinatal action of sex steroids also masculinizes aspects of neuronal morphology in the medial preoptic area/anterior hypothalamus (mPOA/AH). We asked whether neurons of the mPOA/AH contribute to males' preference to mate with a female. The ferret is an ideal species in which to ask this question. When tested in a T-maze after gonadectomy and treatment with estradiol benzoate (EB), female ferrets prefer to approach and receive neck grips from a stimulus male whereas males prefer to approach and neck grip an estrous female. In the minority of trials when EB-treated males approach a stimulus male, they occasionally receive a neck grip to which they display receptive postures as opposed to agonistic behaviors. In Experiment 1 castrated, EB-treated male ferrets which received bilateral infusions of the NMDA excitotoxin, quinolinic acid aimed at the dorsomedial POA/AH, preferred to approach a stimulus male significantly more often than groups of control males which either received a sham lesion, received a unilateral mPOA/AH lesion or in which bilateral infusions of quinolinic aci produced no histologically detectible excitotoxic damage to the mPOA/AH. Males with bilateral mPOA/AH lesions also displayed neck gripping on a significantly lower percentage of trials than control males when they approached the stimulus female. Ovariectomized, EB-treated female ferrets with bilateral mPOA/AH lesions, like control females, preferred to approach and receive neck grips from a stimulus male. The males used in Experiment 1 had never experienced circulating levels of T characteristic of the breeding season. Therefore, in Experiment 2 prepubertally gonadectomized males and females were treated chronically with a high dose of T propionate (TP) and tested several times with a receptive female prior to brain surgery. Males which received bilateral excitotoxic lesions of the mPOA/AH neck gripped and mounted stimulus females significantly less than control males. Again, when given EB followed by T-maze tests of partner preference, males with bilateral mPOA/AH lesions, like sham-operated female controls, preferred to approach the sexually active stimulus male significantly more often than control males, which preferred to approach the stimulus female. Our results suggest that neurons in the mPOA/AH play an important role in the integration of sensory cues which determine heterosexual partner preference in the male ferret, in addition to facilitating masculine coital performance.