Direct observations of pandanus-tool manufacture and use by a New Caledonian crow (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Corvus moneduloides</Emphasis>)

New Caledonian crows are reported to have impressive pandanus-tool manufacture abilities. These claims are based on an extensive artefact record. However, inferring behavioural and cognitive abilities without direct observation of tool manufacture is problematic. Here we report (and document on video) direct observations of a crow making and using stepped pandanus tools at Pic Ningua. We observed (1) a bias for making tools on left edges consistent with that previously found at the site, (2) faithful manufacture of a stepped design with high overall congruence in the shapes of tools, (3) the use of convergent rips to first form the tapered end working away from the trunk then the wide end working towards the trunk, (4) appropriate functional use of stepped tools by use of the leaf-edge barbs to hook food from holes, and (5) consistent holding of tools on the left side of its head when using them. Our observations verify most of the claims based on the artefact record, but the crows exact manufacture technique was slightly different to that inferred previously.Electronic Supplementary Material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at     

Online versus offline processing of visual feedback in the control of movement amplitude

Researchers have suggested that visual feedback not only plays a role in the correction of errors during movement execution but that visual feedback from a completed movement is processed offline to improve programming on upcoming trials. In the present study, we examined the potential contribution of online and offline processing of visual feedback by analysing spatial variability at various kinematic landmarks in the limb trajectory (peak acceleration, peak velocity, peak negative acceleration and movement end). Participants performed a single degree of freedom video aiming task with and without vision of the cursor under four criterion movement times (225, 300, 375 and 450 ms). For movement times of 225 and 300 ms, the full vision condition was less variable than the no vision condition. However, the form of the variability profiles did not differ between visual conditions suggesting that the contribution of visual feedback was due to offline processes. In the 375 and 450 ms conditions, there was evidence for both online and offline control as the form of the variability profiles differed significantly between visual conditions.     

Towards a New Religious Dialogue: Buddhism and Postmodern Theology

This paper proffers an example of a new form of religious dialogue. It subverts, rather than assumes the philosophical tradition of universal reason, upon which religious dialogue has traditionally proceeded. To this end, I call into question the frequently perceived affinity between Buddhism and radical postmodern a/theology. Whereas the latter works within a framework of oppositions inherited from the modern philosophical tradition, Buddhism is innocent of such a framework, and jettisons its 'either-or' antinomies. In this respect, I argue that there is a striking 'coincidence in outlook' between Buddhism and conservative postmodern theology, which also seeks to subvert the modern philosophical framework which it regards as being essentially secular. I suggest that this 'coincidence in outlook', which contrasts with the modern outlook, opens the way for a religious dialogue based on a mutual affirmation of difference, rather than on the distorting universalist quest for affinity at all costs.     

BOOKS Review

Legal Philosophies of Russian Liberalism . By Andrzej Walicki.
A History of Russian Philosophy , Edited by Valery A. Kuvakin.     

Drawing the net: internet identification, internet use, and the image of internet users.

Theory and research suggest that Internet identification may account for some of the gender divide in Internet use. Internet identification is a type of domain identification, and is inherently bound with images of those who use the Internet, a domain traditionally conceived as masculine. Combining the "draw an Internet user" test with an Internet identification scale, this study tests two hypotheses: participants drawing gender-concordant images will (i) identify with and (ii) use the Internet more than those drawing gender-discordant images. Participants were 371 students (121 males, 250 females) from three universities in the United Kingdom and Australia. The need to challenge masculinized images of the Internet is discussed.     

Conditions for young infants' failure to perceive trajectory continuity

When viewing an event in which an object moves behind an occluder on part of its trajectory, 4-month-old infants perceive the trajectory as continuous only when time or distance out of sight is short. Little is known, however, about the conditions under which young infants perceive trajectories to be discontinuous. In the present studies we focus first on infants' perception of trajectories that change during a period of occlusion. Four-month-olds perceive discontinuity in trajectories that change in height or orientation while behind an occluder, and this is true even when a change in direction could be due to an invisible bouncing collision with a surface. Further experiments reveal that infants do not perceive diagonal linear trajectories as continuous across an occlusion unless the occluding and revealing edges are orthogonal to the path of movement. Implications for theories of perceptual and cognitive development are discussed.