A Comprehensive Meta-Analysis of the Comparison Question Polygraph Test

We conducted a meta‐analysis on the most commonly used forensic polygraph test, the Comparison Question Test. We captured as many studies as possible by using broad inclusion criteria. Data and potential moderators were coded from 138 datasets. The meta‐analytic effect size including inconclusive outcomes was 0.69 [0.66, 0.79]. We found significant moderator effects. Notably, level of motivation had a positive linear relationship with our outcome measures. Information Gain analysis of CQT outcomes representing the median accuracy showed a significant information increase over interpersonal deception detection across almost the complete range of base rates. Our results suggest that the CQT can be accurate, that experimental studies are generalizable, and no publication bias was detected. We discussed the limitations of the field research literature and problems within polygraph profession that lower field accuracy. We suggest some possible solutions

CNS-Specific Ablation of Steroidogenic Factor 1 Results in Impaired Female Reproductive Function

The ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH) regulates a variety of homeostatic processes including female sexual behavior and reproduction. In the current study, we assessed the roles of steroidogenic factor 1 (SF-1) on reproductive function in the VMH using central nervous system-specific SF-1 knockout (SF-1 KOnCre;F/−) mice. Here we show that SF-1 KOnCre;F/− females exhibited marked impairment in female reproduction. Although male mice appeared to be normal in all aspects studied, including sexual behavior, SF-1 KOnCre;F/− females showed infertility or subfertility. Although adult SF-1 KOnCre;F/− females showed decreased or lacked corpora lutea, exogenous administration of gonadotropins induced the formation of multiple corpora lutea and induced normal ovulation, demonstrating that the ovaries are functionally intact. In addition, SF-1 KOnCre;F/− females stimulated with a synthetic GnRH agonist after priming exhibited markedly reduced LH secretion compared with wild-type littermates, arguing that disorganization in and around the VMH caused by SF-1 ablation interferes with the GnRH priming process or gonadotrope LH capacity. Furthermore, the SF-1 KOnCre;F/− females primed with estrogen benzoate and progesterone failed to induce steroid receptors around the VMH, consistent with impaired lordosis behavior in the SF-1 KOnCre;F/− females. Collectively, our results highlight that SF-1 in the VMH plays crucial roles in regulation of female reproductive function, presumably by organizing a precise neuronal connection and communication in and around the VMH

Effects of nicotine and amphetamine on latent inhibition in human subjects

Latent inhibition (LI) is a phenomenon in which repeated non-reinforced exposure to a stimulus retards subsequent conditioning to that stimulus; it reflects a process whereby irrelevant stimuli become ignored, and has been the subject of study concerning attentional abnormalities in schizophrenia. Low doses of the indirect dopamine (DA) agonists, amphetamine and nicotine, disrupt LI in the rat. These drugs are believed to disrupt LI via DA release in the nucleus accumbens; LI in amphetamine- and nicotine-treated rats is reinstated by administration of the DA antagonist haloperidol. In human subjects, low doses of amphetamine abolish LI, and more recently haloperidol has been shown to potentiate LI. The present study investigated the effects of nicotine on LI in human subjects, and also attempted to replicate the abolition of LI by amphetamine. Nicotine failed to affect LI when administered either subcutaneously or by cigarette smoking. LI was, however, abolished in a group of subjects given 5 mg amphetamine 90 min before testing. Supplementary analyses of the data pooled from all three experiments showed that, in contrast to an earlier report, LI was no weaker in smokers than in nonsmokers