Fetal testosterone and autistic traits

Studies of amniotic testosterone in humans suggest that fetal testosterone (fT) is related to specific (but not all) sexually dimorphic aspects of cognition and behaviour. It has also been suggested that autism may be an extreme manifestation of some male‐typical traits, both in terms of cognition and neuroanatomy. In this paper, we examine the possibility of a link between autistic traits and fT levels measured in amniotic fluid during routine amniocentesis. Two instruments measuring number of autistic traits (the Childhood Autism Spectrum Test (CAST) and the Child Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ‐Child)) were completed by these women about their children (N=235), ages 6–10 years. Intelligence Quotient (IQ) was measured in a subset of these children (N=74). fT levels were positively associated with higher scores on the CAST and AQ‐Child. This relationship was seen within sex as well as when the sexes were combined, suggesting this is an effect of fT rather than of sex per se. No relationships were found between overall IQ and the predictor variables, or between IQ and CAST or AQ‐Child. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that prenatal androgen exposure is related to children exhibiting more autistic traits. These results need to be followed up in a much larger sample to test if clinical cases of ASC have elevated fT.     

Shelter for the Cognitively Homeless

One of the main strands of the Cartesian tradition is the view that the mental realm is cognitively accessible to us in a special way: whenever one is in a mental state of a certain sort, one can know it just by considering the matter. In that sense, the mental realm is thought to be a cognitive home for us, and the mental states it comprises are luminous. Recently, however, Timothy Williamson has argued that we are cognitively homeless: no mental state is in fact luminous. But his argument depends on an excessively strong account of luminosity. I formulate a weaker conception of luminosity that is unaffected by Williamson’s argument and yet is substantial enough to satisfy those who wish to retain this part of the Cartesian tradition.     

Stimulus Determinants of Aggregative Behavior in the Domestic Chicken

Identity status and self-esteem were determined for 88 undergraduate college women. Identity status was measured two ways: with the sexual values questions included, and with the ORP (occupational goals, religious ideology, and political ideology) interview alone. Significant differences in self-esteem as measured by the Texas Social Behavior Inventory (TSBI) were found for women in the four identity statuses. These differences were significant on the basis of both methods of identity assessment. Achievement women scored higher than Moratorium and Diffusion women, but not Foreclosure women. Moratorium women had the lowest self-esteem in the sample. Results were discussed as supportive of the notion that achievement of identity is enhancing of self-esteem in women, and that nontraditional areas of identity development are becoming more important determiners of adjustment in women. The differential adaptability of Moratorium and Foreclosure statuses for women was discussed.     

Children’s multiplicative transformations of discrete and continuous quantities

Recent studies have documented an evolutionarily primitive, early emerging cognitive system for the mental representation of numerical quantity (the analog magnitude system). Studies with nonhuman primates, human infants, and preschoolers have shown this system to support computations of numerical ordering, addition, and subtraction involving whole number concepts prior to arithmetic training. Here we report evidence that this system supports children’s predictions about the outcomes of halving and perhaps also doubling transformations. A total of 138 kindergartners and first graders were asked to reason about the quantity resulting from the doubling or halving of an initial numerosity (of a set of dots) or an initial length (of a bar). Controls for dot size, total dot area, and dot density ensured that children were responding to the number of dots in the arrays. Prior to formal instruction in symbolic multiplication, division, or rational number, halving (and perhaps doubling) computations appear to be deployed over discrete and possibly continuous quantities. The ability to apply simple multiplicative transformations to analog magnitude representations of quantity may form a part of the toolkit that children use to construct later concepts of rational number.     

Do Not Revise Ockham's Razor Without Necessity

Ockham's razor asks that we not multiply entities beyond necessity. The razor is a powerful methodological tool, enabling us to articulate reasons for preferring one theory to another. There are those, however, who would modify the razor. Schaffer (2010: 313—our italics), for one, tells us that, ‘I think the proper rendering of Ockham's razor should be ‘Do not multiply fundamental entities without necessity’’. Our aim, here, is to challenge such re‐workings of Ockham's razor.     

Conditions necessary to the establishment of mating dominance by the male hamster

We tested whether establishment of a dominance hierarchy among four males will ensure the dominant male preferential mating access to a single female. Establishment of the dominance hierarchy in the absence of a female did not result in any competitive mating advantage for the dominant male in terms of mating priority or total number of intromissions. However, establishment of the dominance hierarchy in the presence of a female, with interactions between the males and female occurring throughout the 4-day estrous cycle prior to the female becoming receptive resulted in the dominant male having a clear mating priority. Under these conditions the dominant male achieved more intromissions than the three subordinate males combined. Thus, male dominance status can affect mating success; however, it appears that interaction with the female as well as with other males prior to the onset of receptivity by the female is essential for assurance of a clear mating priority.