Father absence,sociosexual orientation,and same-sex sexuality in women and men

A recent evolutionary theory of female sexual fluidity suggests that women may not have sexual orientations in the same sense that men do, and that women's apparent sexual orientation may instead be a byproduct of their sociosexual orientation. One developmental factor that has consistently been shown to influence sociosexual orientation is father absence in childhood. Consistent with the prediction of the theory, the analyses of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) data show that father absence significantly increases women's, but not men's, same-sex sexuality in adulthood, whether it is measured by self identity, sexual behaviour, or romantic attraction. Further consistent with the theory, the association between father absence and same-sex sexuality in women is entirely mediated by their sociosexual orientation.     

Inhibition of Internal Attention to Positive and Negative Representations in Dysphoria

We developed the Internal–External Attention‐Switching Task, which measures the ability to inhibit internal attention and the ability to remove inhibition of internal attention. The Internal–External Attention‐Switching Task was administered to a sample of dysphoric and non‐dysphoric undergraduate or graduate students (N = 44). Difficulty in both inhibition of internal attention to negative representation and removal of this inhibition were shown to be general. Importantly, however, dysphoric individuals could not maintain internal attention or remove inhibition of internal attention to positive representations as easily as non‐dysphoric individuals could. Therefore, reduced attention to positive representations in dysphoric individuals may enable maintenance of their depressive mood.     

Human ostensive signals do not enhance gaze following in chimpanzees,but do enhance object-oriented attention

The previous studies have shown that human infants and domestic dogs follow the gaze of a human agent only when the agent has addressed them ostensively—e.g., by making eye contact, or calling their name. This evidence is interpreted as showing that they expect ostensive signals to precede referential information. The present study tested chimpanzees, one of the closest relatives to humans, in a series of eye-tracking experiments using an experimental design adapted from these previous studies. In the ostension conditions, a human actor made eye contact, called the participant’s name, and then looked at one of two objects. In the control conditions, a salient cue, which differed in each experiment (a colorful object, the actor’s nodding, or an eating action), attracted participants’ attention to the actor’s face, and then the actor looked at the object. Overall, chimpanzees followed the actor’s gaze to the cued object in both ostension and control conditions, and the ostensive signals did not enhance gaze following more than the control attention-getters. However, the ostensive signals enhanced subsequent attention to both target and distractor objects (but not to the actor’s face) more strongly than the control attention-getters—especially in the chimpanzees who had a close relationship with human caregivers. We interpret this as showing that chimpanzees have a simple form of communicative expectations on the basis of ostensive signals, but unlike human infants and dogs, they do not subsequently use the experimenter’s gaze to infer the intended referent. These results may reflect a limitation of non-domesticated species for interpreting humans’ ostensive signals in inter-species communication.     

Frontal pole cortex: encoding ends at the end of the endbrain

Considerable neuroimaging research in humans indicates that the frontal pole cortex (FPC), also known as Brodmann area 10, contributes to many aspects of cognition. Despite these findings, however, its fundamental function and mechanism remain unclear. Recent neurophysiological results from the FPC of monkeys have implications about both. Neurons in the FPC seem to encode chosen goals at feedback time and nothing else. Goals, the places and objects that serve as targets for action, come in many forms and arise from many cognitive processes. The FPC's signal, although surprisingly simple for neurons at the apex of a prefrontal hierarchy, could promote learning about which kinds of goals and goal-generating processes produce particular costs and benefits, thereby improving future choices.     

The procerebrum is necessary for odor-aversion learning in the terrestrial slug Limax valentianus

The terrestrial slug Limax has a highly developed ability to associate the odor of some foods (e.g., carrot juice) with aversive stimuli such as the bitter taste of quinidine solution. The procerebrum (PC) is a part of the slug's brain thought to be involved in odor-aversion learning, but direct evidence is still lacking. Here we present evidence showing that the PC is essential for odor-aversion learning. Unlike sham-operated slugs, PC ablation 7 d prior to conditioning showed that most slugs did not avoid carrot juice in the memory retention test conducted 24 h after the conditioning. Slugs with the PC ablated 3 h, 1 d, 3 d, or 7 d after conditioning and examined by the memory retention test at 3 d after the PC ablation were also less likely to avoid carrot juice than sham-operated slugs. The PC ablation did not damage the ability of the slugs to sense attractive odor (everyday food) or innately aversive odor (onion or garlic). These results demonstrate that the PC is a necessary component in the retention and/or retrieval of odor-aversion memory.     

Infants' perception of subjective contours from apparent motion

We examined infants' perception of subjective contours in Subjective-Contour-from-Apparent-Motion (SCAM) stimuli [e.g., Cicerone, C. M., Hoffman, D. D., Gowdy, P. D., & Kim, J. S. (1995). The perception of color from motion. Perception & Psychophysics, 57, 761-777] using the preferential looking technique. The SCAM stimulus is composed of random dots which are assigned two different colors. Circular region assigned one color moved apparently, keeping all dots' location unchanged. In the SCAM stimulus, adults can perceive subjective color spreading and subjective contours in apparent motion (http://c-faculty.chuo-u.ac.jp/ approximately ymasa/okamura/ibd_demo.html). In the present study, we conducted two experiments by using this type of SCAM stimulus. A total of thirty-six 3-8-month-olds participated. In experiment 1, we presented two stimuli to the infants side by side: a SCAM stimulus consisting of different luminance, and a non-SCAM stimulus consisting of isoluminance dots. The results indicated that the 5-8-month-olds showed preference for the SCAM stimuli. In experiments 2 and 3, we confirmed that the infants' preference for the SCAM stimulus was not generated by the local difference and local change made by luminance of dots but by the subjective contours. These results suggest that 5-8-month-olds were able to perceive subjective contours in the SCAM stimuli.