Killing Babies: Hrdy on the Evolution of Infanticide

Sarah Hrdy argues that women (1) possess a reproductive behavioral strategy including infanticide, (2) that this strategy is an adaptation and (3) arose as a response to stresses mothers faced with the agrarian revolution. I argue that while psychopathological and cultural evolutionary accounts for Hrdy's data fail, her suggested psychological architecture for the strategy suggests that the behavior she describes is really only the consequence of the operation of practical reasoning mechanism(s) – and consequently there is no reproductive strategy including infanticide as such, nor could the alleged strategy be sufficiently mosaic to count as an adaptation. What might count as an adaptation is a ‘window’ before bonding that permits practical reasoning about the reproductive value of infants and hence variable maternal investment, and which, contra (3) arose early in hominid history due to a combination of increases in infant dependency and increased human abilities for conditional practical reasoning.     

Ecological frames of mind: the role of cognition in behavioral ecology.

Cognitive psychology is the study of how information, from the senses and from memory, is used in the production of behavior. Investigation of the specifics of behavioral adaptation has already led some behavioral ecologists into the domain of animal cognition. I make several arguments for the benefits and the necessity of a sophisticated assessment by ecologists of the cognitive aspects of behavioral adaptation. First, because cognition typically serves to produce adaptive behavior, cognitive structure and function should reflect ecological demands; studies of cognition in ecological contexts are opportunities to understand adaptation. Furthermore, constraints on cognitive properties may help determine how behavior meets the environment. Studies of spatial memory in food-caching corvids exemplify how cognitive aspects of behavior may both reflect and determine specifics of adaptation. Second, many models in behavioral ecology assume certain cognitive abilities, such as timing or counting. Cognitive theory and methodology should be used to determine whether animals possess these abilities. I have provided examples. Third, consideration of cognitive function can lead to original ideas about the details of behavioral adaptation. Without a thorough integration of cognitive psychology with behavioral ecology, our understanding of the relation between behavior and selective pressures will be compromised.     

Adaptation or biased gene conversion? Extending the null hypothesis of molecular evolution

The analysis of evolutionary rates is a popular approach to characterizing the effect of natural selection at the molecular level. Sequences contributing to species adaptation are expected to evolve faster than nonfunctional sequences because favourable mutations have a higher fixation probability than neutral ones. Such an accelerated rate of evolution might be due to factors other than natural selection, in particular GC-biased gene conversion. This is true of neutral sequences, but also of constrained sequences, which can be illustrated using the mouse Fxy gene. Several criteria can discriminate between the natural selection and biased gene conversion models. These criteria suggest that the recently reported human accelerated regions are most likely the result of biased gene conversion. We argue that these regions, far from contributing to human adaptation, might represent the Achilles' heel of our genome.     

Chemotactic Adaptation Is Altered by Changes in the Carboxy-Terminal Sequence Conserved among the Major Methyl-Accepting Chemoreceptors

In Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium, methylation and demethylation of receptors are responsible for chemotactic adaptation and are catalyzed by the methyltransferase CheR and the methylesterase CheB, respectively. Among the chemoreceptors of these species, Tsr, Tar, and Tcp have a well-conserved carboxy-terminal motif (NWET/SF) that is absent in Trg and Tap. When they are expressed as sole chemoreceptors, Tsr, Tar, and Tcp support good adaptation, but Trg and Tap are poorly methylated and supported only weak adaptation. It was recently discovered that CheR binds to the NWETF sequence of Tsr in vitro. To examine the physiological significance of this binding, we characterized mutant receptors in which this pentapeptide sequence was altered. C-terminally-mutated Tar and Tcp expressed in a receptorless E. coli strain mediated responses to aspartate and citrate, respectively, but their adaptation abilities were severely impaired. Their expression levels and attractant-sensing abilities were similar to those of the wild-type receptors, but the methylation levels of the mutant receptors increased only slightly upon addition of attractants. When CheR was overproduced, both the adaptation and methylation profiles of the mutant Tar receptor became comparable to those of wild-type Tar. Furthermore, overproduction of CheR also enhanced adaptive methylation of wild-type Trg, which lacks the NWETF sequence, in the absence of any other chemoreceptor. These results suggest that the pentapeptide sequence facilitates effective adaptation and methylation by recruiting CheR.     

Protective effects of intermittent hypoxic adaptation on myocardium and its mechanisms.

Intermittent hypoxic adaptation offers as many beneficial effects in protecting against myocardial injuries as chronic continuous hypoxic adaptation. However, chronic continuous hypoxic adaptation readily causes some adverse effects on the organism, which may be prevented by intermittent hypoxic adaptation. As an approach to potentiate the protective effects, intermittent hypoxic adaptation is also much easier to apply to subjects who are not living at high altitude. The mechanisms underlying the cardioprotective effects of intermittent hypoxic adaptation are less understood, although great similarities exist between chronic continuous and intermittent hypoxic adaptation. The participation of several factors, such as myocardial vascularity, coronary blood flow, and cardiomyoglobin, which comprise the oxygen uptake system is not apparent, while the more efficient energetic metabolism after intermittent hypoxic adaptation may be a mechanism for cardioprotection. The possible roles of several signaling transduction pathways, including adrenoceptors, prostaglandins, and the adenosinergic system, in the beneficial effects of intermittent hypoxia are compared to those of chronic continuous hypoxic adaptation. Antioxidant enzymes and stress proteins may also be part of the mechanisms contributing to the cardioprotection of the intermittent hypoxic adaptation. As the cardioprotective effects of intermittent hypoxic adaptation employ multifold mechanisms, their clear elucidation needs more efforts.     

Global and Local Concerns: What Attitudes and Beliefs Motivate Farmers to Mitigate and Adapt to Climate Change?

In response to agriculture''s vulnerability and contribution to climate change, many governments are developing initiatives that promote the adoption of mitigation and adaptation practices among farmers. Since most climate policies affecting agriculture rely on voluntary efforts by individual farmers, success requires a sound understanding of the factors that motivate farmers to change practices. Recent evidence suggests that past experience with the effects of climate change and the psychological distance associated with people''s concern for global and local impacts can influence environmental behavior. Here we surveyed farmers in a representative rural county in California''s Central Valley to examine how their intention to adopt mitigation and adaptation practices is influenced by previous climate experiences and their global and local concerns about climate change. Perceived changes in water availability had significant effects on farmers'' intention to adopt mitigation and adaptation strategies, which were mediated through global and local concerns respectively. This suggests that mitigation is largely motivated by psychologically distant concerns and beliefs about climate change, while adaptation is driven by psychologically proximate concerns for local impacts. This match between attitudes and behaviors according to the psychological distance at which they are cognitively construed indicates that policy and outreach initiatives may benefit by framing climate impacts and behavioral goals concordantly; either in a global context for mitigation or a local context for adaptation.     

Heart Rate Variability in 12- to 13-Year-Old Adolescents

Neurophysiology - Estimation of age and gender peculiarities of heart rate variability (HRV) in adolescents will help researchers to predict the potential abilities of the adaptation mechanisms, to...     

Evolution in response to climate change: In pursuit of the missing evidence

Climate change is imposing intensified and novel selection pressures on organisms by altering abiotic and biotic environmental conditions on Earth, but studies demonstrating genetic adaptation to climate change mediated selection are still scarce. Evidence is accumulating to indicate that both genetic and ecological constrains may often limit populations' abilities to adapt to large scale effects of climate warming. These constraints may predispose many organisms to respond to climate change with range shifts and phenotypic plasticity, rather than through evolutionary adaptation. In general, broad conclusions about the role of evolutionary adaptation in mitigating climate change induced fitness loss in the wild are as yet difficult to make. Editor's suggested further reading in BioEssays: How will fish that evolved at constant sub‐zero temperatures cope with global warming? Notothenioids as a case study Abstract     

The effect of immobilization stress on Fc-dependent processes in the progeny of female rats with a chronic liver lesion]

Fc-dependent processes in the rat offspring with a chronic experimental liver damage under conditions of an immobilization stress are studied. The results obtained show the depression of Fc-dependent processes in the given animal group, that indicates the decreased reserve abilities of the system of mononuclear phagocytes in the process of stress adaptation.     

Adaptive cis-regulatory changes may involve few mutations

A long-standing debate in evo-devo research concerns the relative role of protein-coding and cis-regulatory regions in adaptation. Recent studies of genetic adaptation have revealed that the number of substitutions contributing to phenotypic variation is lower in cis-regulatory than in structural regions, which has led to the idea that cis-regulatory regions are less important in phenotypic adaptation. However, the number of substitutions is not the only important factor, the "size" of the adaptive contribution of these substitutions is important too. A geometrical reasoning predicts that, given their lesser pleiotropic effects, cis-regulatory substitutions should have a larger average adaptive contribution than protein-coding substitutions. Thus it is possible that even with a lower number of adaptive mutations, cis-regulatory regions may contribute at the same level or even more than protein-coding regions.     

Seoul Twin Family Study: design, sampling, assessments, and future directions.

The Seoul Twin Family Study seeks to investigate genetic and environmental influences on the development of cognitive abilities and other psychological traits among children and adolescents in Seoul, South Korea. In November, 2001 with the assistance of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, we began to solicit all private and public schools in Seoul to obtain names, addresses, and telephone numbers of the twins enrolled in schools in Seoul. The vast majority of the recruited twins were between 6 and 18 years old. The recruited twins and their non-twin siblings and parents will undergo comprehensive assessment of cognitive abilities, interests, daily activities, personality, and familial and non-familial environments. We plan to reassess the twins and their families every two years as the twins progress through major changes that characterize childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. In addition, medical records of the twins during the prenatal period will be examined to determine the effects of intrauterine environment on individual differences in cognitive abilities and other psychological traits. We also plan to undertake molecular genetic studies to identify genes involved in specific cognitive abilities.     

Physiological,emotional, and professional adaptation of medical students

Female medical students were examined. The somatic health index (HI) according to Apanasenko and state-trait anxiety according to Spielberger were determined. The professional adaptation was estimated by academic performance (the average marks during a semester). Cluster analysis (the k-mean method) was used to distinguish four classes of students differing in their adaptation profiles: (1) good professional adaptation (academic performance), moderate anxiety, and a high HI; (2) poor academic performance and good psychophysiological adaptation; (3) moderate academic performance, a satisfactory psychological and emotional state, and a low HI; and (4) an academic performance lower than the sample average, high anxiety, and a low HI. Methods for correcting maladaptation based on the data obtained are suggested.     

Psychological Changes Accompanying and Mediating Stress-Management Training for Essential Hypertension

In a previous controlled study, 21 participants with essential hypertension were treated with a program based on education, relaxation and D'Zurilla problem-solving training, and another 21 participants were assigned to a waiting list control condition (García-Vera, Labrador, & Sanz, 1997). In this report, the pre-post-treatment psychological changes accompanying those conditions were examined with the Jenkins Activity Survey, the Rosenbaum Self-Control Schedule, the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the D'Zurilla-Nezu Social Problem-Solving Inventory. Treatment yielded significant psychological changes that included an increase of problem-solving abilities. Moreover, correlation and multiple regression analyses revealed that, when clinic blood pressure (BP) values were considered, increases in problem-solving abilities were correlated with systolic and diastolic BP reductions for participants in the stress-management condition, and they mediated partially the antihypertensive effects of stress-management training on BP. No significant correlations were found between psychological changes and self-measured systolic or diastolic BP reductions.     

Role of noncovalent binding of 11-cis-retinal to opsin in dark adaptation of rod and cone photoreceptors

Regeneration of visual pigments of vertebrate rod and cone photoreceptors occurs by the initial noncovalent binding of 11-cis-retinal to opsin, followed by the formation of a covalent bond between the ligand and the protein. Here, we show that the noncovalent interaction between 11-cis-retinal and opsin affects the rate of dark adaptation. In rods, 11-cis-retinal produces a transient activation of the phototransduction cascade that precedes sensitivity recovery, thus slowing dark adaptation. In cones, 11-cis-retinal immediately deactivates phototransduction. Thus, the initial binding of the same ligand to two very similar G protein receptors, the rod and cone opsins, activates one and deactivates the other, contributing to the remarkable difference in the rates of rod and cone dark adaptation.     

Early false-belief understanding in traditional non-Western societies

The psychological capacity to recognize that others may hold and act on false beliefs has been proposed to reflect an evolved, species-typical adaptation for social reasoning in humans; however, controversy surrounds the developmental timing and universality of this trait. Cross-cultural studies using elicited-response tasks indicate that the age at which children begin to understand false beliefs ranges from 4 to 7 years across societies, whereas studies using spontaneous-response tasks with Western children indicate that false-belief understanding emerges much earlier, consistent with the hypothesis that false-belief understanding is a psychological adaptation that is universally present in early childhood. To evaluate this hypothesis, we used three spontaneous-response tasks that have revealed early false-belief understanding in the West to test young children in three traditional, non-Western societies: Salar (China), Shuar/Colono (Ecuador) and Yasawan (Fiji). Results were comparable with those from the West, supporting the hypothesis that false-belief understanding reflects an adaptation that is universally present early in development.     

Adaptation of Salt-tolerant <Emphasis Type="Italic">Myxococcus</Emphasis> Strains and their Motility Systems to the Ocean Conditions

More and more studies have indicated that myxobacteria are able to live in seawater conditions, which, however, can decrease the fruiting body formation ability and also the adventurous (A) and social (S) motility systems of the myxobacteria. To learn the adaptation mechanism of the salt-tolerant myxobacteria to marine conditions, we analyzed 10 salt-tolerant Myxococcus strains of their fruiting body formation and motility. The isolates were from marine samples and possessed different levels of salt tolerance. They had the dual motility system and formed fruiting bodies in the presence of suitable seawater concentrations. Some high salt-tolerant strains even lost their fruiting abilities in the absence of seawater. In response to the presence of seawater, the S-motility was found to be increased in the high salt-tolerants but decreased in the low salt-tolerants. The A-motility, on the other hand, was observed in all the salt-tolerant Myxococcus strains, but increased or decreased in response to the presence of seawater. Perceived shifts of fruiting body formation abilities and motilities discovered in the salt-tolerant Myxococcus strains suggested an ecological adaptation of myxobacterial social behaviors to the marine environments.     

Competence to make decisions: the psychology of deliberate decision making

This paper examines the psychological structure of mental competence, conceived of as competence in deliberate decision making. Analysis of that structure may be useful in understanding mental incompetence, as it occurs among some elderly persons. Mental competence not only depends on a number of cognitive abilities, such as foreseeing consequences, but also on the intactness of emotions, insight in one's own emotions, and abilities for emotion regulation.     

The importance of biological and social factors for academic performance

Three groups of children with LDs (LDs; a total of 62 children) are considered in this study with respect to their specific cognitive and psychological features. In the first group of children, these difficulties are symptoms of the FMR1 gene dysfunction. The poor academic performance of children from the second group is associated with social interaction problems at a high intelligence level. The low academic performance of children from the third group results from unevenly developed verbal and nonverbal abilities. The importance of integrated neurophysiologic, neuropsychological, and clinical psychological examination for identifying the causes of difficulties at school has been demonstrated.