Context-dependent alarm responses in wild vervet monkeys

Animal Cognition - The alarm calls of nonhuman primates are occasionally cited as functionally equivalent to lexical word meaning in human language. Recently, however, it has become increasingly...     

A rigorous approach for testing the constructionist hypotheses of brain function

Although the target article provides strong evidence against the locationist view, evidence for the constructionist view is inconclusive, because co-activation of brain regions does not necessarily imply connectivity between them. We propose a rigorous approach wherein connectivity between co-activated regions is first modeled using exploratory Granger causality, and then confirmed using dynamic causal modeling or Bayesian modeling.     

Going Beyond Frequency: A Qualitative Study to Explore New Dimensions for the Measurement of Family Meals

The majority of studies on family meals only assess frequency. We conducted a qualitative study of family meals with parent and child dyads to explore different dimensions of family meals, beyond frequency, that may be important protective factors for youth risk- and weight-related outcomes to examine in quantitative studies. Participants were 37 children aged 6–16 and their parent/guardian (74 participants in total). We conducted semi-structured and open-ended interviews with parents and children separately. Participants were recruited at pediatric/adolescent waiting rooms at an academic medical center in Boston, MA, as well as through flyers placed around Boston and online via CraigsList.org. The data were analyzed and compiled by first coding key phrases into themes and then including additional themes as they arose from the data. Themes related to three major topic areas emerged: feelings about family meals, meal rules and rituals, and communication during meals. Parents and children generally enjoyed family meals, and indicated that discussions of daily life, as well as more difficult conversations, took place during meals. Rules were set in place by parents but generally not reported as strict by children, and when allowed, the use of technology often hindered family communication during meals. Ultimately, this qualitative study provided an in-depth understanding of candidate dimensions that would be useful in quantitative studies to begin to disentangle the mechanisms associated with reductions in youth risk- and weight-related outcomes.     

Unionization in the United States and India: An Empirical Investigation

Union voting intentions of 622 employees in the United States and 120 employees in India were investigated. Union beliefs and job satisfaction influenced voting intentions in both countries. Employer's willingness to correct workplace problems, presence of union members in the family, employment in the public sector, gender, and level of education influenced union voting intentions only in the U.S. sample.     

Human–dog relationships as a working framework for exploring human–robot attachment: a multidisciplinary review

Animal Cognition - Robotic agents will be life-long companions of humans in the foreseeable future. To achieve such successful relationships, people will likely attribute emotions and personality,...     

Are Ethicality Perceptions of Different Counterproductive Behaviors Affected by Workplace Dependencies?1

Dependency theory posits that relationships in organizations are affected by perceived dependencies. The present paper investigated whether the perceived ethicality of various counterproductive behaviors depends on perceived dependencies. Falsifying time reports and using organizational resources for personal use were considered to be more unethical by individuals who scored low on dependency, whereas concealing one's errors was considered to be more unethical by individuals who scored high on dependency. These results were not attributable to social desirability bias. Implications are elaborated.     

Dog–human social relationship: representation of human face familiarity and emotions in the dog brain

Animal Cognition - This study investigated the behavioral and neural indices of detecting facial familiarity and facial emotions in human faces by dogs. Awake canine fMRI was used to evaluate...