Pre-exposure to heavy metal pollution and the odor of predation decrease the ability of snails to avoid stressors.

Many organisms appear to exhibit adaptive cost-benefit behaviors that balance foraging, safety, and pollution avoidance. However, what if the cognitive facilities needed to make decisions are compromised by industrial pollutants? Are the resulting decisions altered? Similarly, does exposure to kairomones from predators alter an organism's ability to avoid toxicants? Furthermore, how long an exposure is necessary: A few minutes, hours, or even a lifetime? We wondered if there was an interaction between the ability to respond to a predatory event and the ability to avoid heavy metals.

Alcohol expectancies, conduct disorder and early-onset alcoholism: negative alcohol expectancies are associated with less drinking in non-impulsive versus impulsive subjects.

Aims: Research suggests that positive alcohol expectancies promote excessive alcohol use while negative alcohol expectancies discourage excessive alcohol use. Evidence suggests that disinhibitory characteristics, such as conduct disorder and impulsivity, are associated with a general neglect of long-term negative outcomes. This study assessed whether negative expectancies would be associated more strongly with lower levels of alcohol use for low- compared with high-impulsive individuals.

Parent reports of sensory symptoms in toddlers with autism and those with other developmental disorders.

The Short Sensory Profile was used to assess parental report of sensory reactivity across four groups of young children (n = 102). Groups were autism (n = 26), fragile X syndrome (n = 20), developmental disabilities of mixed etiology (n = 32), and typically developing children (n = 24). Groups were comparable on overall mental age (x = 22 months), and clinical groups were comparable on chronological age (x = 31 months).

Imitation performance in toddlers with autism and those with other developmental disorders.

Background: The present study sought to examine the specificity, developmental correlates, nature and pervasiveness of imitation deficits very early in the development of autism.

Methods: Subjects were 24 children with autism (mean age 34 months), 18 children with fragile X syndrome, 20 children with other developmental disorders, and 15 typically-developing children. Tasks included manual, oral-facial, and object oriented imitations, developmental measures, joint attention ability, and motor abilities.