Human (Homo sapiens) volunteers (N = 72) received saline, a low dose of oral scopolamine (0.6 mg), a high dose of oral scopolamine (1.2 mg), or a peripheral analogue (glycopyrrolate). They then underwent classical conditioning of the eyeblink response to a tone conditioned stimulus (CS) and a corneal airpuff unconditioned stimulus (UCS) in a delay conditioning paradigm. There was a dose-related decline in acquisition of the conditioned response. These drug-induced conditioning deficits were similar to those previously reported in rabbit eyeblink conditioning and could not be attributed to such nonassociative factors as changes in auditory thresholds to the tone CS, magnitude of reflexive blinks to the airpuff UCS, or to changes in spontaneous blink rates.

In this essay, I reflect on my experience of part-time, fixed term, zero-hour, short-term, and unpaid contracts in academia. Precarious contracts are one of the biggest challenges facing our industry as neo-liberal values rule our institutions, impacting our teaching, research, and quality of life.

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