Does an Oblique/Slanted Perspective during Virtual Navigation Engage Both Egocentric and Allocentric Brain Strategies?

Perspective (route or survey) during the encoding of spatial information can influence recall and navigation performance. In our experiment we investigated a third type of perspective, which is a slanted view. This slanted perspective is a compromise between route and survey perspectives, offering both information about landmarks as in route perspective and geometric information as in survey perspective. We hypothesized that the use of slanted perspective would allow the brain to use either egocentric or allocentric strategies during storage and recall. Twenty-six subjects were scanned (3-Tesla fMRI) during the encoding of a path (40-s navigation movie within a virtual city). They were given the task of encoding a segment of travel in the virtual city and of subsequent shortcut-finding for each perspective: route, slanted and survey. The analysis of the behavioral data revealed that perspective influenced response accuracy, with significantly more correct responses for slanted and survey perspectives than for route perspective. Comparisons of brain activation with route, slanted, and survey perspectives suggested that slanted and survey perspectives share common brain activity in the left lingual and fusiform gyri and lead to very similar behavioral performance. Slanted perspective was also associated with similar activation to route perspective during encoding in the right middle occipital gyrus. Furthermore, slanted perspective induced intermediate patterns of activation (in between route and survey) in some brain areas, such as the right lingual and fusiform gyri. Our results suggest that the slanted perspective may be considered as a hybrid perspective. This result offers the first empirical support for the choice to present the slanted perspective in many navigational aids.     

Primates got personality,too: Toward an integrative primatology of consistent individual differences in behavior

In recent years, research on animal personality has exploded within the field of behavioral ecology. Consistent individual differences in behavior exist in a wide range of species, and these differences can have fitness consequences and influence several aspects of a species' ecology. In comparison to studies of other animals, however, there has been relatively little research on the behavioral ecology of primate personality. This is surprising given the large body of research within psychology and biomedicine showing that primate personality traits are heritable and linked to health and life history outcomes. In this article, I bring together theoretical perspectives on the ecology and evolution of animal personality with an integrative review of what we know about primate personality from studies conducted on captive, free‐ranging, and wild primates. Incorporating frameworks that emphasize consistency in behavior into primate behavioral ecology research holds promise for improving our understanding of primate behavioral evolution.     

Behavioral adaptations to parasites: an ethological approach.

Wild vertebrate animals must live in an environment with the ever present threat of internal and external parasites. This threat by macroparasites is responsible for the natural selection of an array of behavioral adaptations that, together with the immune system and other physiological forms of resistance, enable the animals to survive and reproduce in this environment. Several lines of research, some quite recent, illustrate that specific behavioral patterns can be effective in helping animals or their offspring avoid or control macroparasites that can affect adversely the animal's fitness. These behavioral patterns fall under the general strategies of avoidance behavior and mate selection.     

时距估计长度效应的研究述评

时距估计的长度效应,是指不同长度的时距存在不同的加工机制。从行为反应、神经心理以及脑成像三个领域对有关长度效应的研究进行综述。行为实验多用双任务范式,考察涉及工作记忆的非时间任务对长短时距加工的影响,行为实验的结果不一致,采用双任务范式的实验证据一般不能证明长度效应的存在。而有关脑机制的神经心理与脑成像研究结果一致,支持存在长度效应,但对于两个计时机制各自涉及的脑区以及脑电活动模式仍没有定论。长短时距可能因为所用任务特征不同采用不同计时机制,今后的研究将重点探讨特定任务是否涉及不同的计时机制。     

Distribution of variation over populations

Understanding the significance of the distribution of genetic or phenotypic variation over populations is one of the central concerns of population genetic and ecological research. The import of the research decisively depends on the measures that are applied to assess the amount of variation residing within and between populations. Common approaches can be classified under two perspectives: differentiation and apportionment. While the former focuses on differences (distances) in trait distribution between populations, the latter considers the division of the overall trait variation among populations. Particularly when multiple populations are studied, the apportionment perspective is usually given preference (via F _ST/G _ST indices), even though the other perspective is also relevant. The differences between the two perspectives as well as their joint conceptual basis can be exposed by referring them to the association between trait states and population affiliations. It is demonstrated that the two directions, association of population affiliation with trait state and of trait state with population affiliation, reflect the differentiation and the apportionment perspective, respectively. When combining both perspectives and applying the suggested measure of association, new and efficient methods of analysis result, as is outlined for population genetic processes. In conclusion, the association approach to an analysis of the distribution of trait variation over populations resolves problems that are frequently encountered with the apportionment perspective and its commonly applied measures in both population genetics and ecology, suggesting new and more comprehensive methods of analysis that include patterns of differentiation and apportionment.     

Coordination dynamics: (in)stability and metastability in the behavioural and neural systems

For more than 20 years, coordination dynamics have provided research on human movement science with new views about the nonlinear relationships between behavioral and neural dynamics. A number of studies across various experimental settings including bimanual, postural or interpersonal coordination, and also coordination between movements of a limb and an external event in the environment revealed the self-organized nature of human coordination. Here we review an extensive body of literature - in the human movement science and the neuroscience fields - that has investigated the coordination dynamics of brain and behavior when individuals are involved in two rhythmic coordination patterns: synchronization (on-the-beat movements) and syncopation (in-between beats movements). When the frequency of movement approaches 2 Hz, the syncopation mode is destabilized and synchronization is spontaneously adopted. The abrupt change between the two patterns illustrates a phenomenon known as non-equilibrium phase transition. Phase transitions offer a novel entry point into the investigation of pattern formation (and dissolution) at both the behavioral and the cerebral levels as they illustrate the loss of stability of the system. Brain imaging methods (MEG, EEG and fMRI) were used to reveal the neural signatures of (in)stability underlying the differences between behavioral coordination patterns, and pointed at the role of self-organization and metastability principles in brain functioning. Relationships between behavioral and brain dynamics can therefore be investigated within a unified empirical and theoretical framework.     

Correlates of Research Effort in Carnivores: Body Size,Range Size and Diet Matter

Given the budgetary restrictions on scientific research and the increasing need to better inform conservation actions, it is important to identify the patterns and causes of biases in research effort. We combine bibliometric information from a literature review of almost 16,500 peer-reviewed publications on a well-known group of 286 species, the Order Carnivora, with global datasets on species'' life history and ecological traits to explore patterns in research effort. Our study explores how species'' characteristics influenced the degree to which they were studied (measured as the number of publications). We identified a wide variation in intensity of research effort at both Family and Species levels, with some of the least studied being those which may need protection in future. Our findings hint at the complex role of human perspectives in setting research agendas. We found that better-studied species tended to be large-bodied and have a large geographic range whilst omnivory had a negative relationship with research effort. IUCN threat status did not exhibit a strong relationship with research effort which suggests that the conservation needs of individual species are not major drivers of research interest. This work is the first to use a combination of bibliometric analysis and biological data to quantify and interpret gaps in research knowledge across an entire Order. Our results could be combined with other resources, such as Biodiversity Action Plans, to prioritise and co-ordinate future research effort, whilst our methods can be applied across many scientific disciplines to describe knowledge gaps.     

Sexual arousal in men: a review and conceptual analysis

Sexual arousal is an emotional/motivational state that can be triggered by internal and external stimuli and that can be inferred from central (including verbal), peripheral (including genital), and behavioral (including action tendencies and motor preparation) responses. This article, while focusing on sexual arousal in men, provides a conceptual analysis of this construct, reviews models of sexual arousal, and discusses the usefulness of perspectives derived from motivation and emotion research in improving our understanding of its determinants and behavioral correlates. In this, it considers the role of genital feedback in men's subjective sexual arousal and the connections between sexual arousal and sexual desire. Future research and definitions may increasingly focus on its central integrative functions (as opposed to its input and output characteristics). Yet, the study of sexual arousal can be expected to continue to benefit from the measurement of its genital, verbal, and behavioral components. Instances of discordance between response components suggest that they are, at least in part, under the control of different mechanisms, and it is proposed that a better understanding of sexual arousal will prove contingent on a better understanding of such mechanisms and the conditions under which they converge and diverge.     

Retention time variability as a mechanism for animal mediated long-distance dispersal

Long-distance dispersal (LDD) events, although rare for most plant species, can strongly influence population and community dynamics. Animals function as a key biotic vector of seeds and thus, a mechanistic and quantitative understanding of how individual animal behaviors scale to dispersal patterns at different spatial scales is a question of critical importance from both basic and applied perspectives. Using a diffusion-theory based analytical approach for a wide range of animal movement and seed transportation patterns, we show that the scale (a measure of local dispersal) of the seed dispersal kernel increases with the organisms' rate of movement and mean seed retention time. We reveal that variations in seed retention time is a key determinant of various measures of LDD such as kurtosis (or shape) of the kernel, thinkness of tails and the absolute number of seeds falling beyond a threshold distance. Using empirical data sets of frugivores, we illustrate the importance of variability in retention times for predicting the key disperser species that influence LDD. Our study makes testable predictions linking animal movement behaviors and gut retention times to dispersal patterns and, more generally, highlights the potential importance of animal behavioral variability for the LDD of seeds.     

Laboratory Research on Behavioral Interactions as Generators of Population Phenomena in Rodents

Many population phenomena are driven by the behavior of individualanimals. The effects of behavior on differential reproductionvary with the mating system and with ecological factors; understandingof the complex interactions requires both laboratory and fieldresearch. Ecologically-relevant laboratory research should bedesigned using generalizable behavioral patterns with animalsof appropriate species, meaningful genotypes, and known earlyexperience that are studied in carefully-designed situations.Three exemplars of research of potential relevance to populationphenomena are discussed. Studies of dominance and differentialreproduction in deer mice in seminatural enclosures suggestthat dominant males make disproportionately large contributionsto gene pools and that dominance may be heritable. Laboratorystudies of reproductive function in individuals bearing differentalleles, determined electrophoretically, appear relevant topopulation processes reported correlated with changes in genefrequencies at these loci. Patterns of mate choice in two speciesof Microtus may be important in generating their contrastingmating systems in the field. Well-designed laboratory researchcan help reveal behavioral processes critical to populationphenomena.     

Spatiotemporal Detection of Unusual Human Population Behavior Using Mobile Phone Data

With the aim to contribute to humanitarian response to disasters and violent events, scientists have proposed the development of analytical tools that could identify emergency events in real-time, using mobile phone data. The assumption is that dramatic and discrete changes in behavior, measured with mobile phone data, will indicate extreme events. In this study, we propose an efficient system for spatiotemporal detection of behavioral anomalies from mobile phone data and compare sites with behavioral anomalies to an extensive database of emergency and non-emergency events in Rwanda. Our methodology successfully captures anomalous behavioral patterns associated with a broad range of events, from religious and official holidays to earthquakes, floods, violence against civilians and protests. Our results suggest that human behavioral responses to extreme events are complex and multi-dimensional, including extreme increases and decreases in both calling and movement behaviors. We also find significant temporal and spatial variance in responses to extreme events. Our behavioral anomaly detection system and extensive discussion of results are a significant contribution to the long-term project of creating an effective real-time event detection system with mobile phone data and we discuss the implications of our findings for future research to this end.     

Role of angiotensin II and corticotropin-releasing hormone in hemodynamic responses to cocaine and stress

Cocaine produces characteristic behavioral and autonomic responses due to its unique pharmacological properties. Many of the autonomic responses resemble those to acute behavioral stress. Both cocaine and behavioral stress have been shown to evoke an increase in sympathetic nerve activity that is primarily responsible for the peripheral cardiovascular responses. We noted varying hemodynamic and sympathetic response patterns to cocaine administration and to acute behavioral stress in rats that correlate with the predisposition to develop both a sustained increase in arterial pressure and cardiomyopathies. Several lines of evidence suggest that the autonomic response patterns are dependent on the actions of central peptides including angiotensin II (Ang II) and corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). This is based on observations demonstrating that intracerebroventricular (icv) administration of receptor antagonists for Ang II or CRH attenuated the decrease in cardiac output (CO) and increase in vascular resistance noted in some animals after cocaine administration or startle. In contrast, icv Ang II enhances the cardiodepression associated with cocaine administration or startle. Based on this and other evidence, we propose that the autonomic response patterns to startle and to cocaine are closely related and dependent on central Ang II and CRH. Furthermore, we suggest that these central peptides may be responsible for varying predisposition to cardiovascular disease.     

Predicting community structure of ground-foraging ant assemblages with Markov models of behavioral dominance

Although interference competition is a conspicuous component of many animal communities, it is still uncertain whether the competitive ability of a species determines its relative abundance and patterns of association with other species. We used replicated arena tests to quantify behavioral dominance of eight common species of co-occurring ground-foraging ants in the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon. We found that behavior recorded in laboratory assays was an accurate representation of a colony's ability to monopolize resources in the field. We used interaction frequencies from the behavioral tests to estimate transition probabilities in a simple Markov chain model to predict patterns of relative abundance in a metacommunity that is dominated by behavioral interactions. We also tested whether behavioral interactions between each pair of species could be used to predict patterns of species co-occurrence. We found that the Markov model did not accurately predict patterns of observed relative abundance on either the local or the regional scale. However, we did detect a significant negative correlation at the local scale in which behaviorally dominant species occupied relatively few baits. Pairwise behavioral data also did not predict species co-occurrence in any site. Although interference competition is a conspicuous process in ant communities, our results suggest that it may not contribute much to patterns of relative abundance and species co-occurrence in the system studied here. However, the negative correlation between behavioral dominance and bait occupancy at the local scale suggests that competition-colonization trade-offs may be important in resource acquisition and persistence of behaviorally subordinate species.     

Life History Trade-Offs and Behavioral Sensitivity to Testosterone: An Experimental Test When Female Aggression and Maternal Care Co-Occur

Research on male animals suggests that the hormone testosterone plays a central role in mediating the trade-off between mating effort and parental effort. However, the direct links between testosterone, intrasexual aggression and parental care are remarkably mixed across species. Previous attempts to reconcile these patterns suggest that selection favors behavioral insensitivity to testosterone when paternal care is essential to reproductive success and when breeding seasons are especially short. Females also secrete testosterone, though the degree to which similar testosterone-mediated trade-offs occur in females is much less clear. Here, I ask whether testosterone mediates trade-offs between aggression and incubation in females, and whether patterns of female sensitivity to testosterone relate to female life history, as is often the case in males. I experimentally elevated testosterone in free-living, incubating female tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), a songbird with a short breeding season during which female incubation and intrasexual aggression are both essential to female reproductive success. Testosterone-treated females showed significantly elevated aggression, reduced incubation temperatures, and reduced hatching success, relative to controls. Thus, prolonged testosterone elevation during incubation was detrimental to reproductive success, but females nonetheless showed behavioral sensitivity to testosterone. These findings suggest that the relative importance of both mating effort and parental effort may be central to understanding patterns of behavioral sensitivity in both sexes.     

Behavioral research in breeding colonies of Old World monkeys.

The existence of an active behavioral research program using animals in primate breeding colonies was considered to be not only a compatable multiple use of animals, but a way of materially improving the management and efficiency of the breeding colonies. In colonies of monkeys specifically established for behavioral research programs directed at the examination of social relationships, incidental breeding resulted in levels of reproductive success equivalent to or greater than that normally experienced in colonies devoted entirely to breeding. Behavioral research revealed patterns of seasonality, fostering, kidnapping, and infant care which would otherwise have escaped notice and which would significantly influence culling and management choices in a breeding colony. Many young males and certain low ranking adult males actively contributed to reproduction. Females born and reared in the colonies were the most productive, exceeding wild born or other introduced females in reproductive efficiency. Specific recommendations for establishing, expanding and culling of nonhuman primate breeding colonies were derived from the behavioral research.     

Genetic fatalism and social policy: the implications of behavior genetics research.

Recent advances in molecular genetics methods have provided new means of determining the genetic bases of human behavioral traits. The impetus for the use of these approaches for specific behaviors depends, in large part, on previous familial studies on inheritance of such traits. In the past, a finding of a genetic basis for a trait was often accompanied with the idea that that trait is unchangeable. We discuss the definition of "genetic trait" and heritability and examine the relationship between these concepts and the malleability of traits for both molecular and nonmolecular approaches to behavioral genetics. We argue that the malleability of traits is as much a social and political question as it is a biological one and that whether or not a trait is genetic has little relevance to questions concerning determinism, free will, and individual responsibility for actions. We conclude by noting that "scientific objectivity" should not be used to conceal the social perspectives that underlie proposals regarding social change.     

Formation of banded vegetation patterns resulted from interactions between sediment deposition and vegetation growth

This research investigates the formation of banded vegetation patterns on hillslopes affected by interactions between sediment deposition and vegetation growth. The following two perspectives in the formation of these patterns are taken into consideration: (a) increased sediment deposition from plant interception, and (b) reduced plant biomass caused by sediment accumulation. A spatial model is proposed to describe how the interactions between sediment deposition and vegetation growth promote self-organization of banded vegetation patterns. Based on theoretical and numerical analyses of the proposed spatial model, vegetation bands can result from a Turing instability mechanism. The banded vegetation patterns obtained in this research resemble patterns reported in the literature. Moreover, measured by sediment dynamics, the variation of hillslope landform can be described. The model predicts how treads on hillslopes evolve with the banded patterns. Thus, we provide a quantitative interpretation for coevolution of vegetation patterns and landforms under effects of sediment redistribution.     

The Ontogeny of Social Behavior and Body Coloration in the African Cichlid Fish Haplochromis burtoni

The ontogeny of behavioral patterns and body coloration are described for the African cichlid fish, Haplochromis burtoni. The development of particular color patterns correlates directly with appearance of behavioral patterns which “use” those color patterns. There is a flexible timetable associated with these events which depends on both social and environmental factors.