Behavioral cues that great apes use to forage for hidden food

We conducted three studies to examine whether the four great ape species (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans) are able to use behavioral experimenter-given cues in an object-choice task. In the subsequent experimental conditions subjects were presented with two eggs, one of which contained food and the other did not. In Study 1 the experimenter examined both eggs by smelling or shaking them, but only made a failed attempt to open (via biting) the egg containing food. In a control condition, the experimenter examined and attempted to open both eggs, but in reverse order to control for stimulus enhancement. The apes significantly preferred the egg that was first examined and then bitten, but had no preference in a baseline condition in which there were no cues. In Study 2, we investigated whether the apes could extend this ability to cues not observed in apes so far (i.e., attempting to pull apart the egg), as well as whether they made this discrimination based on the function of the action the experimenter performed. Subjects significantly preferred eggs presented with this novel cue, but did not prefer eggs presented with a novel but functionally irrelevant action. In Study 3, apes did not interpret human actions as cues to food-location when they already knew that the eggs were empty. Thus, great apes were able to use a variety of experimenter-given cues associated with foraging actions to locate hidden food and thereby were partially sensitive to the general purpose underlying these actions.     

Is there an innate geometric module? Effects of experience with angular geometric cues on spatial re-orientation based on the shape of the environment

Non-human animals and human children can make use of the geometric shape of an environment for spatial reorientation and in some circumstances reliance on purely geometric information (metric properties of surfaces and sense) can overcome the use of local featural cues. Little is known as to whether the use of geometric information is in some way reliant on past experience or, as would likely be argued by advocates of the notion of a geometric module, it is innate. We tested the navigational abilities of newborn domestic chicks reared in either rectangular or circular cages. Chicks were trained in a rectangular-shaped enclosure with panels placed at the corners to provide salient featural cues. Rectangular-reared and circular-reared chicks proved equally able to learn the task. When tested after removal of the featural cues, both rectangular- and circular-reared chicks showed evidence that they had spontaneously encoded geometric information. Moreover, when trained in a rectangular-shaped enclosure without any featural cues, chicks reared in rectangular-, circular-, or c-shaped cages proved to be equally able to learn and perform the task using geometric information. These results suggest that effective use of geometric information for spatial reorientation does not require experience in environments with right angles and metrically distinct surfaces, thus supporting the hypothesis of a predisposed geometric module in the animal brain.     

繁衍线索对风险信息加工的影响

进化理论认为风险行为与求偶有关。研究通过比较求偶信息(异性照片或描述异性的词语)、养育后代(孕妇照片)及奖赏信息(金牌照片等)试图进一步探讨繁衍线索对两性知觉和判断风险信息的影响。研究1中, 被试描述理想约会对象后求偶动机得到激发, 相对于描述晴朗天气的控制组, 求偶动机让两性更慢地从高风险信息(如滑雪、冲浪等)转移注意力, 且两性对风险信息的注意转移与社群性向无关。研究2显示, 相对于养育后代和奖赏信息, 求偶信息更为迅速地促使男性对高风险信息做出判断, 但求偶信息让女性比男性更慢地对高风险信息做出判断。研究结果进一步证实了自然选择理论及性选择理论对两性加工风险信息的认知机制具有预测作用。     

限制性饮食者对食物线索的认知偏向：行为和脑机制的证据

限制饮食是为了控制体重, 长期严格地控制进食的倾向。大量研究表明相对于非限制性饮食者, 限制性饮食者对食物线索尤其是高能量或高美味食物线索存在认知偏向。这种偏向是基于一定的脑神经基础的如前额叶背内侧, 小脑等区域。未来研究应设置严格的筛选标准, 运用视觉odd-one-out和学习-再认实验范式, 重视认知神经机制的探讨, 开展中国限制性饮食者对食物线索加工的认知机制和主要影响因素模型的系统研究。     

The smell of cooperativeness: Do human body odours advertise cooperative behaviours?

Several physical features influence the perception of how cooperative a potential partner is. While previous work focused on face and voice, it remains unknown whether body odours influence judgements of cooperativeness and if odour-based judgements are accurate. Here, we first collected axillary odours of cooperative and uncooperative male donors through a public good game and used them as olfactory stimuli in a series of tasks examining whether and how they influence cooperative decision-making in an incentivized economic game and ratings of cooperativeness. Our results show that having access to the donor's body odours provided a strategic advantage to women during economic decisions (but not to men): with age, women were more likely to cooperate with cooperative men and to avoid interacting with uncooperative men. Ratings of cooperativeness were nonetheless unrelated to the donors’ actual cooperativeness. Finally, while men with masculine and intense body odours were judged less cooperative, we found no evidence that donors’ actual cooperativeness was associated with less masculine or less intense body odour. Overall, our findings suggest that, as faces and voices, body odours influence perceived cooperativeness and might be used accurately and in a non-aware manner as olfactory cues of cooperativeness, at least by women.     

“鸡尾酒会”环境中的知觉线索的去掩蔽作用

在有多人同时说话的嘈杂环境中,为什么具有正常听力的人能在一定的程度上听懂目标语句？研究这个著名的“鸡尾酒会”问题的一个新进展是将干扰言语的作用区分出了能量掩蔽和信息掩蔽两种成分。与发生在外周系统的能量掩蔽不同,信息掩蔽发生在心理层次并受到认知过程的调节。因此,主观空间分离、与目标语句节奏相关的视觉信号以及对目标语句某些特征的熟悉程度等知觉线索都具有去掩蔽作用。考察可减少信息掩蔽的知觉线索的交互作用及其高级认知调节是今后重要的研究内容     

不同注意提示线索条件下汉字数字加工的SNARC效应

采用Ponser的实验范式.以判断"壹"到"玖"的汉字数字奇偶为任务,探讨不同提示线索时在注意条件与非注意条件下的空间数字反应编码联合效应(SNARC效应).实验结果发现: (1)当有效提示线索为80%时,注意条件下汉字数字出现了SNARC效应,而非注意条件下对汉字数字的加工没有出现SNARC效应; (2)当有效提示线索为50%时,在注意和非注意条件下汉字数字都出现了明显的SNARC效应.结果表明注意水平对SNARC效应产生了影响.     

Inferring agency from sound

In three experiments we investigated how people determine whether or not they are in control of sounds they hear. The sounds were either triggered by participants’ taps or controlled by a computer. The task was to distinguish between self-control and external control during active tapping, and during passive listening to a playback of the sounds recorded during the active condition. Experiment 1 required detection of a change in control mode within trials. Experiments 2 and 3 introduced a simple rhythm reproduction task that requires discrimination of control modes between trials. The results demonstrate that both sensorimotor cues and perceptual cues are used to infer agency. In addition, there may be further influences of cognitive expectation and/or multimodal integration. In accordance with hierarchical models of intention [e.g., Pacherie, E. (2008). The phenomenology of action: A conceptual framework. Cognition, 107, 179-217] this suggests that the sense of agency is not situated on one specific level of action control but subject to multiple influences.     

Preference for impossible figures in 4-month-olds

Can infants use interposition and line junction cues to infer three-dimensional (3D) structure? Previous work has shown that in a task that required 4-month-olds to discriminate between static two-dimensional (2D) pictures of possible and impossible cubes, infants exhibited a spontaneous preference for displays of the impossible cube but left open the question of whether they did so on the basis of purely local “critical regions” or whether they were able to employ more global clues. Here infants were presented with possible and impossible cubes in which the strictly local cues that could have derived from exterior binding contours were deleted. Results showed that infants were still able to discriminate possible cubes from impossible cubes, suggesting that longer looking infants are sensitive to global properties and that the capacity to integrate pictorial information to perceive aspects of global 3D shape may develop earlier than demonstrated previously using reaching tasks.     

The impact of landmark properties in shaping exploration and navigation

This study was aimed at uncovering physical and geometric properties that make a particular landmark a target of exploration and navigation. Rats were tested in a square open-field arena with additional portable corners featuring the same properties as the arena corners. It was found that the routes of progression converged upon the added corners, whether located at the arena wall or the arena center. Route convergence upon the added corners involved numerous visits to these corners. However, time spent at the added corners was relatively short compared with the arena corners, including that from which rats were introduced into the arena. There was no differential effect of testing rats in light or dark, or with a low versus a high portable corner. It is suggested that the added corners were distinct against the background of the arena enclosure, whereas the four arena corners and walls were encoded by the rats as one geometric module. This distinctness, together with the greater accessibility of the added corners, made them salient landmarks and a target of exploration. Thus, the impact of a landmark extended beyond its specific self-geometry to include accessibility and distinctness, which are contextual properties. In addition to the contextual impact on locomotor behavior there was also a temporal effect, with security initially dominating the rats’ behavior but then declining along with an increased attraction to salient landmarks. These spatiotemporal patterns characterized behavior in both lit and dark arenas, indicating that distal cues were secondary to local proximal cues in shaping routes.