965 results match your criteria: "School of Psychology and Neuroscience[Affiliation]"

Article Synopsis
  • Identifying medicinal resources in chimpanzee diets is challenging due to the need for detailed behavioral data and costly pharmacological analyses, often overlooking combinations of resources that may enhance treatment effectiveness.
  • The study introduces the "self-medicative resource combination hypothesis," suggesting that different combinations of ingested resources could improve health outcomes for chimpanzees.
  • Two analytical tools (collocation and APRIORI analyses) are presented to explore these resource combinations, with results from the Sonso chimpanzee community showing up to 60% agreement, indicating that APRIORI may be better for studying complex interactions among multiple resources.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Fundamental frequency ( ) affects social perceptions, with low male frequencies enhancing perceptions of men's strength and status, especially in societies with high homicide rates and competitive environments.
  • On the other hand, high female frequencies made women seem more flirtatious, particularly in societies with lower relational mobility and higher fears of relationship threats.
  • The study shows that the impact of on social perceptions varies significantly based on socioecological factors related to competition for status and mates across different cultures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

When viewing the actions of others, we not only see patterns of body movements, but we also "see" the intentions and social relations of people. Experienced forensic examiners - Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) operators - have been shown to convey superior performance in identifying and predicting hostile intentions from surveillance footage than novices. However, it remains largely unknown what visual content CCTV operators actively attend to, and whether CCTV operators develop different strategies for active information seeking from what novices do.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Social class is a powerful hierarchy that determines many privileges and disadvantages. People form impressions of others' social class (like other important social attributes) from facial appearance, and these impressions correlate with stereotype judgments. However, what drives these related subjective judgments remains unknown.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Amidst growing concern about the safety of sport-related repetitive subconcussive head impacts (RSHI), biofluid markers may provide sensitive, informative, and practical assessment of the effects of RSHI exposure.

Objective: This scoping review aimed to systematically examine the extent, nature, and quality of available evidence from studies investigating the effects of RSHI on biofluid markers, to identify gaps and to formulate guidelines to inform future research.

Methods: PRISMA extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines were adhered to.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In search of animal normativity: a framework for studying social norms in non-human animals.

Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc

June 2024

Department of Philosophy, York University, S448 Ross Building, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, ON, M3J 1P3, Canada.

Social norms - rules governing which behaviours are deemed appropriate or inappropriate within a given community - are typically taken to be uniquely human. Recently, this position has been challenged by a number of philosophers, cognitive scientists, and ethologists, who have suggested that social norms may also be found in certain non-human animal communities. Such claims have elicited considerable scepticism from norm cognition researchers, who doubt that any non-human animals possess the psychological capacities necessary for normative cognition.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The glymphatic system and multiple sclerosis: An evolving connection.

Mult Scler Relat Disord

March 2024

School of Psychology and Neuroscience, College of Medicine, Veterinary and Life Science, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G61 1QH, United Kingdom.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex autoimmune disorder that affects the central nervous system, resulting in demyelination and an array of neurological manifestations. Recently, there has been significant scientific interest in the glymphatic system, which operates as a waste-clearance system for the brain. This article reviews the existing literature, and explores potential links between the glymphatic system and MS, shedding light on its evolving significance in the context of MS pathogenesis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

concepts are a powerful tool for making wide-ranging predictions in new situations based on little experience. Whereas looking-time studies suggest an early emergence of this ability in human infancy, other paradigms like the relational match to sample task often fail to detect abstract concepts until late preschool years. Similarly, non-human animals show difficulties and often succeed only after long training regimes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The mosaic structure of the mammalian cognitive map.

Learn Behav

March 2024

School of Psychology and Neuroscience, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.

The cognitive map, proposed by Tolman in the 1940s, is a hypothetical internal representation of space constructed by the brain to enable an animal to undertake flexible spatial behaviors such as navigation. The subsequent discovery of place cells in the hippocampus of rats suggested that such a map-like representation does exist, and also provided a tool with which to explore its properties. Single-neuron studies in rodents conducted in small singular spaces have suggested that the map is founded on a metric framework, preserving distances and directions in an abstract representational format.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Rethinking peace from a bonobo perspective.

Behav Brain Sci

January 2024

Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA,

Reconstructing pathways to human peace can be hampered by superficial evaluations of similar processes in nonhuman species. A deeper understanding of bonobo social systems allows us to reevaluate the preconditions for peace to gain a greater insight on the evolutionary timescale of peace emergence.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Semantic congruency modulates the speed-up of multisensory responses.

Sci Rep

January 2024

School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St. Andrews, St. Mary's Quad, South Street, St. Andrews, KY16 9JP, UK.

Responses to multisensory signals are often faster compared to their unisensory components. This speed-up is typically attributed to target redundancy in that a correct response can be triggered by one or the other signal. In addition, semantic congruency of signals can also modulate multisensory responses; however, the contribution of semantic content is difficult to isolate as its manipulation commonly changes signal redundancy as well.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Memory encoding and retrieval by retrosplenial parvalbumin interneurons are impaired in Alzheimer's disease model mice.

Curr Biol

January 2024

Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Seoul National University, Gwanak-ro 1, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Korea. Electronic address:

Memory deficits in Alzheimer's disease (AD) show a strong link with GABAergic interneuron dysfunctions. The ensemble dynamics of GABAergic interneurons represent memory encoding and retrieval, but how GABAergic interneuron dysfunction affects inhibitory ensemble dynamics in AD is unknown. As the retrosplenial cortex (RSC) is critical for episodic memory and is affected by β-amyloid accumulation in early AD, we address this question by performing Ca imaging in RSC parvalbumin (PV)-expressing interneurons during a contextual fear memory task in healthy control mice and the 5XFAD mouse model of AD.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study examines how facial masculinity and emotional expressions (happiness and anger) influence women's preferences for male faces, as previous findings have been inconsistent.
  • Results indicated that masculinised faces are perceived as angrier, while feminised faces are seen as happier, affecting women's attractiveness judgments.
  • Notably, women showed a preference for less feminisation in happy faces compared to neutral or angry faces, suggesting that a smiling expression can soften the perceived negative response to masculinity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The superficial dorsal horn (SDH) of the spinal cord contains a diverse array of neurons. The vast majority of these are interneurons, most of which are glutamatergic. These can be assigned to several populations, one of which is defined by expression of gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cultural facial expressions dynamically convey emotion category and intensity information.

Curr Biol

January 2024

School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Glasgow, 62 Hillhead Street, Glasgow G12 8QB, Scotland, UK.

Communicating emotional intensity plays a vital ecological role because it provides valuable information about the nature and likelihood of the sender's behavior. For example, attack often follows signals of intense aggression if receivers fail to retreat. Humans regularly use facial expressions to communicate such information.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Previously documented sexual response patterns of gender-specificity among gynephilic men and gender-nonspecificity among gynephilic women could be explained by women responding more strongly to non-gendered aspects of sexual stimuli. Cues of attractiveness are known determinants of sexual decision-making, yet have not been directly tested as determinants of sexual response. The current study investigated the role of attractiveness cues in explaining gender-based patterns of sexual response.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In this issue, Griesius et al report that heterozygous Dlg2+/- rats showed a reversal learning impairment on a specific bowl-digging task, whereas other reversal tasks were unaffected. The study suggests that Dlg2 gene disruption, which has been linked to neuropsychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, may cause relatively specific impairments in reversal learning, an important aspect of cognitive flexibility. The study draws attention to two important issues regarding the neuro-behavioral mechanisms of reversal learning, namely that hippocampal dysfunction, which is prominent in Dlg2+/- rats, may contribute to reversal learning impairments and that, depending on the task and previous experience, brain and behavioral mechanisms of reversal learning may differ.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Children's distinct drive to reproduce costly rituals.

Child Dev

July 2024

Early Cognitive Development Centre, School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Costly rituals are ubiquitous and adaptive. Yet, little is known about how children develop to acquire them. The current study examined children's imitation of costly rituals.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Research on how Parkinson's disease affects patients' ability to navigate their environment is limited, primarily due to the constraints of traditional neuroimaging methods that require stillness, leading to reliance on animal models for understanding motor disorders.
  • Daily life challenges, such as tripping or falling, are significant issues for Parkinson's patients and a major cause of hospitalization.
  • A study using mobile EEG on 14 Parkinson's patients and 17 neurotypical controls found that patients exhibited reduced brain activity in theta and beta frequency bands during obstacle avoidance, indicating difficulties in planning and adapting their movements when facing unexpected challenges.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Reindeer and the quest for Scottish enlichenment.

Iperception

December 2023

School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, UK.

In the hall of animal oddities, the reindeer () is the only mammal with a color-shifting tapetum lucidum and the only ruminant with a lichen-dominated diet. These puzzling traits coexist with yet another enigma--ocular media that transmit up to 60% of ultraviolet (UV) light, enough to excite the cones responsible for color vision. It is unclear why any day-active circum-Arctic mammal would benefit from UV visual sensitivity, but it could improve detection of UV-absorbing lichens against a background of UV-reflecting snows, especially during the extended twilight hours of winter.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Distinct spatiotemporal brainstem pathways of outcome valence during reward- and punishment-based learning.

Cell Rep

December 2023

School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QB, UK; Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QB, UK. Electronic address:

Learning to seek rewards and avoid punishments, based on positive and negative choice outcomes, is essential for human survival. Yet, the neural underpinnings of outcome valence in the human brainstem and the extent to which they differ in reward and punishment learning contexts remain largely elusive. Here, using simultaneously acquired electroencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging data, we show that during reward learning the substantia nigra (SN)/ventral tegmental area (VTA) and locus coeruleus are initially activated following negative outcomes, while the VTA subsequently re-engages exhibiting greater responses for positive than negative outcomes, consistent with an early arousal/avoidance response and a later value-updating process, respectively.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Soccer is a high-speed contact sport with risk of injury. Despite long-standing concern, evidence to date remains inconsistent as to the association between playing professional-level soccer and lifelong musculoskeletal consequences.

Aims: The objectives were to assess risk of osteoarthritis in former professional soccer players compared to matched general population controls, and subsequently assess associated musculoskeletal disorders which may contribute to, or result from, osteoarthritis-specifically meniscal injury and joint replacement.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The evolving spectrum of human African trypanosomiasis.

QJM

June 2024

School of Psychology and Neuroscience, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Wellcome Surgical Institute, Garscube Campus, Glasgow G61 1QH, UK.

Article Synopsis
  • Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), or sleeping sickness, poses a significant health threat in 36 sub-Saharan African countries, affecting up to 60 million people, but recent efforts have led to a dramatic decline in cases.
  • Improved diagnostic methods and treatment options, such as the nifurtimox-eflornithine combination therapy (NECT) and oral fexinidazole, have been developed, enhancing patient outcomes.
  • While the World Health Organization's initial goal of reducing HAT as a public health issue by 2020 has likely been met, achieving the more ambitious target of interrupting transmission by 2030 remains uncertain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Strength of predicted information content in the brain biases decision behavior.

Curr Biol

December 2023

School of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Glasgow, 62 Hillhead Street, Glasgow G12 8QB, UK. Electronic address:

Prediction-for-perception theories suggest that the brain predicts incoming stimuli to facilitate their categorization. However, it remains unknown what the information contents of these predictions are, which hinders mechanistic explanations. This is because typical approaches cast predictions as an underconstrained contrast between two categories-e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF