Different cues of personality and health from the face and gait of women

Redundant cues for attractiveness in humans have been identified, but the idea of multiple systems displaying different socially-relevant traits has yet to be extensively examined. We compared the accuracy with which observers could identify socially-relevant information of female targets, both from static images of their faces, and from point-light displays of their gait. Perception of extraversion was at chance. However, agreeableness and sociosexuality were more accurately perceived from the face than gait, while physical health showed the opposite pattern. This double dissociation suggests different information can be carried in different modalities. In addition, partial correlation analyses suggested that even when both modalities allowed accurate trait identification, the information content was different. Our results demonstrate that cues of different socially-relevant traits are communicated more effectively through different modalities, and these modality-specific cues contain distinctive information, supporting a "multiple messages" hypothesis.     

Migranten in sozial schwachen Stadtteilen von Berlin

Background

The aim of the present study was to compare psychological distress and substance use between migrant and non-migrant populations in a socially deprived area of Berlin.

Methods

A population-based random sample stratified for age (18?C57?years) and gender (50% female) was retrieved from the registration office. A total of 143 persons were included in the study. The participation rate was 48.5% when contact was established. Psychological distress was assessed using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) with its four subscales, somatic symptoms, anxiety/insomnia, social dysfunction and severe depression. Substance use was quantified using the Alcohol Use Identification Disorder Test (AUDIT) and the Fagerstr?m Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND).

Results

Of the study population 51.3% were first or second generation migrants and lived more often in single households. Migrants had lower educational levels and lower employment rates. The mean scores of migrants and non-migrants did not differ on any of the subscales somatic symptoms, anxiety/depression, social dysfunction or severe depression of the GHQ-28. Non-migrants showed significantly higher risks regarding alcohol use.

Discussion

The present study did not reveal any differences regarding symptom profiles in the spectrum of anxiety and depression between non-migrants and migrants who lived in a socially deprived area. Migrants may compensate higher social risk profiles with lower risks regarding alcohol use. Larger samples have to inform on possible differences regarding smoking and other substances.     

Sleep enhances memory consolidation in the hippocampus-dependent object-place recognition task in rats

The positive impact of sleep on memory consolidation has been shown for human subjects in numerous studies, but there is still sparse knowledge on this topic in rats, one of the most prominent model species in neuroscience research. Here, we examined the role of sleep in the object-place recognition task, a task closely comparable to tasks typically applied for testing human declarative memory: It is a one-trial task, hippocampus-dependent, not stressful and can be repeated within the same animal. A test session consisted of the Sample trial, followed by a 2-h retention interval and a Test trial, the latter examining the memory the rat had for the places of two objects presented at the Sample trial. In Experiment 1, each rat was tested twice, with the retention interval taking place either in the morning or evening, i.e., in the inactive or active phase, respectively. Rats showed significantly (p<0.01) better memory for object place after the Morning session. To control for confounding circadian factors, in Experiment 2 rats were tested four times, i.e., in the morning or in the evening while sleep was or was not deprived. Sleep during the retention interval was recorded polysomnographically. Rats only showed significant memory for the target object place in the Test trial after the Morning retention interval in the absence of sleep deprivation, and recognition performance in this condition was significantly superior to that in the three other conditions (p<0.05). EEG recordings during spontaneous morning sleep revealed increased slow oscillation (0.85-2.0 Hz) and upper delta (2.0-4.0 Hz), but reduced spindle band (10.5-13.5 Hz) activity, as compared to evening sleep. However, spindle band power was increased in the Morning retention interval in comparison to a Morning Baseline period (p<0.05). We conclude that consolidation of object-place memory depends on sleep, and presumably requires NonREM sleep rich in both slow wave and spindle activity.     

Empathy, Shared Intentionality, and Motivation by Moral Reasons

Internalists about reasons generally insist that if a putative reason, R, is to count as a genuine normative reason for a particular agent to do something, then R must make a rational connection to some desire or interest of the agent in question. If internalism is true, but moral reasons purport to apply to agents independently of the particular desires, interests, and commitments they have, then we may be forced to conclude that moral reasons are incoherent. Richard Joyce (2001) develops an argument along these lines. Against this view, I argue that we can make sense of moral reasons as reasons that apply to, and are capable of motivating, agents independently of their prior interests and desires. More specifically, I argue that moral agents, in virtue of their capacities for empathy and shared intentionality, are sensitive to reasons that do not directly link up with their pre-existing ends. In particular, they are sensitive to, and hence can be motivated by, reasons grounded in the desires, projects, commitments, concerns, and interests of others. Moral reasons are a subset of this class of reasons to which moral agents are sensitive. Thus, moral agents can be motivated by moral reasons, even where such reasons fail to link up to their own pre-existing ends.