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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

The Society for Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology (APA Division 6) seeks to recognize individuals whose scholarship and service have made meaningful contributions to advance our field. All nominations are due by Mon., December 8! apadivisions.org/division-6/awards

Graphic with descriptions of the four award nominations

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Division 6 is SEEKING a Newsletter Editor! The role serves for a three-year term and is responsible for the publication of the Behavioral Neuroscientist and Comparative Psychologist (BNCP) in Spring, Summer, and Fall. For more information contact Div6 Secretary Will Whitham, will.whitham@etamu.edu

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Gasalla et al. manipulated the dipper mechanism & found behavior that was aligned more with these associative accounts. The importance of the sucrose dipper in these kinds of studies suggests that the reward delivery mechanism should be included in a causal model. doi.org/10.1037/com0...

Summary infographic of the Journal for Comparative Psychology article, Beyond the Information (Not) Given: Associative Mechanisms Versus Representations of Uncertainty in Extinction in Laboratory Rats (Rattus norvegicus)

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

The Journal of Comparative Psychology is offering one editorial fellowship for 2026. More details can be found in the link below. Submissions due by November 1. www.apa.org/pubs/journal...

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

MEMBER HIGHLIGHT: Justin Yates, Professor and Chair, Department of Psychological Science, Northern Kentucky University. Justin is interested in elucidating the neurobehavioral mechanisms that control risky choice and substance use disorders.

Summary Infographic: Justin Yates, Professor and Chair, Department of Psychological Science, Northern Kentucky University. Justin is interested in elucidating the neurobehavioral mechanisms that control risky choice and substance use disorders.

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

Overall, skunks do have the ability to use visual patterns to solve problems even though they have poor vision and difficulty in learning the tasks without a lot of experience. doi.org/10.1037/com0...

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

Although the task was hard for the skunks to learn, they did finally solve it (after 1000s of trials). They seemed to be responding to visual patterns of contact and perceptual containment between food and painted lines. Only one skunk learned to pull supportive over unsupportive slats.

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

There were functional slats (real wooden slats that gave subjects both visual and functional information when manipulated) and purely representational slats that were painted lines that provided only visual information.

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

Johnson-Ulrich et al. presented the slat-pulling task to three striped skunks to assess whether they could reason about visual patterns of support. doi.org/10.1037/com0...

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

Skunks are an understudied but interesting species. As omnivorous generalists with food that is spread around and often in patches, it is perhaps the case that they must engage in various forms of cognition to thrive in their environment. doi.org/10.1037/com0...

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

MEMBER HIGHLIGHT: Ellen Furlong, Associate Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience, Transylvania University. Ellen studies dog cognition and behavior. Check out her lab website: transy.edu/dog-lab/

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

The origins of human musicality remain poorly understood. Cook tested four pigeons in three experiments for their capacity to discriminate the intervals of the chromatic scale. doi.org/10.1037/com0...

Summary infographic of the Journal for Comparative Psychology article,Melodic and harmonic chromatic interval processing by pigeons (Columba livia).

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

The results provide additional support for greater attention to housing conditions for laboratory animals, as these may influence welfare as well as the experimental outcome in important ways.

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Rats raised in a “naturalistic” environment with wooden branches, tunnels, and a wooden shelter and variable location of food, water, and shelter displayed attenuated retrieval of context fear conditioning.

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

In comparison to a standard-housing control group, rats that were raised in an enriched environment demonstrated shorter latency to learn a platform reversal in the Morris water maze, which may suggest that housing conditions influenced behavioral flexibility.

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

The opportunity to interact with and adapt to a varied environment has cognitive benefits and may contribute to well-being. Laboratory animals are often maintained under conditions that do not afford such opportunities.

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Check out Caratti, N., et al., (2025). Naturalistic housing condition promotes behavioral flexibility and increases resilience to stress in rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, 139(2), 53–59. doi.org/10.1037/bne0...

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

The authors concluded that this may reflect a species-specific win-stay bias and the differential consequences of staying versus leaving (a conditioned-reinforcement account of intertemporal choice in patch-leaving contexts).

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

For the binary-choice condition, the pigeons preferred the SS option. In Patch-L and Patch-S conditions, pigeons preferred to stay at the patch rather than leave in both cases, and even when the stay response was more effortful.

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Gomes-Ng et al. replicated this research using pigeons. There were three conditions, one with the binary-choice task and two patch-leaving tasks in which staying at a patch either led to an LL (Patch-L) or SS (Patch-S) reward. doi.org/10.1037/com0...

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

When offered a simultaneous choice between a larger-later reward and a smaller-sooner reward blue jays, monkeys, humans, and rats often prefer the SS option. When choosing between staying at a location for a reward or leaving for a different reward, these same species tend to prefer the LL reward.

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

MEMBER HIGHLIGHT: Michael Beran, Professor of Psychology, Georgia State University. Michael studies comparative cognition with an emphasis on metacognition, self-control, prospective cognition, numerical cognition, perception, and decision making. Check out his lab website: sites.gsu.edu/comic-lab/

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

Check out the August Issue of the Behavioral Neuroscience Journal!

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 14/08/2025

Colbert-White et al. assessed the influence of a high, rising, positive “Oooh!” sound on dogs’ choice of differing quantities of food. The idea behind this experiment is that dogs may use human-delivered cues to aid them in making choices. doi.org/10.1037/com0...

Summary infographic of the Journal for Comparative Psychology article, Positive intonation increases the perceived value of smaller rewards in a quantity discrimination task with dogs (Canis familiaris).

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

MEMBER HIGHLIGHT: Philip Jean-Richard-dit-Bressel, PhD, UNSW Sydney School of Psychology. Philip is interested in the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms of motivated learning and decision-making. Learn more: unsw.edu.au/staff/philip-jean-richard-dit-bressel

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Enhanced context fear was more persistent than conventional context fear conditioning which has potentially optimistic implications for exposure-based treatments. doi.org/10.1037/bne0000608

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Interestingly, fear conditioning augmented by early life stress was expressed more strongly at the beginning of extinction but rapidly decreased. doi.org/10.1037/bne0000608

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Consistent with harms of early life stress exposure, early stress augmented context fear conditioning, anxiety-like behavior, and was not weakened by a retention interval. doi.org/10.1037/bne0000608

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Minshall et al., (2025) study examined an adaptation of stress-enhanced fear learning, or SEFL, in which rats were exposed to footshock stress early in life (17-days old) and later as adults (around 90 days old) received footshock paired with a novel context. doi.org/10.1037/bne0000608

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

The effect of separation and subsequent increased play may depend on general motivations, rather than any “peer-specific” drive to renew relationships. More broadly, these results suggest that play may have a greater role in more general social learning rather than re-establishing bonds.

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Rats separated for 24hrs showed initial increased investigative behaviors relative to nonseparated peers. But separation did not increase rough-and-tumble play.

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Steckley et al. assessed play behavior in adolescent female rats. Their interest was in the role that such play has in social relationships. They used an “isolation versus separation” protocol to identify behaviors that reflected relationship renewal. doi.org/10.1037/com0...

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

We are excited to showcase work that not only highlights animals’ importance in research but also underscores the reciprocal benefits that enhance both animal and human lives. Learn More: convention.apa.org/attend/pricing

convention.apa.org

2025 Convention Costs | APA 2025 | Denver, CO

View registration rates and costs for the APA 2025 Convention in Denver, CO, from August 7-9.

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Want to learn about the ins and outs of the roles of animals in psychological practice? Join us for APA convention – DIV 6 program in Denver (+ Virtual) August 7-9.

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

MEMBER HIGHLIGHT: Chris Krupenye, Assistant Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. Chris studies how humans and other animals think and navigate their social worlds. Check out his lab website: www.social-cognitive-origins.com

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

Div. 6 was established by APA in 1944 originally named the Physiological Psychology and Comparative Psychology. In 2015 the name was changed to the Society for Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology. Learn more about our history, apadivisions.org/division-6/about/history.pdf

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

The August issue’s featured article, Caldicott et al. assessed the best way to train dogs to detect scents and then generalize that training effectively to other scents. doi.org/10.1037/com0... The editor’s feature essay about this paper can be found here: doi.org/10.1037/com0...

Summary infographic of the Journal for Comparative Psychology featured article, The impact of training method on odor learning and generalization in dogs (Canis lupus familiaris).

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Join us! Div. 6 membership is open to professionals and students with an interest in the goals of the society. Div. 6 currently has four membership categories: Fellow, Member, Affiliate and Student Affiliate. Learn More: apadivisions.org/division-6/membership

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

We're excited to feature articles from the APA Division 6 journals: Behavioral Neuroscience & Comparative Psychology. From groundbreaking neuroscience to animal behavior research, stay tuned for the latest findings and discussions! #BehavioralNeuroscience #ComparativePsychology #APA

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American Psychological Association Division 6 @apadivision6.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Society for Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology members are devoted to studying the biology of behavior. Our focus is on behavior and its relation to perception, learning, memory, cognition, motivation, and emotion. #BehavioralNeuroscience #ComparativePsychology #APA

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