Publications by authors named "Jennifer Colbourne"
Article Synopsis
- Many parrot species, including cockatoos, show a strong preference for using one limb, with cockatoos often favoring their left foot when holding food, similar to human right-handedness.
- The study explored whether foot dominance in cockatoos is linked to better problem-solving skills, but found no significant connection, although task type did influence which foot they used.
- Goffin's cockatoos demonstrated a high level of limb lateralization for both food-holding and other tasks, suggesting it may affect how they approach problem-solving challenges.
Article Synopsis
- School-aged kids often struggle to come up with new ways to use tools, even though they can learn from others.
- Researchers believe this is harder when tasks involve using two tools at the same time rather than one after the other.
- In a study, even the oldest kids had a tough time with the harder tasks, showing that using tools correctly gets harder when there are more complicated steps involved.
Recent years have seen increasing scientific interest in whether neuron counts can act as correlates of diverse biological phenomena. Lately, Herculano-Houzel (2023) argued that fossil endocasts and comparative neurological data from extant sauropsids allow to reconstruct telencephalic neuron counts in Mesozoic dinosaurs and pterosaurs, which might act as proxies for behaviors and life history traits in these animals. According to this analysis, large theropods such as Tyrannosaurus rex were long-lived, exceptionally intelligent animals equipped with "macaque- or baboon-like cognition", whereas sauropods and most ornithischian dinosaurs would have displayed significantly smaller brains and an ectothermic physiology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTool use research has suffered from a lack of consistent theoretical frameworks. There is a plethora of tool use definitions and the most widespread ones are so inclusive that the behaviors that fall under them arguably do not have much in common. The situation is aggravated by the prevalence of anecdotes, which have played an undue role in the literature.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: This study aims to characterize the heterogeneity in BMI trajectories and evaluate how different BMI trajectories predict mortality risk in Canadian seniors.
Methods: Data came from the Canadian National Population Health Survey (NPHS, 1994-2011) and 1480 individuals aged 65-79 years with at least four BMI records were included in this study. Group-based trajectory model was used to identify distinct subgroups of longitudinal trajectories of BMI measured over 19 years for men and women.
Background: Whether there is heterogeneity in the development of BMI from middle-age onward is still unknown. The primary aim of this study is to analyze long-term obesity and how BMI trajectories are associated with health outcomes in midlife.
Methods: Latent Class Growth Modelling was used to capture the changes in BMI over time.
Background: Very limited nutritional epidemiological studies conducted to explore the unique dietary exposure in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL). This study aims to identify and characterize major dietary patterns in the target-population from general adult NL residents and assess the associations with selected demographic factors.
Methods: A total of 192 participants, aged 35-70 years, completed and returned a food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and participated in a telephone interview to collect demographic information.
Purpose: Adequacy of intake for niacin, folate, and vitamin B12 from food was estimated in an adult population in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL). Also considered was whether study findings support current Canadian food fortification policies.
Methods: Four hundred randomly selected adult NL residents were surveyed by telephone.
Background: The Food- Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) is a dietary assessment tool frequently used in large-scale nutritional epidemiology studies. The goal of the present study is to validate a self-administered version of the Hawaii FFQ modified for use in the general adult population of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL).
Methods: Over a one year period, 195 randomly selected adults completed four 24-hour dietary recalls (24-HDRs) by telephone and one subsequent self-administered FFQ.