Papers by Louise M Freeman
Looking Glass : New Perspectives on Children's Literature, 2016
Study and Scrutiny: Research on Young Adult Literature
We tested sixth graders for empathy and theory of mind before and after an academic unit on eithe... more We tested sixth graders for empathy and theory of mind before and after an academic unit on either Wonder or The Crossover. Wonder was associated with improved perspective-taking; students who read The Crossover increased in concern for others. Faux pas detection increased in both genders with Wonder, and in girls with The Crossover. Students who read The Crossover in print showed improved understanding of facial expressions, while students who used iPads declined. Young adult fiction is associated with improved social cognitive skills, but effects depend on gender and reading format, as well as on the choice of individual book.
Study and Scrutiny: Research on Young Adult Literature, 2015
J.K. Rowling has created a wizarding world almost entirely devoid of mental health issues and tre... more J.K. Rowling has created a wizarding world almost entirely devoid of mental health issues and treatment. Nonetheless, Harry Potter offers four clear representations of Muggle psychiatric disorders that match the official diagnostic criteria. The most obvious is dementor-induced depression and the ability of both chocolate and the Patronus Charm to neutralize their effects. Rowling shows familiarity with both the published symptoms of clinical depression and its treatment. The Patronus Charm, with its reliance on substituting positive memories for distressing ones, resembles cognitive behavior therapy, a treatment for depression Rowling herself received. The happy memories Harry uses to summon his Patronus are those of successful escapes and his social support network, both factors known to mitigate depression. Additionally, the incapacitation of Frank and Alice Longbottom resembles advanced dementia of Alzheimer’s type; their son Neville shows behavioral traits that might be expecte...
Journal of Neurobiology, 1995
The polyclonal antiserum PG21 was used to detect androgen receptor (AR) protein in three motoneur... more The polyclonal antiserum PG21 was used to detect androgen receptor (AR) protein in three motoneuronal pools of the male rat lumbar spinal cord. In gonadally intact, wild-type males, the spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus (SNB), dorsolateral nucleus (DLN), and retrodorsolateral nucleus (RDLN) all displayed immunolabeling of cell nuclei. The percentage of motoneurons displaying such labeling was highest in the SNB and lowest in the RDLN. This pattern of AR immunocytochemical labeling agrees well with previous steroid autoradiographic studies of androgen accumulation in the rat spinal cord. In contrast, virtually no motoneurons in any of the three pools displayed nuclear AR immunostaining in long-term gonadectomized males or in gonadally intact males carrying the Tfm mutation, which renders the AR incompetent. In gonadectomized males, labeling was restored in the SNB and DLN, but not the RDLN, 30 min after an injection of replacement testosterone. Eight hours of testosterone exposure restored immunolabeling in all three motor nuclei. Apparent cytoplasmic staining was seen in SNB motoneurons of untreated castrates and Tfm rats, but not intact rats, suggesting that AR residing in the cytoplasm translocates to the nucleus on binding to androgen in these motoneurons.
The Journal of Neuroscience
The motoneurons of the spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus (SNB) and its target muscles, the bu... more The motoneurons of the spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus (SNB) and its target muscles, the bulbocavernosus and levator ani, form a sexually dimorphic circuit that is developmentally dependent on androgen exposure and exhibits numerous structural and functional changes in response to androgen exposure in adulthood. Castration of male adult rats causes shrinkage of SNB somata, and testosterone replacement reverses this effect, but the site at which androgen is acting to cause this change is undetermined. We exploited the X-chromosome residency of the androgen receptor (AR) gene to generate androgenized female rats that were heterozygous for the testicular feminization mutant (tfm) AR mutation and that, as a consequence of ontogenetic random X-inactivation, expressed a blend of androgen-sensitive wild-type cells and tfm-affected androgen-insensitive cells in the SNB. Chronic testosterone treatment of adult mosaics increased soma sizes only in androgen-competent wild-type SNB cells. The size of tfm-affected SNB somata in the same animals did not differ from the size of either the wild-type or tfm-affected SNB neurons in control mosaics that did not receive androgen treatment in adulthood. Because the muscle targets of the SNB are known to be uniformly androgen-sensitive in tfm mosaics, this mosaic analysis provides unambiguous evidence that androgenic effects on motoneuron soma size are mediated locally in the SNB. It is possible that the neuronal AR plays a permissive role in coordinating the actions of androgen.
Methods in Neurosciences, 1993
Methods in Neurosciences, 1993
Personality and Individual Differences, 2005
The ratio of the second and fourth digits of the human hand (2D:4D ratio) is an indirect measure ... more The ratio of the second and fourth digits of the human hand (2D:4D ratio) is an indirect measure of prenatal exposure to testosterone, with a lower ratio indicating higher exposure (Manning, 2002). Based on a previous report by Wilson (1983) that women with low 2D:4D ratios were more likely to describe themselves as assertive, we examined the correlation between 2D:4D
Personality and Individual Differences, 2005
The ratio of the second and fourth digits of the human hand (2D:4D ratio) is an indirect measure ... more The ratio of the second and fourth digits of the human hand (2D:4D ratio) is an indirect measure of prenatal exposure to testosterone, with a lower ratio indicating higher exposure (Manning, 2002). Based on a previous report by Wilson (1983) that women with low 2D:4D ratios were more likely to describe themselves as assertive, we examined the correlation between 2D:4D
Study and Scrutiny: Research on Young Adult Literature, Oct 1, 2017
We tested sixth graders for empathy and theory of mind before and after an academic unit on eithe... more We tested sixth graders for empathy and theory of mind before and after an academic unit on either Wonder or The Crossover. Wonder was associated with improved perspective-taking; students who read The Crossover increased in concern for others. Faux pas detection increased in both genders with Wonder, and in girls with The Crossover. Students who read The Crossover in print showed improved understanding of facial expressions, while students who used iPads declined. Young adult fiction is associated with improved social cognitive skills, but effects depend on gender and reading format, as well as on the choice of individual book. Recent psychology research (Djikic & Oatley, 2014, review) has documented social as well as academic benefits from reading fiction. Adult fiction readers are more sociable, more open to experience, more empathic, and better attuned to the feelings and thoughts of others (Kidd & Experiments in adults have shown that reading fiction can have immediate measurable effects: increasing altruism, tolerance, perspective-taking, and theory of mind skills (Bal & Veltkamp, 2013;
From Critical Insights: The Hunger Games. Lana A. Whited (ed.) 2016. Salem Press. IBSN 978-1-6... more From Critical Insights: The Hunger Games. Lana A. Whited (ed.) 2016. Salem Press. IBSN 978-1-61925-844-0
Pavlovian conditioning models have helped clinicians understand post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition that frequently affects survivors of violence. Although many Hunger Games characters develop PTSD as the incidental result of exposure to trauma, the most extreme case is undoubtedly Peeta’s “hijacking.” Much as John B. Watson (1920) deliberately conditioned “Little Albert” to fear a white rat by associating it with a loud noise, the Capitol made Peeta hate and fear Katniss when they paired memories of her with doses of tracker-jacker venom.
District 13’s treatment efforts resemble Pavlovian-inspired therapies; young Prim even rediscovers the principle of counterconditioning, originally demonstrated by one of Watson’s students in 1924. The “real/not real” game resembles another therapeutic technique commonly used to help PTSD patients: cognitive restructuring. Art therapy is also an effective PTSD treatment; Peeta and Katniss’s creation of a memory book helps them in their long-term recovery.
Although deliberately rewriting memories with insect venom remains in the realm of science fiction, recent work by neuroscientists in mice has succeeded in implanting false memories, and changing positive memories to negative ones by directly stimulating brain cells with light or electricity (Redondo et al., 2014; de Lavilléon et al., 2015). Many of Collins’ characters seem to have the dissociative subtype of PTSD, a condition that was not added to the official diagnostic manual until 2013. Thus, Collins’ trilogy not only demonstrates knowledge of the historical development of classical conditioning theories, it seems to anticipate future developments in both neuroscience and psychology.
The motoneurons of the spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus
(SNB) and its target muscles, the bu... more The motoneurons of the spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus
(SNB) and its target muscles, the bulbocavernosus and levator
ani, form a sexually dimorphic circuit that is developmentally
dependent on androgen exposure and exhibits numerous
structural and functional changes in response to androgen
exposure in adulthood. Castration of male adult rats causes
shrinkage of SNB somata, and testosterone replacement reverses
this effect, but the site at which androgen is acting to
cause this change is undetermined. We exploited the
X-chromosome residency of the androgen receptor (AR) gene
to generate androgenized female rats that were heterozygous
for the testicular feminization mutant (tfm) AR mutation and
that, as a consequence of ontogenetic random X-inactivation,
expressed a blend of androgen-sensitive wild-type cells and
tfm-affected androgen-insensitive cells in the SNB. Chronic
testosterone treatment of adult mosaics increased soma sizes
only in androgen-competent wild-type SNB cells. The size of
tfm-affected SNB somata in the same animals did not differ
from the size of either the wild-type or tfm-affected SNB neurons
in control mosaics that did not receive androgen treatment
in adulthood. Because the muscle targets of the SNB are
known to be uniformly androgen-sensitive in tfm mosaics, this
mosaic analysis provides unambiguous evidence that androgenic
effects on motoneuron soma size are mediated locally in
the SNB. It is possible that the neuronal AR plays a permissive
role in coordinating the actions of androgen.
Key words: mosaic; androgen; spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus;
tfm mutation; soma size; steroid receptors
J.K. Rowling has created a wizarding world almost entirely devoid of mental health issues and tre... more J.K. Rowling has created a wizarding world almost entirely devoid of mental health issues and treatment. Nonetheless, Harry Potter offers four clear representations of Muggle psychiatric disorders that match the official diagnostic criteria. The most obvious is dementor-induced depression and the ability of both chocolate and the Patronus Charm to neutralize their effects. Rowling shows familiarity with both the published symptoms of clinical depression and its treatment. The Patronus Charm, with its reliance on substituting positive memories for distressing ones, resembles cognitive behavior therapy, a treatment for depression Rowling herself received. The happy memories Harry uses to summon his Patronus are those of successful escapes and his social support network, both factors known to mitigate depression. Additionally, the incapacitation of Frank and Alice Longbottom resembles advanced dementia of Alzheimer’s type; their son Neville shows behavioral traits that might be expected both in the son of an Alzheimer’s patient and in a boy raised by a grandmother. Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody’s name and actions suggest he is a prototype of post-traumatic stress disorder, while Winky the house-elf embodies Stockholm syndrome. The sympathetic portrayal of characters with psychological disorders may enhance moral development and promote understanding of mental illness.
Evolution and Human Behavior, 2004
We analyzed sex differences in spatial and recall abilities of college students while also examin... more We analyzed sex differences in spatial and recall abilities of college students while also examining the relationship to 2D:4D ratio. The 2D:4D ratio is thought to be an indirect measure of testosterone and estrogen exposure in fetal development. Participants completed a mental rotation (MR) test, free recall tests, and placement recall tests. It was predicted and confirmed that males have lower 2D:4D ratio and higher MR scores. Additionally, females outscored males on picture free recall and picture placement. Higher scoring females on these two measures had higher 2D:4D ratios, that is, more ''feminine'' looking hands. The results from our study are consistent with the hypothesis that fetal hormones affect 2D:4D ratio while also directly or indirectly influencing visual recall abilities in females. The tendency of sexually dimorphic cognitive skills to correlate with 2D:4D ratio in only one sex may be typical of traits that were evolutionarily adaptive in one sex, but not maladaptive in the opposite sex.
In Spring 2008, Swiss mouse pups were prenatally exposed to Salvinorin A (Salvia divinorum) in or... more In Spring 2008, Swiss mouse pups were prenatally exposed to Salvinorin A (Salvia divinorum) in order to identify teratological effects in the mouse pups, their weight, body temperature, and vocalizations through the first 11 days of life. In July, 2008, these mice were tested for changes in aggression and anxiety as a result of the drug treatment. This study found no significant difference between the control adult mice and the drug adult mice; however it also did not find an expected sex difference in these two attributes. This study suggests that Salvinorin A may produce changes in behavior; however, there are other confounding variables not considered and therefore no long term effects on behavior.
Brain Research, 1995
Sexual differentiation occurs prenatally in guinea pigs but extends into the postnatal period in ... more Sexual differentiation occurs prenatally in guinea pigs but extends into the postnatal period in rats. Steroids affect the development of two motoneuron nuclei of the rat lumbar spinal cord that innervate sexually dimorphic perineal muscles. The spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus (SNB) innervates the bulbocavernosus (BC) and levator ani (LA) muscles while the dorsolateral nucleus (DLN) innervates the ischiocavernosus (IC). In male rats, perinatal testosterone prevents degeneration of these muscles and results in a sex difference in both motoneuron size and number in adulthood. For comparative purposes, we examined the guinea pig motoneurons innervating these muscles, as well as those innervating the retractor penis (RP) and retractor clitoris (RC), muscles that have no counterpart in rats. Injections of horseradish peroxidase localized the BC/LA and IC motoneurons of guinea pigs to discrete columns in spinal levels L6 and S1, with the BC/LA motoneurons occupying a more medial position. The RP/RC motoneurons were found in L5. Motoneuronal soma area was larger in males in all examined motor pools, as was nuclear area of BC/LA and IC motoneurons. Although raw counts suggested a sex difference in cell number in the motor columns containing BC/LA and IC motoneurons, either of two different correction procedures for split nuclei error eliminated the sex difference in cell number, emphasizing the importance of such corrections when comparing neurons of different size.
Hormones and Behavior, 1998
The role of neonatal testosterone in the development of copulatory behavior was examined in an in... more The role of neonatal testosterone in the development of copulatory behavior was examined in an insectivore, the musk shrew (Suncus murinus). Female musk shrews were treated with testosterone propionate (TP) for the first 5 days of life and then tested in adulthood for either female or male-like copulatory behavior. Early TP had a masculinizing effect; neonatally treated animals mounted a stimulus female more frequently, and with shorter latencies, in response to adult testosterone treatment than did control females. Neonatally androgenized females also showed deficits in female sexual behavior; few received ejaculations from stud males. This difference was likely caused by increased aggression exhibited by the neonatally TP-treated females toward males. In turn, female aggression decreased efficiency of male partners' intromission attempts. Early TP treatments also caused structural abnormalities in the ovaries, but did not effect their capacity to ovulate in response to either gonadotropin-releasing hormone or human chorionic gonadotropin injection. In sum, exposure to TP during development augmented display of male-like behavior in females and had subtle deleterious effects on expression of feminine behavior.
Personality and Individual Differences, 2005
The ratio of the second and fourth digits of the human hand (2D:4D ratio) is an indirect measure ... more The ratio of the second and fourth digits of the human hand (2D:4D ratio) is an indirect measure of pre-10 natal exposure to testosterone, with a lower ratio indicating higher exposure . Based on a 11 previous report by that women with low 2D:4D ratios were more likely to describe them-12 selves as assertive, we examined the correlation between 2D:4D ratio and score on the Rathus Assertiveness 13 Schedule (RAS, Rathus, 1973). While ) depended on self-reports of finger length and used a 14 chi-square analysis that did not quite reach statistical significance, we measured finger length from photo-15 copied hands and used a parametric statistical analysis by the Pearson product correlation coefficient. 16
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Papers by Louise M Freeman
Pavlovian conditioning models have helped clinicians understand post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition that frequently affects survivors of violence. Although many Hunger Games characters develop PTSD as the incidental result of exposure to trauma, the most extreme case is undoubtedly Peeta’s “hijacking.” Much as John B. Watson (1920) deliberately conditioned “Little Albert” to fear a white rat by associating it with a loud noise, the Capitol made Peeta hate and fear Katniss when they paired memories of her with doses of tracker-jacker venom.
District 13’s treatment efforts resemble Pavlovian-inspired therapies; young Prim even rediscovers the principle of counterconditioning, originally demonstrated by one of Watson’s students in 1924. The “real/not real” game resembles another therapeutic technique commonly used to help PTSD patients: cognitive restructuring. Art therapy is also an effective PTSD treatment; Peeta and Katniss’s creation of a memory book helps them in their long-term recovery.
Although deliberately rewriting memories with insect venom remains in the realm of science fiction, recent work by neuroscientists in mice has succeeded in implanting false memories, and changing positive memories to negative ones by directly stimulating brain cells with light or electricity (Redondo et al., 2014; de Lavilléon et al., 2015). Many of Collins’ characters seem to have the dissociative subtype of PTSD, a condition that was not added to the official diagnostic manual until 2013. Thus, Collins’ trilogy not only demonstrates knowledge of the historical development of classical conditioning theories, it seems to anticipate future developments in both neuroscience and psychology.
(SNB) and its target muscles, the bulbocavernosus and levator
ani, form a sexually dimorphic circuit that is developmentally
dependent on androgen exposure and exhibits numerous
structural and functional changes in response to androgen
exposure in adulthood. Castration of male adult rats causes
shrinkage of SNB somata, and testosterone replacement reverses
this effect, but the site at which androgen is acting to
cause this change is undetermined. We exploited the
X-chromosome residency of the androgen receptor (AR) gene
to generate androgenized female rats that were heterozygous
for the testicular feminization mutant (tfm) AR mutation and
that, as a consequence of ontogenetic random X-inactivation,
expressed a blend of androgen-sensitive wild-type cells and
tfm-affected androgen-insensitive cells in the SNB. Chronic
testosterone treatment of adult mosaics increased soma sizes
only in androgen-competent wild-type SNB cells. The size of
tfm-affected SNB somata in the same animals did not differ
from the size of either the wild-type or tfm-affected SNB neurons
in control mosaics that did not receive androgen treatment
in adulthood. Because the muscle targets of the SNB are
known to be uniformly androgen-sensitive in tfm mosaics, this
mosaic analysis provides unambiguous evidence that androgenic
effects on motoneuron soma size are mediated locally in
the SNB. It is possible that the neuronal AR plays a permissive
role in coordinating the actions of androgen.
Key words: mosaic; androgen; spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus;
tfm mutation; soma size; steroid receptors
Pavlovian conditioning models have helped clinicians understand post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition that frequently affects survivors of violence. Although many Hunger Games characters develop PTSD as the incidental result of exposure to trauma, the most extreme case is undoubtedly Peeta’s “hijacking.” Much as John B. Watson (1920) deliberately conditioned “Little Albert” to fear a white rat by associating it with a loud noise, the Capitol made Peeta hate and fear Katniss when they paired memories of her with doses of tracker-jacker venom.
District 13’s treatment efforts resemble Pavlovian-inspired therapies; young Prim even rediscovers the principle of counterconditioning, originally demonstrated by one of Watson’s students in 1924. The “real/not real” game resembles another therapeutic technique commonly used to help PTSD patients: cognitive restructuring. Art therapy is also an effective PTSD treatment; Peeta and Katniss’s creation of a memory book helps them in their long-term recovery.
Although deliberately rewriting memories with insect venom remains in the realm of science fiction, recent work by neuroscientists in mice has succeeded in implanting false memories, and changing positive memories to negative ones by directly stimulating brain cells with light or electricity (Redondo et al., 2014; de Lavilléon et al., 2015). Many of Collins’ characters seem to have the dissociative subtype of PTSD, a condition that was not added to the official diagnostic manual until 2013. Thus, Collins’ trilogy not only demonstrates knowledge of the historical development of classical conditioning theories, it seems to anticipate future developments in both neuroscience and psychology.
(SNB) and its target muscles, the bulbocavernosus and levator
ani, form a sexually dimorphic circuit that is developmentally
dependent on androgen exposure and exhibits numerous
structural and functional changes in response to androgen
exposure in adulthood. Castration of male adult rats causes
shrinkage of SNB somata, and testosterone replacement reverses
this effect, but the site at which androgen is acting to
cause this change is undetermined. We exploited the
X-chromosome residency of the androgen receptor (AR) gene
to generate androgenized female rats that were heterozygous
for the testicular feminization mutant (tfm) AR mutation and
that, as a consequence of ontogenetic random X-inactivation,
expressed a blend of androgen-sensitive wild-type cells and
tfm-affected androgen-insensitive cells in the SNB. Chronic
testosterone treatment of adult mosaics increased soma sizes
only in androgen-competent wild-type SNB cells. The size of
tfm-affected SNB somata in the same animals did not differ
from the size of either the wild-type or tfm-affected SNB neurons
in control mosaics that did not receive androgen treatment
in adulthood. Because the muscle targets of the SNB are
known to be uniformly androgen-sensitive in tfm mosaics, this
mosaic analysis provides unambiguous evidence that androgenic
effects on motoneuron soma size are mediated locally in
the SNB. It is possible that the neuronal AR plays a permissive
role in coordinating the actions of androgen.
Key words: mosaic; androgen; spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus;
tfm mutation; soma size; steroid receptors