On the social nature of eyes: The effect of social cues in interaction and individual choice tasks

In an experimental setting, we applied a dual strategy to better understand the effect of pictures of eyes on human behavior. First, we investigated whether the effect of eyes was limited to interaction tasks in which the subjects' decisions influenced the outcomes of other subjects. We expanded the range of tasks to include individual choice tasks in which the subjects' decisions only influenced their own outcomes. Second, we investigated whether pictures of eyes were one of many social cues or were unique in their effect. We compared the effect of pictures of eyes with the effect of a different condition in which we presented the subjects with pictures of other students (peers). Our results suggest that the effect of pictures of eyes is limited to interaction tasks and that eyes should be considered distinct from other social cues, such as reminders of peers. While pictures of eyes uniformly enhanced pro-social behavior in interaction tasks, this was not the case for reminders of peers. Furthermore, the reminders of peers led to more rational behavior in individual choice tasks, whereas the effect of pictures of eyes was limited to situations involving interaction. Combined, these findings are in line with the claim that the effect of pictures of eyes on behavior is caused by a social exchange heuristic that works to enhance mutual cooperative behavior.     

Imaging implicit perception: promise and pitfalls

The study of implicit perception - perception in the absence of awareness - has a long history. Decades of behavioural work have identified crucial theoretical and methodological issues that must be considered when evaluating claims of implicit perception. Neuroimaging methods provide an important new avenue for illuminating our understanding of perception both with and without awareness, but most imaging experiments have not met the rigorous conditions that the behavioural work has shown are necessary for inferring implicit perception. Here, we review the literature of both behavioural and neuroimaging studies, and note the pitfalls of studying implicit perception as well as the promise that neuroimaging studies have for providing insights about implicit perception when combined with appropriately rigorous behavioural measures of awareness.     

Odors: implicit memory and performance effects.

In order to assess the influence of odors on human performance and implicit memory for odors, 108 subjects completed a variety of tests in weakly scented (jasmine, lavender or odorless) rooms without having been made aware of the odor. After a 30 min interval the subjects were shown slides of different surroundings, including the room they had been in, and were requested to rate how well a set of 12 odors, including a blank, would fit to these surroundings. Half of these contexts contained visual cues related to two of the presented odors (leather and coffee). After the rating of fit the subjects had to rate the odors for pleasantness, were asked to identify the odors with their correct names and to tell where and when they had last smelled these odors. One subject remembered smelling the odor (jasmine) in the room and was discarded from the analysis of the results for the rating of fit. None of the others reported recollection of the experimental odors. The results showed that in general jasmine had a negative and lavender a positive effect on test performance. If an odor-related visual cue was present in the context, the related odor was always rated highest in fit to that context. Furthermore, the subjects working in rooms with an odor subsequently assigned this odor to the visual context of that room to a significantly higher degree than subjects working in rooms with different odors. Since none of the subjects reported that they had smelled the odor in the rooms where performance testing took place, it was concluded that the memory for these odors was implicit. Further analysis showed that such memory was only found in subjects who were unable to supply the right name for the odor. The possible consequences of this latter finding for understanding the relationship between sensory (episodic) and semantic odor memory are discussed.     

Flight behaviour and observability in human-disturbed sika deer

Sika deerCervus nippon Temminck, 1838 observability and flight behaviour were studied in an area with a high level of human disturbance (Tanzawa Mts, Japan). Deer observation rate was positively affected by habitat-related food conditions, while it was negatively correlated with the number of tourists in the study area. Flight frequency in April-September was lower than in October-February. It was also influenced by period of day, behaviour of investigator and deer group size. Group composition, deer activity and habitat condition had no effect on flight frequency. Thus, only 317 (48%) of the deer groups encountered were caused to flee and among them as many as 86% fled for a distance shorter than 40 m. It was concluded that deer in Tanzawa Mts learned to tolerate people, what is known for the populations which are unhunted or under low hunting pressure.     

Stability,controllability and observability of arterial circulation

Stability, controllability and observability factors of the arterial circulatory system are determined with respect to a non-linearised model of the circulation process. It is found that the circulatory system is stable as well as completely controllable and also observable.     

Biochemical engineering: cues from cells

Engineering principles are used in the exploitation of biocatalysts derived from cells. The purity of reagents, catalysts and maintenance of operation variables are extremely important for bioengineering systems. Any change in the purity of reagents or in operation variables usually leads to a dramatic decrease in productivity. Cellular systems, however, are able to work with relatively high impure conditions and increase their productivity in response to external signals. Thus the seemingly disordered 'bag of juice' or cytoplasm has more order and much higher order of integration than first appears. Learning the semantics of this paradoxical ability of order and integration would help bioengineers to understand and enhance productivity even using impure reagents.     

Binocular vision: the eyes add and subtract

Our two eyes' views of the outside world are slightly different, providing the basis for stereopsis. A new study has found evidence that the human visual system has separately adaptable channels for adding and subtracting the neural signals from the two eyes, supporting an unconventional view of the initial stages of stereopsis.     

Memory: obstacle avoidance without visual cues

Avoiding obstacles is essential when we move about the world, yet little is known about how we do this when visual cues are not present to guide us. Recent evidence from behavioural studies in cats suggests that working memory may be crucial.     

Improving implicit solvent simulations: a Poisson-centric view

Recent developments in implicit solvent models may be compared in terms of accuracy and computational efficiency. Based on improvements in the accuracy of generalized Born methods and the speed of Poisson-Boltzmann solvers, it appears that the two techniques are converging to a point at which both will be suitable for simulating certain types of biomolecular systems over sizable time and length scales.     

Zooplankton swarms: characteristics,proximal cues and proposed advantages

This review focuses on monospecific swarms of four taxonomic groups of small crustaceans: three groups are marine copepods: oithonids (Oithona and Dioithona), Acartia species and Calanus species; and the fourth group includes freshwater cladoceran species in the Order Anomopoda. For each of these groups there is a substantial literature on swarming behavior from field studies and laboratory experiments. Swarming characteristics of each taxonomic group are reviewed, proximal cues for swarming are described, comparisons are made for proposed advantages of swarming, and future research directions are suggested. Swarming characteristics of Calanus spp. are distinctly different from those of the smaller crustaceans: the oithonids, acartiids and cladocerans. In a conceptual model proposed for the smaller crustaceans, swarming behavior is affected by their interactions with light cues, water currents and turbulence, behavior of their predators and prey, and abundance of other trophic levels.     

Explicit and implicit memory during sleep

Sleep and Biological Rhythms - The purpose of this study was to indicate the changes in the implicit and explicit memory under awake and sleep conditions by using a battery that can measure...