The Behavioral Neuroscientist and Comparative Psychologist Division 6 — American Psychological Association VOLUME 15 • NUMBER 3 • Winter 2000 In This Issue BUILDING FUTURES Message from the President 1 FOR BEHAVIORAL Apportionnment Ballet Results 2 Science Convention Planning 3 NEUROSCIENCE AND Taste and Eating 4 BNCP PROFILE 8 COMPARATIVE Romeo & Juliet’s Baby 9 PSYCHOLOGY Division 1 Awards 11 Herbert Roitblat, EDITOR’S NOTE: This issue of the newsletter is the first President of Division 6 to carry one of the new features the executive committee has been work- We seem always to be facing a ing on. “BNCP Profiles” will high- constant struggle to justify our existence as light the accomplishments of Division scientists. Better funded and "sexier" topics 6 members in the early stages of such as genome projects and molecular career development and will hopefully biology nibble away at one side and general disinterest from our clinical psychology help us all get to know some of the colleagues gnaws away at the other. It seems to me that the only way that we can most promising younger scientists in survive this constant pressure is by making a better case for ourselves. We need to our discipline. explain to ourselves and to our colleagues why what we do is important. We need to take much more seriously our own advocacy role and we need to better exploit We continue our series of brief opportunities both within our field and via bridges to other fields. general summaries of important research areas with an excellent It is comfortable to sit in our labs and focus on our daily interests, talk with overview of current work in taste and students, and solve the problems that are so obviously important to us. What makes feeding contributed by Tom Scott. our work important to anyone else? How does our work fit into the bigger picture of psychology or the even bigger picture still of science? Here is an exercise to try. Finally, we are fortunate to have Write a letter to your congressional representative and senators explaining why your another short article by Nancy Dess work is important. Why should he or she care about whether your work is sup- from APA. Nancy’s previous contri- ported or not? If you can articulate your work's importance in a way that your butions to the newsletter have been representative can understand, then there is some prospect that you can describe it in very well received and I’m sure you a way that your colleagues and your administration can understand. will find the current topic of interest. There is another, perhaps more compelling reason to write such a letter. As always, if you have any comments Your representative may actually care to hear about important project going on in or suggestions regarding the his or her district. My guess is that your representative has no idea what you are newletter, please pass them along to doing or why it is important. Part of these suggestions comes from Representative me. -fjh Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), who spoke to a science conference held on Maui last year. Continued on page 7 Page 1 Division Officers and Committees 2000-2001 The Behavioral Neuroscientist and Comparative Psychologist is the official newsletter of Division 6 — Behavioral Neuroscience and Comparative Psychology President: Herbert Roitblat — and is published 3 times a year in winter, spring, and fall. Mailing addresses University of Hawaii used are those appearing on the official APA roster and a separate Division roster. [email protected] Corrections and changes of address should be sent directly to the APA Directory President Elect: David C. Riccio Office, 1400 North Uhle St., Arlington, VA 22201, and to Fred Helmstetter (see Kent State University below). [email protected] As the official newsletter of Division 6, BNCP publishes official business, committee reports, news items, job announcements, information on technical Past President: Michael Domjan issues, topics of current interest, and information about the professional activities of University of Texas Division 6 members. News items and articles should be submitted to the Editor at [email protected] the address below (preferably by email). Paid advertisements are not officially endorsed by Division 6. The Editor welcomes comments and suggestions for ways Secretary/Treasurer: James Grau in which BNCP can better serve the needs of the members. The preferred method Texas A&M University of submission is by email. [email protected] Deadline for the receipt of news items and other articles for the next issue is Council Representative: MaryLou Cheal March 15, 2001. Items should be sent to: Arizona State University Fred Helmstetter [email protected] Department of Psychology Members-at-Large PO Box 413 Alan C. Kamil University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee University of Nebraska Milwaukee, WI 53211 [email protected] [email protected] Thomas Zentall University of Kentucky [email protected] Chair of Membership & Growth APPORTIONMENT Committee: Ruth Colwill Bown University BALLET RESULTS [email protected] Chair of Fellows Nomination MaryLou Cheal Committee: Alexandria Logue Division 6 Counsel Delegate Baruch College [email protected] Members of council of the American Psycho- logical Association are elected by the various Chair of Program Committee: divisions and state associations. Each Peter Balsam Columbia University division and association are allotted a specific [email protected] number of delegates based on the number of votes that are obtained from the apportion- Chair of Awards Committee: ment ballots. These ballots are mailed to each APA member and each Duane Rumbaugh member may cast up to 10 votes. Georgia State University In December we asked you to give your votes to Division 6. At this point [email protected] we thank you for doing so. We obtained enough votes so that we maintain Newsletter Editor: our delegate without using a ‘wildcard’. The votes cast for Division 6, Fred J. Helmstetter totalling 1,228, are 0.54% of the total votes. Although this is a small University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee proportion of the total vote it is good for our small division. For instance, [email protected] Division 1 (General) received 0.53% and they have many more members. Division Historian/ Archivist: Again, thank you for giving us your vote. Donald A. Dewsbury University of Florida [email protected] Page 2 Continued from page 1 REPORT OF THE SCIENCE Just about the only way that Members of Congress know what is going in CONVENTION PLANNING MEETING, science (outside of the big science OCTOBER 28, 2000 projects that receive national press coverage) is when they hear from their constituents. It is their responsibility to by Herb Roitblat make judgments about funding for science and everything else the Federal At the end of October, the APA Science Directorate convened a meeting of Government does, so they need the the Division Presidents of the 15 APA divisions most concerned with the input from their constituents to let them science program of the convention. The purpose of this meeting was to know what is important. Congress also brainstorm ways to make the annual APA convention more useful and more plays a directive role in science fund- accessible to the science members. ing, so your voice can make an impor- Although you might not know it, the APA convention is actually a fabulous tant difference. scientific meeting. Almost all of the talks are invited, and many are sched- Talking to your congressional uled for 50 minutes, so we usually get to hear the best quality talks of any delegation is not pushy. Most of the meeting. The audiences are typically small so the opportunity for discussion members not only need to hear from is high. It is already a first class meeting, but there are ways to make it more you, they want to hear from you. Find accessible. out who is the relevant staff member in Obviously, one of the problems with APA is the expense. Because the your representative's office and get to meeting is so large, there are only a limited number of cities in North know that person. It is absolutely America that can hold it. It usually entails the use of a convention center, critical, however, to make your points which adds further to the expense. Nevertheless, the Science Directorate is in a way that your representative can working to make the convention more affordable. One immediate cost- understand and support. When you do related item is that student first authors of submitted papers can apply to have that your colleagues and your adminis- their registration fee waived. Students can also apply for travel awards to tration will also be able to understand meetings. Increasing the number and visibility of students is an obvious and and support you. important service that we can perform for those who work with us. Another thing that you can do The APA convention competes with a large number of other meetings that to promote our future is to look for may be more tightly focused on your specific interests. Nevertheless, the bridges that can be built to colleagues Convention continues to play an important role, particularly as scientists in in other areas of psychology and to different interest areas attempt to collaborate. It provides an opportunity for other areas of science. For example, members of our Division to display what is important about our work to the there is considerable interest among broader world of psychological science. Many of us are struggling against engineers in using animals as models the “corporate” push of our universities to emphasize programs that bring for the design of artificial systems. money to the institution or train students for specific high-paying careers.