Variation in inhibitory control does not influence social rank,foraging efficiency,or risk taking,in red junglefowl females

Animal Cognition - Individual variation in cognition, seen in many taxa, is not well understood, despite its potential evolutionary consequences. Inhibitory control is an aspect of cognition which...     

The relationship between birth stress and writing hand posture

Variations in handwriting posture (inverted versus noninverted) were measured in 1203 individuals for whom birth histories, based upon retrospective maternal reports, were available. A history of birth complications was associated with an increased incidence of inverted handwriting posture. Effects interacted with sex and hand preference; the largest difference in handwriting posture between the birth-stressed and non-birth-stressed groups occurred in left-handers and in males.     

Should Global Conservation Initiatives Prioritize Phylogenetic Diversity?

Philosophia - Some recent conservation proposals – including the Zoological Society of London’s (ZSL) EDGE of Existence programme – have focused on the value of protecting species...     

‘If they didn’t support me,I most likely wouldn’t be here’: Transgender young people and their parents negotiating medical treatment in Australia

Abstract

Background: It is increasingly recognized that transgender young people require affirming medical care, however the provision of such care may be mitigated by the availability of services and the views of parents.

Aims: This study aimed to explore the views of Australian transgender young people (aged 11–17) and their parents with regards to medical treatment.

Methods: Ten qualitative interviews were conducted with parent-child dyads in two Australian states. Thematic analysis was undertaken on responses to interview questions related to family relationships, views about medical treatment (specifically hormone blockers and hormones), and the relationship between medical treatment and sense of self.

Results: Themes developed focused on the importance of strong supportive parent-child relationships, the meaning of and access to hormone blockers, and the meaning of and access to hormones.

Discussion: The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the findings for clinical services, particularly in relation to supporting parents to be affirming of a transgender child, the need to prepare transgender young people and their parents for the passage of time in regards to medical treatment, and the need to focus on expectations in regards to sense of self in relation to medical treatment.     

Interference with judgements of control and learning as a result of prior exposure to controllable and uncontrollable feedback during concept-learning tasks

Two experiments examined whether exposure to an uncontrollable relationship between an action and its outcome during a nonaversive pretreatment phase would attenuate subsequent ratings of control given to actions emitted by subjects. In Experiment 1, such an interference effect was demonstrated relative to a group that received prior training with a controllable action- outcome relationship, and relative to a group not exposed to any prior relationship. In Experiment 2, these effects were replicated, and interference was also found to occur when learning a maze task. Thus, the effects of helplessness were shown to be quite general, to be produced by a nonaversive induction procedure, and to occur most readily when the current contingency between action and outcome was weakest.