Longitudinal evidence for the emergence of multiple intelligences in assistance dog puppies.

Cognitive test batteries suggest that adult dogs have different types of cognitive abilities that vary independently. In the current study, we tested puppies repeatedly over a crucial period of development to explore the timing and rate at which these different cognitive skills develop. Service dog puppies (n = 113), raised using two different socialization strategies, were either tested longitudinally (n =91) or at a single time point (n = 22).

Search efforts and face recognition: the role of expectations of encounter and within-person variability in prospective person memory.

People perform poorly at sighting missing and wanted persons in simulated searches due to attention and face recognition failures. We manipulated participants' expectations of encountering a target person and the within-person variability of the targets' photographs studied in a laboratory-based and a field-based prospective person memory task. We hypothesized that within-person variability and expectations of encounter would impact prospective person memory performance, and that expectations would interact with within-person variability to mitigate the effect of variability.

The effect of pre-event instructions on eyewitness identification.

Research on eyewitness identification often involves exposing participants to a simulated crime and later testing memory using a lineup. We conducted a systematic review showing that pre-event instructions, instructions given before event exposure, are rarely reported and those that are reported vary in the extent to which they warn participants about the nature of the event or tasks. At odds with the experience of actual witnesses, some studies use pre-event instructions explicitly warning participants of the upcoming crime and lineup task.

Prior experience with target encounter affects attention allocation and prospective memory performance.

We examined how prior experience encountering targets affected attention allocation and event-based prospective memory. Participants performed four color match task blocks with a difficult, but specified prospective memory task (Experiment 1) or an easier, but unspecified prospective memory task (Experiment 2). Participants were instructed to search for targets on each block.

The effect of feedback and recollection rejection instructions on the development of memory monitoring and accuracy.

Recollection rejection (a form of memory monitoring) involves rejecting false details on the basis of remembering true details (recall to reject), thereby increasing memory accuracy. This study examined how recollection rejection instructions and feedback affect memory accuracy and false recognition in 5-year-olds, 6- and 7-year-olds, 8- and 9-year-olds, and adults. Participants (N = 336) completed three study-test phases.

Effects of structural modification of (alkyldiene-imidazolium bromide)-based gemini monomers on the formation of the lyotropic bicontinuous cubic phase.

Seven homologues of an amphiphilic gemini monomer were synthesized and screened for the ability to form a bicontinuous cubic (Q) lyotropic liquid crystal phase. Four of these homologues form a Q phase with glycerol or water that can be cross-linked with retention of the nanoporous structure, with one exhibiting a well-ordered Q phase with a wider phase window than the parent monomer.

Effects of feedback and test practice on recollection and retrieval monitoring: comparing first graders, third graders, and adults.

We tested the effects of repeated testing and feedback on recollection accuracy in first graders, third graders, and adults. All participants studied a list of words and pictures, and then took three recollection tests, with each test probing different words and pictures from the earlier study phase. On the first and third tests no feedback was given, whereas on the second test, some subjects received item-level feedback throughout the recollection test.

Children's Use of Memory Editing Strategies to Reject Source Misinformation.

This is the first reported study of children's use of two metacognitive strategies, recollection rejection and diagnostic monitoring, to reject misinformation. Recollection rejection involves the retrieval of details that disqualify an event, whereas diagnostic monitoring involves the failure to retrieve expected details. First (n = 56, age 7 years) and third graders (n = 52, age 9 years) witnessed a staged classroom interaction involving common and bizarre accidents, were presented with misinformation about the source of these events, and took a memory test.

Benchmarking novel approaches for modelling species range dynamics.

Increasing biodiversity loss due to climate change is one of the most vital challenges of the 21st century. To anticipate and mitigate biodiversity loss, models are needed that reliably project species' range dynamics and extinction risks. Recently, several new approaches to model range dynamics have been developed to supplement correlative species distribution models (SDMs), but applications clearly lag behind model development.

Effects of distance on face recognition: implications for eyewitness identification.

Eyewitnesses sometimes view faces from a distance, but little research has examined the accuracy of witnesses as a function of distance. The purpose to the present project is to examine the relationship between identification accuracy and distance under carefully controlled conditions. This is one of the first studies to examine the ability to recognize faces of strangers at a distance under free-field conditions.

Propagule limitation, disparate habitat quality, and variation in phenotypic selection at a local species range boundary.

Adaptation to novel conditions beyond current range boundaries requires the presence of suitable sites within dispersal range, but may be impeded when emigrants encounter poor habitat and sharply different selection pressures. We investigated fine-scale spatial heterogeneity in ecological dynamics and selection at a local population boundary of the annual plant Gilia tricolor. In two years, we planted G.

Can spatial isolation help predict dispersal-limited sites for native species restoration?

When the distribution of species is limited by propagule supply, new populations may be initiated by seed addition, but identifying suitable sites for efficiently targeted seed addition remains a major challenge for restoration. In addition to the biotic or abiotic variables typically used in species distribution models, spatial isolation from conspecifics could help predict the suitability of unoccupied sites. Site suitability might be expected to increase with spatial isolation after other factors are accounted for, since isolation increases the chance that a site is unoccupied only because of propagule limitation.

Spatial niches and coexistence: testing theory with tarweeds.

Competitive coexistence in a spatially heterogeneous environment is traditionally attributed to niche differences, but several recent theories have proposed important additional roles for propagule limitation and chance (e.g., neutral theory, stochastic niche theory, spatial storage effect).

Fluctuating patch boundaries in a native annual forb: the roles of niche and dispersal limitation.

Abiotic, biotic, and dispersal constraints jointly control the spatial distributions of species, but few studies have directly evaluated how these forces interact and vary over time to create dynamic spatial distributions. Through three years of observation and two years of field manipulation, I investigated simultaneous constraints on the spatial distribution of Lupinus nanus, a native annual legume that grows in dense patches in California grasslands. I transplanted L.

Use of community-composition data to predict the fecundity and abundance of species.

Species distribution models are critical tools for the prediction of invasive species spread and conservation of biodiversity. The majority of species distribution models have been built with environmental data. Community ecology theory suggests that species co-occurrence data could also be used to predict current and potential distributions of species.

Plant competition varies with community composition in an edaphically complex landscape.

There is currently no consensus on how physical and biological factors affect competitive intensity. Tests of whether competitive intensity varies along axes of environmental change have commonly been conducted in systems with a single strong environmental gradient, such as productivity, a soil resource, or an environmental stress. Frequently, these same axes are associated with changes in species composition, yet few studies have asked whether shifts in the identity of competitors affect competitive intensity.

Invasion in a heterogeneous world: resistance, coexistence or hostile takeover?

We review and synthesize recent developments in the study of the invasion of communities in heterogeneous environments, considering both the invasibility of the community and impacts to the community. We consider both empirical and theoretical studies. For each of three major kinds of environmental heterogeneity (temporal, spatial and invader-driven), we find evidence that heterogeneity is critical to the invasibility of the community, the rate of spread, and the impacts on the community following invasion.

Propagule vs. niche limitation: untangling the mechanisms behind plant species' distributions.

Distinguishing the roles of propagule limitation and niche requirements in controlling plant species distributions is important for understanding community structure, invasion, and restoration. We used species distribution models based on plant and environmental survey data to assess the strength of species' affinities for particular environmental conditions. We hypothesized that species with statistically detectable environmental requirements were primarily niche-limited, while species with weak habitat affinities were primarily propagule-limited.

Neural correlates of conflict processing.

In this study we examined the neural correlates of conflict processing in the Stroop, counting, and digit-location tasks using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). The behavioral data revealed robust interference in response time and accuracy for all tasks. The interference effect for response time was greater in the Stroop task than the other tasks; in contrast, the interference effect for response accuracy was greater in the counting tasks than the other tasks.

Adjustments of cognitive control in younger and older adults.

The effects of aging on behavioral and electrophysiological indices of adjustments of cognitive control were examined in two experiments. Specifically, we considered the effects of aging of patterns of response time and modulations of the event-related brain potentials (ERPs) on sequential trial effects, error-related slowing, and local switch costs in two modified Stroop tasks. The behavioral data reveal that sequential trial effects were observed when color, but not word, identification was required and that these effects were similar in younger and older adults; that the degree of error-related slowing was similar for younger and older adults in Experiment 1 and greater in older than younger adults in Experiment 2; that local switch costs in response time were similar in younger and older adults and that the requirement to switch between color and word identification resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of color intrusion errors in older adults in Experiment 2.

Emergence of resistant microbes in critical care units is transient, despite an unrestricted formulary and multiple antibiotic trials.

Background: Antimicrobial resistance is a growing problem in the intensive care setting. This study was designed to evaluate the trends in bacterial prevalence and changes in antibiotic resistance at a large university hospital over the past decade. Antimicrobial resistance data were compared among the surgical intensive care unit (SICU), medical intensive care unit (MICU), and burn unit (BNU).