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Prunty JE, Jenkins R, Qarooni R, Bindemann M. A cognitive template for human face detection. Cognition 2024; 249:105792. [PMID: 38763070 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105792] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2023] [Revised: 02/05/2024] [Accepted: 04/08/2024] [Indexed: 05/21/2024]
Abstract
Faces are highly informative social stimuli, yet before any information can be accessed, the face must first be detected in the visual field. A detection template that serves this purpose must be able to accommodate the wide variety of face images we encounter, but how this generality could be achieved remains unknown. In this study, we investigate whether statistical averages of previously encountered faces can form the basis of a general face detection template. We provide converging evidence from a range of methods-human similarity judgements and PCA-based image analysis of face averages (Experiment 1-3), human detection behaviour for faces embedded in complex scenes (Experiment 4 and 5), and simulations with a template-matching algorithm (Experiment 6 and 7)-to examine the formation, stability and robustness of statistical image averages as cognitive templates for human face detection. We integrate these findings with existing knowledge of face identification, ensemble coding, and the development of face perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan E Prunty
- Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
| | - Rob Jenkins
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Rana Qarooni
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK
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2
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Engfors LM, Wilmer J, Palermo R, Gignac GE, Germine LT, Jeffery L. Face recognition's practical relevance: Social bonds, not social butterflies. Cognition 2024; 250:105816. [PMID: 38908305 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105816] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2023] [Revised: 12/22/2023] [Accepted: 05/14/2024] [Indexed: 06/24/2024]
Abstract
Research on individual differences in face recognition has provided important foundational insights: their broad range, cognitive specificity, strong heritability, and resilience to change. Elusive, however, has been the key issue of practical relevance: do these individual differences correlate with aspects of life that go beyond the recognition of faces, per se? Though often assumed, especially in social realms, such correlates remain largely theoretical, without empirical support. Here, we investigate an array of potential social correlates of face recognition. We establish social relationship quality as a reproducible correlate. This link generalises across face recognition tasks and across independent samples. In contrast, we detect no robust association with the sheer quantity of social connections, whether measured directly via number of social contacts or indirectly via extraversion-related personality indices. These findings document the existence of a key social correlate of face recognition and provide some of the first evidence to support its practical relevance. At the same time, they challenge the naive assumption that face recognition relates equally to all social outcomes. In contrast, they suggest a focused link of face recognition to the quality, not quantity, of one's social connections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura M Engfors
- Justice and Society, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia; School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
| | - Jeremy Wilmer
- Department of Psychology, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, USA
| | - Romina Palermo
- School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Gilles E Gignac
- School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Laura T Germine
- Institute for Technology in Psychiatry, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Linda Jeffery
- School of Psychological Science, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
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3
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Robertson CE, Shariff A, Van Bavel JJ. Morality in the anthropocene: The perversion of compassion and punishment in the online world. PNAS NEXUS 2024; 3:pgae193. [PMID: 38864008 PMCID: PMC11165651 DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2024] [Accepted: 05/03/2024] [Indexed: 06/13/2024]
Abstract
Although much of human morality evolved in an environment of small group living, almost 6 billion people use the internet in the modern era. We argue that the technological transformation has created an entirely new ecosystem that is often mismatched with our evolved adaptations for social living. We discuss how evolved responses to moral transgressions, such as compassion for victims of transgressions and punishment of transgressors, are disrupted by two main features of the online context. First, the scale of the internet exposes us to an unnaturally large quantity of extreme moral content, causing compassion fatigue and increasing public shaming. Second, the physical and psychological distance between moral actors online can lead to ineffective collective action and virtue signaling. We discuss practical implications of these mismatches and suggest directions for future research on morality in the internet era.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Azim Shariff
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
| | - Jay J Van Bavel
- Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
- Department of Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA
- Department of Strategy & Management, Norwegian School of Economics, Bergen 5045, Norway
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4
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Goodwin ME, Sayette MA. The impact of alcohol on affiliative verbal behavior: A systematic review and meta-analysis. ALCOHOL, CLINICAL & EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH 2024; 48:1000-1021. [PMID: 38740542 DOI: 10.1111/acer.15312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2023] [Revised: 02/27/2024] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Language is a fundamental aspect of human social behavior that is linked to many rewarding social experiences, such as social bonding. Potential effects of alcohol on affiliative language may therefore be an essential feature of alcohol reward and may elucidate pathways through which alcohol is linked to social facilitation. Examinations of alcohol's impact on language content, however, are sparse. Accordingly, this investigation represents the first systematic review and meta-analysis of alcohol's effects on affiliative language. We test the hypothesis that alcohol increases affiliative verbal approach behaviors and discuss future research directions. METHODS PsycInfo and Web of Science were systematically searched in March 2023 according to our preregistered plan. Eligible studies included social alcohol administration experiments in which affiliative verbal language was assessed. We present a random-effects meta-analysis that examines the effect of alcohol compared to control on measures of affiliative verbal behavior. RESULTS Our search identified 16 distinct investigations (comprising 961 participants) that examined the effect of alcohol on affiliative verbal behavior. Studies varied greatly in methods and measures. Meta-analytic results demonstrated that alcohol is modestly associated with increases in affiliative verbal behavior (Hedges' g = 0.164, 95% CI [0.027, 0.301], p = 0.019). Study quality was rated using an adapted version of the Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies and did not significantly moderate alcohol's effects. CONCLUSIONS This study provides preliminary evidence that alcohol can increase affiliative verbal behaviors. This effect may be an important feature of alcohol reward. Given heterogeneity in study features, low study quality ratings, and limited reporting of effect size data, results simultaneously highlight the promise of this research area and the need for more work. Advances in language processing methodologies that could allow future work to systematically expand upon this finding are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madeline E Goodwin
- Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Michael A Sayette
- Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
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5
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Sharma P, Gero S, Payne R, Gruber DF, Rus D, Torralba A, Andreas J. Contextual and combinatorial structure in sperm whale vocalisations. Nat Commun 2024; 15:3617. [PMID: 38714699 PMCID: PMC11076547 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47221-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are highly social mammals that communicate using sequences of clicks called codas. While a subset of codas have been shown to encode information about caller identity, almost everything else about the sperm whale communication system, including its structure and information-carrying capacity, remains unknown. We show that codas exhibit contextual and combinatorial structure. First, we report previously undescribed features of codas that are sensitive to the conversational context in which they occur, and systematically controlled and imitated across whales. We call these rubato and ornamentation. Second, we show that codas form a combinatorial coding system in which rubato and ornamentation combine with two context-independent features we call rhythm and tempo to produce a large inventory of distinguishable codas. Sperm whale vocalisations are more expressive and structured than previously believed, and built from a repertoire comprising nearly an order of magnitude more distinguishable codas. These results show context-sensitive and combinatorial vocalisation can appear in organisms with divergent evolutionary lineage and vocal apparatus.
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Grants
- This analysis was funded by Project CETI via grants from Dalio Philanthropies and Ocean X; Sea Grape Foundation; Virgin Unite, Rosamund Zander/Hansjorg Wyss, Chris Anderson/Jacqueline Novogratz through The Audacious Project: a collaborative funding initiative housed at TED to PS, SG, RP, DFG, DR, AT and JA. Further funding was provided by the J.H.\ and E.V.\ Wade Fund at MIT. Fieldwork for The Dominica Sperm Whale Project was supported by through a FNU fellowship for the Danish Council for Independent Research supplemented by a Sapere Aude Research Talent Award (1325-00047A), a Carlsberg Foundation expedition grant (CF14-0789), two Explorer Grants from the National Geographic Society (WW-218R-17 and NGS-64863R-19), a grant from Focused on Nature, and supplementary grants from the Arizona Center for Nature Conservation, Quarters For Conservation, the Dansk Akustisks Selskab, Oticon Foundation, and the Dansk Tennis Fond all to SG. Further funding was provided by a Discovery and Equipment grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to Hal Whitehead of Dalhousie University and a FNU large frame grant and a Villum Foundation Grant (13273) to Peter Madsen of Aarhus University.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pratyusha Sharma
- Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Project CETI, New York, NY, USA
| | - Shane Gero
- Project CETI, New York, NY, USA
- Department of Biology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6, Canada
- The Dominica Sperm Whale Project, Roseau, Dominica
| | | | - David F Gruber
- Project CETI, New York, NY, USA
- Baruch College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA
| | - Daniela Rus
- Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Project CETI, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Antonio Torralba
- Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Project CETI, New York, NY, USA.
| | - Jacob Andreas
- Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
- Project CETI, New York, NY, USA.
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6
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Stewart PA, Dye RG, Senior C. Laughter and effective presidential leadership: A case study of Ronald Reagan as the 'great communicator'. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0301324. [PMID: 38630665 PMCID: PMC11023438 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301324] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Former United States President Ronald Reagan's use of media and his charismatic connection with viewers earned him the moniker "the great communicator". One aspect of his charisma, the influence of elicited laughter, during a highly critical 5-minute news story by CBS reporter Leslie Stahl during the 1984 US presidential election is examined here. Two experiments examining the effects of audience laughter on perceptions of charismatic leadership are reported. In the first experiment the effects of audience laughter in response to Reagan's comments were investigated. Here, Reagan's perceived warmth as an effective leader significantly diminished when strong laughter is removed, whereas perceptions of competence remained unaffected. The second study carried out on an older cohort replicated and extended the first in a pre-registered design by considering the perception of trait charisma. Here, the presence or absence of audience laughter did not affect judgements of charisma. Additionally, the affective response before, and then after, the presentation of the news story was measured. Emotions associated with a positive appraisal all decreased after being shown the news story while emotions associated negative appraisal all increased. However, only participant anger was significantly increased when audience laughter was removed. Taken together the findings of both studies converge on the fact that subtle changes in media presentation of political leaders can have a significant effect on viewers. The findings show that even after 40 years in office the social psychological effects of presidential charisma can still influence observers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrick A. Stewart
- Department of Political Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, United States of America
| | - Reagan G. Dye
- Department of Political Science, George Washington University, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Carl Senior
- School of Psychology, Aston University, Birmingham, United Kingdom
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7
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Brummelman E, Bos PA, de Boer E, Nevicka B, Sedikides C. Reciprocal self-disclosure makes children feel more loved by their parents in the moment: A proof-of-concept experiment. Dev Sci 2024:e13516. [PMID: 38623917 DOI: 10.1111/desc.13516] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2023] [Revised: 02/20/2024] [Accepted: 03/20/2024] [Indexed: 04/17/2024]
Abstract
Feeling loved by one's parents is critical for children's health and well-being. How can such feelings be fostered? A vital feature of loving interactions is reciprocal self-disclosure, where individuals disclose intimate information about themselves. In a proof-of-concept experiment, we examined whether encouraging reciprocal self-disclosure in parent-child dyads would make children feel more loved during the conversation. Participants were 218 children (ages 8-13, 50% girls, 94% Dutch) and one of their parents (ages 28-56, 62% women, 90% Dutch). Parent-child dyads received a list of 14 questions and took turns asking them each other for 9 min. Dyads were assigned randomly to engage in self-disclosure (questions invoking escalated intimacy) or small talk (questions invoking minimal intimacy). Before and after, children reported how loved they felt by their parent during the conversation. Self-disclosure made children feel more loved during the conversation than did small talk. Compared to small talk, self-disclosure did not instigate conversations that were lengthier or more positive; rather, it instigated conversations that were more emotionally charged (reflecting anger, anxiety, and sadness), social (discussing family and friends), reflective (creating insight), and meaningful (addressing deeply personal topics, including the passing of loved ones). The dyad's gender composition did not significantly moderate these effects. Our research suggests that reciprocal self-disclosure can make children feel more loved in the moment, uncovers linguistic signatures of reciprocal self-disclosure, and offers developmental scientists a tool to examine causal effects of reciprocal self-disclosure in parent-child dyads. Future work should examine long-term effects in everyday parent-child interactions. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: How can parents make children feel more loved by them in the moment? We theorize that these feelings can be cultivated through reciprocal self-disclosure. In a proof-of-concept experiment, we examined effects of reciprocal self-disclosure versus small talk in 218 parent-child dyads, with children aged 8-13. Self-disclosure (vs. small talk) made children feel more loved during the conversation. Linguistically, self-disclosure instigated conversations that were more emotionally charged, social, reflective, and meaningful. This research provides an experimental method to study self-disclosure in parent-child dyads and suggests that self-disclosure can make children feel more loved in the moment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eddie Brummelman
- Research Institute of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Peter A Bos
- Institute of Education and Child Studies, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Eva de Boer
- Research Institute of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Barbara Nevicka
- Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
| | - Constantine Sedikides
- Center for Research on Self and Identity, School of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
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8
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Griebel U, Oller DK. From emotional signals to symbols. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1135288. [PMID: 38629043 PMCID: PMC11020113 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1135288] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2022] [Accepted: 03/13/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
The quest for the origins of language is a diverse enterprise, where research from a variety of disciplines brings area-specific ideas and area-specific terminology to bear. This variety often results in misunderstandings and misconceptions about communication in various species. In the present paper, we argue for focus on emotional systems as the primary motivators for social signals in animals in general. This focus can help resolve discrepancies of interpretation among different areas of inquiry and can illuminate distinctions among different social signals as well as their phylogenetic origins in animals and especially in humans. We advocate, following Jaak Panksepp, a view wherein the Seeking System, the endogenous tendency to search and explore, is the most fundamental emotional motivation. The Seeking System forms the basis for flexible, voluntary, and exploratory control of motor systems and makes much of learning possible. The relative lack of vocal learning and expression in nonhuman primates contrasted with extensive vocal learning and expression in humans began, we propose, with the evolution in ancient hominins of a necessary foundation for the many subsequent capabilities required for language. That foundation was, according to the reasoning, naturally selected in the form of neurological connections between the Seeking System and mechanisms of glottal/phonatory control. The new connections allowed ancient hominins to develop flexible, endogenous vocal fitness signals produced at very high rates and including large numbers of discrete syllables, recombinable to form syllable combinations with many prosodic variations. The increasing sociality of hominins supported evolution of massive expansion in the utilization of these flexible vocal forms to allow development of words and sentences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ulrike Griebel
- School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States
- The Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States
- The Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, Klosterneuburg, Austria
| | - D. Kimbrough Oller
- School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States
- The Institute for Intelligent Systems, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, United States
- The Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, Klosterneuburg, Austria
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9
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Henrich J, Muthukrishna M. What Makes Us Smart? Top Cogn Sci 2024; 16:322-342. [PMID: 37086053 DOI: 10.1111/tops.12656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2022] [Revised: 04/04/2023] [Accepted: 04/05/2023] [Indexed: 04/23/2023]
Abstract
How did humans become clever enough to live in nearly every major ecosystem on earth, create vaccines against deadly plagues, explore the oceans depths, and routinely traverse the globe at 30,000 feet in aluminum tubes while nibbling on roasted almonds? Drawing on recent developments in our understanding of human evolution, we consider what makes us distinctively smarter than other animals. Contrary to conventional wisdom, human brilliance emerges not from our innate brainpower or raw computational capacities, but from the sharing of information in communities and networks over generations. We review how larger, more diverse, and more optimally interconnected networks of minds give rise to faster innovation and how the cognitive products of this cumulative cultural evolutionary process feedback to make us individually "smarter"-in the sense of being better at meeting the challenges and problems posed by our societies and socioecologies. Here, we consider not only how cultural evolution supplies us with "thinking tools" (like counting systems and fractions) but also how it has shaped our ontologies (e.g., do germs and witches exist?) and epistemologies, including our notions of what constitutes a "good reason" or "good evidence" (e.g., are dreams a source of evidence?). Building on this, we consider how cultural evolution has organized and distributed cultural knowledge and cognitive tasks among subpopulations, effectively shifting both thinking and production to the level of the community, population, or network, resulting in collective information processing and group decisions. Cultural evolution can turn mindless mobs into wise crowds by facilitating and constraining cognition through a wide variety of epistemic institutions-political, legal, and scientific. These institutions process information and aid better decision-making by suppressing or encouraging the use of different cultural epistemologies and ontologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph Henrich
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
| | - Michael Muthukrishna
- Department of Psychological and Behavioral Science, London School of Economics and Political Science
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10
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Ni J, Yang J, Ma Y. Social bonding in groups of humans selectively increases inter-status information exchange and prefrontal neural synchronization. PLoS Biol 2024; 22:e3002545. [PMID: 38502637 PMCID: PMC10950240 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2023] [Accepted: 02/12/2024] [Indexed: 03/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Social groups in various social species are organized with hierarchical structures that shape group dynamics and the nature of within-group interactions. In-group social bonding, exemplified by grooming behaviors among animals and collective rituals and team-building activities in human societies, is recognized as a practical adaptive strategy to foster group harmony and stabilize hierarchical structures in both human and nonhuman animal groups. However, the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying the effects of social bonding on hierarchical groups remain largely unexplored. Here, we conducted simultaneous neural recordings on human participants engaged in-group communications within small hierarchical groups (n = 528, organized into 176 three-person groups) to investigate how social bonding influenced hierarchical interactions and neural synchronizations. We differentiated interpersonal interactions between individuals of different (inter-status) or same (intra-status) social status and observed distinct effects of social bonding on inter-status and intra-status interactions. Specifically, social bonding selectively increased frequent and rapid information exchange and prefrontal neural synchronization for inter-status dyads but not intra-status dyads. Furthermore, social bonding facilitated unidirectional neural alignment from group leader to followers, enabling group leaders to predictively align their prefrontal activity with that of followers. These findings provide insights into how social bonding influences hierarchical dynamics and neural synchronization while highlighting the role of social status in shaping the strength and nature of social bonding experiences in human groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun Ni
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Jiaxin Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Yina Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China
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11
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van Boekholt B, Wilkinson R, Pika S. Bodies at play: the role of intercorporeality and bodily affordances in coordinating social play in chimpanzees in the wild. Front Psychol 2024; 14:1206497. [PMID: 38292528 PMCID: PMC10826840 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1206497] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2023] [Accepted: 12/13/2023] [Indexed: 02/01/2024] Open
Abstract
The comparative approach is a crucial method to gain a better understanding of the behavior of living human and nonhuman animals to then draw informed inferences about the behavior of extinct ancestors. One focus has been on disentangling the puzzle of language evolution. Traditionally, studies have predominantly focused on intentionally produced signals in communicative interactions. However, in collaborative and highly dynamic interactions such as play, underlying intentionality is difficult to assess and often interactions are negotiated via body movements rather than signals. This "lack" of signals has led to this dynamic context being widely ignored in comparative studies. The aim of this paper is threefold: First, we will show how comparative research into communication can benefit from taking the intentionality-agnostic standpoint used in conversation analysis. Second, we will introduce the concepts of 'intercorporeality' and 'bodily affordance', and show how they can be applied to the analysis of communicative interactions of nonhuman animals. Third, we will use these concepts to investigate how chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) initiate, end, and maintain 'contact social play'. Our results showed that bodily affordances are able to capture elements of interactions that more traditional approaches failed to describe. Participants made use of bodily affordances to achieve coordinated engagement in contact social play. Additionally, these interactions could display a sequential organization by which one 'move' by a chimpanzee was responded to with an aligning 'move', which allowed for the co-construction of the activity underway. Overall, the present approach innovates on three fronts: First, it allows for the analysis of interactions that are often ignored because they do not fulfil criteria of intentionality, and/or consist of purely body movements. Second, adopting concepts from research on human interaction enables a better comparison of communicative interactions in other animal species without a too narrow focus on intentional signaling only. Third, adopting a stance from interaction research that highlights how practical action can also be communicative, our results show that chimpanzees can communicate through their embodied actions as well as through signaling. With this first step, we hope to inspire new research into dynamic day-to-day interactions involving both "traditional" signals and embodied actions, which, in turn, can provide insights into evolutionary precursors of human language.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bas van Boekholt
- Comparative BioCognition, Institute of Cognitive Science, Osnabück University, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Ray Wilkinson
- Division of Human Communication Sciences, School of Allied Health Professions, Nursing and Midwifery, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | - Simone Pika
- Comparative BioCognition, Institute of Cognitive Science, Osnabück University, Osnabrück, Germany
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12
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Kurokawa S. Disbandment rules that most facilitate the evolution of cooperation. Theor Popul Biol 2023; 154:79-93. [PMID: 37683696 DOI: 10.1016/j.tpb.2023.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2022] [Revised: 07/29/2023] [Accepted: 08/25/2023] [Indexed: 09/10/2023]
Abstract
Cooperation is considered a mysterious phenomenon from the perspective of adaptive evolution. However, if an individual can separate from an unsatisfactory group and join another, then this can facilitate positive assortment between cooperative types and promote the evolution of cooperation. What kind of disbandment rule most facilitates the evolution of cooperation? A previous study investigated exogenous disbandment rules and showed that, when games are played between two players, a rule where heterogeneous groups disband facilitates the evolution of cooperation. However, in groups of more than two individuals, a rule strictly requiring homogeneity applied if and only if the expected number of rounds played in a group was greater than some critical value. How large is the critical value? In this study, we make a mathematical analysis using evolutionary game theory. Our results show that the critical number of rounds increases greatly as the group size increases. Consequently, for species with large group sizes, e.g., Homo sapiens, under plausible parameter values, the strict homogeneity rule is unlikely to facilitate the evolution of cooperation. We find instead that a disbandment rule that requires a threshold level of homogeneity outperformed the strict homogeneity rule. Furthermore, we calculate the position of internal equilibria at which cooperators and defectors coexist and show that the initial evolution of cooperation is most encouraged when cooperators are tolerant (intolerant) of defectors if the benefit-to-cost ratio is large (small).
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Affiliation(s)
- Shun Kurokawa
- School of Knowledge Science, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 1-1 Asahidai, Nomi, Ishikawa 923-1292, Japan.
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13
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Choudhuri A, Saraswat L. Explicating Evolutionary Epistemological Concerns on Gossip and Cyberbullying. Integr Psychol Behav Sci 2023; 57:1331-1353. [PMID: 37097543 DOI: 10.1007/s12124-023-09764-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/22/2023] [Indexed: 04/26/2023]
Abstract
Gossip and bullying have psychosocial concerns and are usually considered as vice, bad, hence, non-virtuous. This paper deals with a plausible modest account for them to be considered not as bad, rather significant behavioral and epistemic tools from evolutionary and epistemological points of view. It adheres to a relationship between gossip and bullying in real (sociobiological-psychological domains) and within cyberspaces. Considering the formation of social relations and orders in reality and virtual platforms, it attempts to understand the issues and advantages gossip poses to societies from a reputational perspective. While evolutionary explanations of complex social behavior are not only difficult, but controversial too, this paper aims to present an evolutionary epistemological perspective to the act of gossiping, to understand the vantage it may have or provide. Usually, gossip and bullying are considered as having a negative connotation, but these are explicated as epistemic access tools for regulation, social order, knowledge gain, and niche construction. Consequently, gossip is showcased as an evolutionary epistemic achievement and virtuous enough to deal with the partly unknown features of the World.
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Wolf W, Tomasello M. A Shared Intentionality Account of Uniquely Human Social Bonding. PERSPECTIVES ON PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2023:17456916231201795. [PMID: 37883801 DOI: 10.1177/17456916231201795] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2023]
Abstract
Many mechanisms of social bonding are common to all primates, but humans seemingly have developed some that are unique to the species. These involve various kinds of interactive experiences-from taking a walk together to having a conversation-whose common feature is the triadic sharing of experience. Current theories of social bonding have no explanation for why humans should have these unique bonding mechanisms. Here we propose a shared intentionality account of uniquely human social bonding. Humans evolved to participate with others in unique forms of cooperative and communicative activities that both depend on and create shared experience. Sharing experience in these activities causes partners to feel closer because it allows them to assess their partner's cooperative competence and motivation toward them and because the shared representations created during such interactions make subsequent cooperative interactions easier and more effective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wouter Wolf
- Department of Developmental Psychology, Utrecht University
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University
| | - Michael Tomasello
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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Acharjee S, Panicker AT. Trust levels in social networks. Heliyon 2023; 9:e19850. [PMID: 37809809 PMCID: PMC10559249 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19850] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2023] [Revised: 08/29/2023] [Accepted: 09/04/2023] [Indexed: 10/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Dunbar's number is the cognitive limit of an individual to maintain stable relationships with others in his network. It is based on the size of the neocortex of the human brain. On the other hand, trust is one of the major issues for one while selecting members for his social network and the evolution of his social network with time. Trust and Dunbar's number are interconnected in the case of one's stable social network. Trust needs time to be built after several social interactions, intimacy, etc. In this paper, we try to provide answers to the following important questions related to social networks: (i) Do trust levels remain the same for individuals from one's perspective in his social network when the network size increases? (ii) What is the relation between the power-law exponent α and the trust cutoff? (iii) Do trust levels help to diffuse information quickly or vice versa to reach Dunbar's number 150 along with hierarchy layers of 5, 15, and 50 individuals in networks of different sizes? We find that there is a requirement for trust levels to increase among the same individuals in one's social network if the size of the network increases. As a relation between the power-law exponent α and the trust cutoff, it is found that α ∝ 1/(trust cutoff). Moreover, we also find that trust levels never help to diffuse information quickly or vice versa to reach Dunbar's number 150, along with hierarchy layers of 5, 15, and 50 individuals in networks of different sizes.
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Aoki K, Takahata N, Oota H, Wakano JY, Feldman MW. Infectious diseases may have arrested the southward advance of microblades in Upper Palaeolithic East Asia. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20231262. [PMID: 37644833 PMCID: PMC10465978 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.1262] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2023] [Accepted: 08/01/2023] [Indexed: 08/31/2023] Open
Abstract
An unsolved archaeological puzzle of the East Asian Upper Palaeolithic is why the southward expansion of an innovative lithic technology represented by microblades stalled at the Qinling-Huaihe Line. It has been suggested that the southward migration of foragers with microblades stopped there, which is consistent with ancient DNA studies showing that populations to the north and south of this line had differentiated genetically by 19 000 years ago. Many infectious pathogens are believed to have been associated with hominins since the Palaeolithic, and zoonotic pathogens in particular are prevalent at lower latitudes, which may have produced a disease barrier. We propose a mathematical model to argue that mortality due to infectious diseases may have arrested the wave-of-advance of the technologically advantaged foragers from the north.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kenichi Aoki
- Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, Hongo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
| | - Naoyuki Takahata
- Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Hayama, Kanagawa 240-0116, Japan
| | - Hiroki Oota
- Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo, Hongo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan
| | - Joe Yuichiro Wakano
- School of Interdisciplinary Mathematical Sciences, Meiji University, Nakano, Tokyo 164-8525, Japan
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Dunbar RIM, Shultz S. Four errors and a fallacy: pitfalls for the unwary in comparative brain analyses. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2023; 98:1278-1309. [PMID: 37001905 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12953] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2022] [Revised: 03/17/2023] [Accepted: 03/17/2023] [Indexed: 04/03/2023]
Abstract
Comparative analyses are the backbone of evolutionary analysis. However, their record in producing a consensus has not always been good. This is especially true of attempts to understand the factors responsible for the evolution of large brains, which have been embroiled in an increasingly polarised debate over the past three decades. We argue that most of these disputes arise from a number of conceptual errors and associated logical fallacies that are the result of a failure to adopt a biological systems-based approach to hypothesis-testing. We identify four principal classes of error: a failure to heed Tinbergen's Four Questions when testing biological hypotheses, misapplying Dobzhansky's Dictum when testing hypotheses of evolutionary adaptation, poorly chosen behavioural proxies for underlying hypotheses, and the use of inappropriate statistical methods. In the interests of progress, we urge a more careful and considered approach to comparative analyses, and the adoption of a broader, rather than a narrower, taxonomic perspective.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robin I M Dunbar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Anna Watts Building, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX2 6GG, UK
| | - Susanne Shultz
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Michael Smith Building, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK
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David-Barrett T. Human group size puzzle: why it is odd that we live in large societies. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:230559. [PMID: 37593705 PMCID: PMC10427830 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.230559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Accepted: 07/21/2023] [Indexed: 08/19/2023]
Abstract
Human groups tend to be much larger than those of non-human primates. This is a puzzle. When ecological factors do not limit primate group size, the problem of coordination creates an upper threshold even when cooperation is guaranteed. This paper offers a model of group coordination towards behavioural synchrony to spell out the mechanics of group size limits, and thus shows why it is odd that humans live in large societies. The findings suggest that many of our species' evolved social behaviours and culturally maintained social technologies emerged as solutions to this problem.
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Duffner LA, DeJong NR, Jansen JFA, Backes WH, de Vugt M, Deckers K, Köhler S. Associations between social health factors, cognitive activity and neurostructural markers for brain health - A systematic literature review and meta-analysis. Ageing Res Rev 2023; 89:101986. [PMID: 37356551 DOI: 10.1016/j.arr.2023.101986] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2022] [Revised: 06/09/2023] [Accepted: 06/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/27/2023]
Abstract
Social health factors (e.g., social activities or social support) and cognitive activity engagement have been associated with dementia risk, but their neural substrates have not been well established. This systematic review and meta-analysis summarizes the available evidence regarding the association between these factors and cerebral macro- and micro-structure. A comprehensive literature search was conducted in various databases, following predefined criteria. Heterogeneity, risk of publication bias and overall certainty of evidence were assessed using standardized scales and, whenever appropriate, random effects meta-analysis was conducted. Of 6715 identified articles, 43 were included. Overall, consistency of findings was low and methodological heterogeneity high for all outcomes. However, in some studies cognitive and social activities were positively associated with total brain, global and cortical grey matter and hippocampal volume as well as white matter microstructural integrity. Furthermore, structural social network characteristics (e.g., social network size) were associated with regional grey matter volumes, while functional social network characteristics (e.g., social support) were additionally associated with total brain volume. Meta-analyses revealed small but significant partial correlations between cognitive and social activities and hippocampal (three studies; n = 892; rz =0.07) and white matter hyperintensity volume (three studies; n = 2934; rz =-0.04). More prospective studies are needed to assess temporal associations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lukas A Duffner
- Alzheimer Centrum Limburg, Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands; School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Nathan R DeJong
- Alzheimer Centrum Limburg, Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands; School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Maastricht University Medical Center+, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Jacobus F A Jansen
- School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Maastricht University Medical Center+, Maastricht, the Netherlands; Department of Electrical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, the Netherlands
| | - Walter H Backes
- School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Maastricht University Medical Center+, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Marjolein de Vugt
- Alzheimer Centrum Limburg, Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands; School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Kay Deckers
- Alzheimer Centrum Limburg, Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands; School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Sebastian Köhler
- Alzheimer Centrum Limburg, Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands; School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
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20
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Goodman JR, Caines A, Foley RA. Shibboleth: An agent-based model of signalling mimicry. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0289333. [PMID: 37523380 PMCID: PMC10389733 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289333] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2022] [Accepted: 07/17/2023] [Indexed: 08/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Mimicry is an essential strategy for exploiting competitors in competitive co-evolutionary relationships. Protection against mimicry may, furthermore, be a driving force in human linguistic diversity: the potential harm caused by failing to detect mimicked group-identity signals may select for high sensitivity to mimicry of honest group members. Here we describe the results of five agent-based models that simulate multi-generational interactions between two groups of individuals: original members of a group with an honest identity signal, and members of an outsider group who mimic that signal, aiming to pass as members of the in-group. The models correspond to the Biblical story of Shibboleth, where a tribe in conflict with another determines tribe affiliation by asking individuals to pronounce the word, 'Shibboleth.' In the story, failure to reproduce the word phonetically resulted in death. Here, we run five different versions of a 'Shibboleth' model: a first, simple version, which evaluates whether a composite variable of mimicry quality and detection quality is a superior predictor to the model's outcome than is cost of detection. The models thereafter evaluate variations on the simple model, incorporating group-level behaviours such as altruistic punishment. Our results suggest that group members' sensitivity to mimicry of the Shibboleth-signal is a better predictor of whether any signal of group identity goes into fixation in the overall population than is the cost of mimicry detection. Thus, the likelihood of being detected as a mimic may be more important than the costs imposed on mimics who are detected. This suggests that theoretical models in biology should place greater emphasis on the likelihood of detection, which does not explicitly entail costs, rather than on the costs to individuals who are detected. From a language learning perspective, the results suggest that admission to group membership through linguistic signals is powered by the ability to imitate and evade detection as an outsider by existing group members.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan R Goodman
- Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
- Darwin College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew Caines
- ALTA Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Robert A Foley
- Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
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21
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Christov-Moore L, Reggente N, Vaccaro A, Schoeller F, Pluimer B, Douglas PK, Iacoboni M, Man K, Damasio A, Kaplan JT. Preventing antisocial robots: A pathway to artificial empathy. Sci Robot 2023; 8:eabq3658. [PMID: 37436969 DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.abq3658] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/14/2023]
Abstract
Given the accelerating powers of artificial intelligence (AI), we must equip artificial agents and robots with empathy to prevent harmful and irreversible decisions. Current approaches to artificial empathy focus on its cognitive or performative processes, overlooking affect, and thus promote sociopathic behaviors. Artificially vulnerable, fully empathic AI is necessary to prevent sociopathic robots and protect human welfare.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonardo Christov-Moore
- Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Brain Research Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies, Santa Monica, CA, USA
- Consciousness Center of Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico
| | - Nicco Reggente
- Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies, Santa Monica, CA, USA
| | - Anthony Vaccaro
- Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Felix Schoeller
- Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies, Santa Monica, CA, USA
- Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Centre, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Brock Pluimer
- Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Pamela K Douglas
- Institute for Simulation and Training, Department of Computer Science, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
- Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Marco Iacoboni
- Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Brain Research Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Kingson Man
- Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Antonio Damasio
- Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Jonas T Kaplan
- Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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Freiler MK, Smith GT. Neuroendocrine mechanisms contributing to the coevolution of sociality and communication. Front Neuroendocrinol 2023; 70:101077. [PMID: 37217079 PMCID: PMC10527162 DOI: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2023.101077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2022] [Revised: 04/19/2023] [Accepted: 05/15/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Communication is inherently social, so signaling systems should evolve with social systems. The 'social complexity hypothesis' posits that social complexity necessitates communicative complexity and is generally supported in vocalizing mammals. This hypothesis, however, has seldom been tested outside the acoustic modality, and comparisons across studies are confounded by varying definitions of complexity. Moreover, proximate mechanisms underlying coevolution of sociality and communication remain largely unexamined. In this review, we argue that to uncover how sociality and communication coevolve, we need to examine variation in the neuroendocrine mechanisms that coregulate social behavior and signal production and perception. Specifically, we focus on steroid hormones, monoamines, and nonapeptides, which modulate both social behavior and sensorimotor circuits and are likely targets of selection during social evolution. Lastly, we highlight weakly electric fishes as an ideal system in which to comparatively address the proximate mechanisms underlying relationships between social and signal diversity in a novel modality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan K Freiler
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States; Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States.
| | - G Troy Smith
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States; Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States
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KÖSE FE. On Language Cognition Relations and Evolution of Language. PSIKIYATRIDE GUNCEL YAKLASIMLAR - CURRENT APPROACHES IN PSYCHIATRY 2023. [DOI: 10.18863/pgy.1130222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/27/2023]
Abstract
One can understand the importance of language with its relation to mental activities such as memory and thinking. Language, a crucial human ability, has long attracted the attention of various theorists and philosophers. Language, by its nature, interacts with many biological, cultural and psychological factors. This article has drawn a general framework by bringing together the views from disciplines such as linguistics, psychology, anthropology, biology and neuroscience. On the one hand, while the theoretical opinions about language are included, on the other hand, language is discussed in the context of the changes we went through by separating from our common ancestor in the evolution process. When dealing with language, it is possible to talk about our differences from animals, the interaction of language with our cognitive processes and its organization in the brain. The views put forward by philosophers such as Plato and Descartes about the relationship between language and cognitions have expanded by Chomsky, Pinker, Dunbar and others on the evolution of language. In this article, evolutionary psychology, which strives to understand language and its relationship with cognitions, is emphasized by combining the data of modern evolutionary biology and cognitive psychology. Language is acquired quickly and without the intense need for learning experiences, thanks to innate schemas, suggests that evolution formed these schemas. According to another view, the influence of the environment and culture gains importance instead of innatism. In addition, different opinions on the evolution of language are briefly discussed. Discussion topics include triggers of language development in evolution. These are related to biological and cultural influences, influences of vocalization and hand gestures on language. When thinking about language and its evolution, it is inevitable to observe and examine cognitive processes and thought. Multidisciplinary studies can also provide important information about the evolution of language while trying to understand the complex relationship between language and cognition.
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Wang J, Zhang J, Lin H, Han Y, Tu J, Nie X. Economic development, weak ties, and depression: Evidence from China. J Affect Disord 2023; 334:246-257. [PMID: 37146909 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.04.097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2023] [Revised: 04/06/2023] [Accepted: 04/24/2023] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Weak ties are becoming mainstream in daily relationships and play an essential role in the improvement of individuals' mental health. Despite growing concerns on depression, inclusion of weak ties is limited. To address the gap, this study empirically shed light on the role of weak ties on individual depression in the context of economic development. METHOD A cross-sectional study was conducted based on 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) with a sample of 16,545 individuals. A moderated mediation model is constructed to evaluate the impact of economic development (GDP) on the degrees of depression, the mediating effect of weak ties, and the moderating effect of residents' residence types (living in urban or rural areas). RESULTS Economic development exerts a significant direct impact on depression (β=-1.027, p<0.001). Weak ties are significantly negatively correlated with depression (β=-0.574, p<0.001), and act as a mediator between economic development and local individual depression. In addition, the residence type plays a moderating role between economic development and weak ties (β=0.193, p<0.001). That is, living in urban areas would introduce the higher the level of weak ties. CONCLUSIONS Higher economic development is largely conducive to alleviating the degrees of depression, weak ties play a mediating role in economic development and depression, and residence types have a positive moderating effect on the economic development and weak ties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiangyan Wang
- School of Statistics and Data Science, Nanjing Audit University, Nanjing 211815, China.
| | - Jiahao Zhang
- School of Statistics and Data Science, Nanjing Audit University, Nanjing 211815, China
| | - Han Lin
- School of Information Engineering, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Public Project Audit, Nanjing Audit University, Nanjing 211815, China.
| | - Yilong Han
- School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
| | - Juan Tu
- Key Laboratory of Modern Acoustics (MOE), School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China.
| | - Xinyu Nie
- Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiaotong University Shanghai 200030, China.
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Fischer R, Hartle L. Effective interventions to reduce loneliness in big cities. Curr Opin Psychiatry 2023; 36:206-212. [PMID: 36728699 DOI: 10.1097/yco.0000000000000844] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW Loneliness is a state of distress or discomfort between the desired and experienced level of connectedness to others. These feelings may be particular salient in urban environments that seemingly offer more opportunities for social contact, highlighting the discrepancy. The topic of loneliness has received increased attention because of its negative impact on mental and physical health combined with concerns of increased loneliness due to lockdowns and social distancing regulations during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. We provide a bibliometric and random-effects meta-analysis of clinical trials published since 2020 and available via PubMed. RECENT FINDINGS Loneliness interventions have predominantly focused on elderly in the community. Adolescents and young adults as a second group at risk have received much less attention. On average across 44 effect sizes studied in 38 trials, interventions show moderate levels of effectiveness but are characterized by high heterogeneity and trials are often underpowered and use low quality designs. Multidimensional interventions show promise for alleviating loneliness, but the intervention context needs greater attention. SUMMARY Scalable and effective interventions for the general population and at-risk groups of loneliness are still scarce. Some promising interventions have been trialled and merit further attention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ronald Fischer
- Institute D'Or for Research and Teaching, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Larissa Hartle
- Institute D'Or for Research and Teaching, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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26
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Andersson C, Czárán T. The transition from animal to human culture-simulating the social protocell hypothesis. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210416. [PMID: 36688383 PMCID: PMC9869448 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0416] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
The origin of human cumulative culture is commonly envisioned as the appearance (some 2.0-2.5 million years ago) of a capacity to faithfully copy the know-how that underpins socially learned traditions. While certainly plausible, this story faces a steep 'startup problem'. For example, it presumes that ape-like early Homo possessed specialized cognitive capabilities for faithful know-how copying and that early toolmaking actually required such a capacity. The social protocell hypothesis provides a leaner story, where cumulative culture may have originated even earlier-as cumulative systems of non-cumulative traditions ('institutions' and 'cultural lifestyles'), via an emergent group-level channel of cultural inheritance. This channel emerges as a side-effect of a specific but in itself unremarkable suite of social group behaviours. It is independent of faithful know-how copying, and an ancestral version is argued to persist in Pan today. Hominin cultural lifestyles would thereby have gained in complexity and sophistication, eventually becoming independent units of selection (socionts) via a cultural evolutionary transition in individuality, abstractly similar to the origin of early cells. We here explore this hypothesis by simulating its basic premises. The model produces the expected behaviour and reveals several additional and non-trivial phenomena as fodder for future work. This article is part of the theme issue 'Human socio-cultural evolution in light of evolutionary transitions'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claes Andersson
- Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Division for Physical Resource Theory, Complex System Group, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden,European Centre for Living Technology, University of Venice Ca’ Foscari, Ca' Bottacin, Dorsoduro 3911, Calle Crosera, 30123 Venice, Italy
| | - Tamás Czárán
- Evolutionary Systems Research Group, ELKH Centre for Ecological Research, Karolina Road 29, H-1113 Budapest, Hungary,Institute of Evolution, ELKH Centre for Ecological Research, Karolina Road 29, H-1113 Budapest, Hungary,ELKH-ELTE Theoretical Biology and Evolutionary Research Group, Eötvös Loránd University, Egyetem tér 1–3, H-1053 Budapest, Hungary
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27
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Xu H, Liu Y, Song B, Yin X, Li X. Local social network structure and promotion effectiveness in social commerce. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & PEOPLE 2023. [DOI: 10.1108/itp-10-2021-0737] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/03/2023]
Abstract
PurposeDrawing on social network and information diffusion theories, the authors study the impact of the structural characteristics of a seller’s local social network on her promotion effectiveness in social commerce.Design/methodology/approachThe authors define a local social network as one formed by a focal seller, her directly connected users and all links among these users. Using data from a large social commerce website in China, the authors build econometric models to investigate how the density, grouping and centralization of local social networks affect the number of likes received by products posted by sellers.FindingsLocal social networks with low density, grouping and centralization are associated with more likes on sellers’ posted products. The negative effects of grouping and centralization are reduced when density is high.Originality/valueThe paper deepens the understanding of the determinants of social commerce success from a network structure perspective. In particular, it draws attention to the role of sellers’ local social networks, forming a foundation for future research on social commerce.
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Natterson-Horowitz B, Aktipis A, Fox M, Gluckman PD, Low FM, Mace R, Read A, Turner PE, Blumstein DT. The future of evolutionary medicine: sparking innovation in biomedicine and public health. FRONTIERS IN SCIENCE 2023; 1:997136. [PMID: 37869257 PMCID: PMC10590274 DOI: 10.3389/fsci.2023.997136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2023]
Abstract
Evolutionary medicine - i.e. the application of insights from evolution and ecology to biomedicine - has tremendous untapped potential to spark transformational innovation in biomedical research, clinical care and public health. Fundamentally, a systematic mapping across the full diversity of life is required to identify animal model systems for disease vulnerability, resistance, and counter-resistance that could lead to novel clinical treatments. Evolutionary dynamics should guide novel therapeutic approaches that target the development of treatment resistance in cancers (e.g., via adaptive or extinction therapy) and antimicrobial resistance (e.g., via innovations in chemistry, antimicrobial usage, and phage therapy). With respect to public health, the insight that many modern human pathologies (e.g., obesity) result from mismatches between the ecologies in which we evolved and our modern environments has important implications for disease prevention. Life-history evolution can also shed important light on patterns of disease burden, for example in reproductive health. Experience during the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has underlined the critical role of evolutionary dynamics (e.g., with respect to virulence and transmissibility) in predicting and managing this and future pandemics, and in using evolutionary principles to understand and address aspects of human behavior that impede biomedical innovation and public health (e.g., unhealthy behaviors and vaccine hesitancy). In conclusion, greater interdisciplinary collaboration is vital to systematically leverage the insight-generating power of evolutionary medicine to better understand, prevent, and treat existing and emerging threats to human, animal, and planetary health.
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Affiliation(s)
- B. Natterson-Horowitz
- Division of Cardiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Athena Aktipis
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States
- Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States
| | - Molly Fox
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Peter D. Gluckman
- Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
- Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Felicia M. Low
- Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Ruth Mace
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Andrew Read
- Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, United States
- Department of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, United States
- Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, United States
| | - Paul E. Turner
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States
- Program in Microbiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States
| | - Daniel T. Blumstein
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
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Horita Y, Yamazaki M. Generalized Trust Rather than Perception of Relational Mobility Correlates with Nominating Close Friends in a Social Network
1. JAPANESE PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2023. [DOI: 10.1111/jpr.12451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/07/2023]
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30
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Neuroendocrine and psychophysiological investigation of the evolutionary roots of gossip. Sci Rep 2023; 13:3117. [PMID: 36813906 PMCID: PMC9946955 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-30126-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2022] [Accepted: 02/16/2023] [Indexed: 02/24/2023] Open
Abstract
This study investigates an evolutionary hypothesis of gossip postulating that in humans it serves a similar function as social grooming in other primates. It examines whether gossip decreases physiological markers of stress and increases markers of positive emotionality and sociability. Dyads of friends (N = 66) recruited at the university, participated in an experiment where they experienced a stressor followed by social interaction (gossip or control task). Individual levels of salivary cortisol and [Formula: see text]-endorphins were assessed at before and after social interactions. Sympathetic activity and parasympathetic activity were monitored throughout the experiment. Individual differences in Tendency and Attitude towards Gossip were investigated as potential covariates. Gossip condition was characterized with increased sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, but did not differ in cortisol or [Formula: see text]-endorphins levels. However, high Tendency to Gossip was associated with decreases in cortisol. Gossip was shown to be more emotionally salient than non-social talk, but the evidence with regard to lowering stress was not sufficient to support an analogy to social grooming.
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31
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Moreton J, Kelly CS, Sandstrom GM. Social support from weak ties: Insight from the literature on minimal social interactions. SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY COMPASS 2023. [DOI: 10.1111/spc3.12729] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Gillian M. Sandstrom
- School of Psychology University of Essex Colchester UK
- University of Sussex Brighton UK
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32
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Unfriending effects: Testing contrasting indirect-effects relationships between exposure to hate speech on political talk via social media unfriending. COMPUTERS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2022.107414] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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33
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Walsh J, Vaida N, Coman A, Fiske ST. Stories in Action. Psychol Sci Public Interest 2022; 23:99-141. [PMID: 37161872 PMCID: PMC10173355 DOI: 10.1177/15291006231161337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
Stories have played a central role in human social and political life for thousands of years. Despite their ubiquity in culture and custom, however, they feature only peripherally in formal government policymaking. Government policy has tended to rely on tools with more predictable responses-incentives, transfers, and prohibitions. We argue that stories can and should feature more centrally in government policymaking. We lay out how stories can make policy more effective, specifying how they complement established policy tools. We provide a working definition of stories' key characteristics, contrasting them with other forms of communication. We trace the evolution of stories from their ancient origins to their role in mediating the impact of modern technologies on society. We then provide an account of the mechanisms underlying stories' impacts on their audiences. We conclude by describing three functions of stories-learning, persuasion, and collective action.
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Affiliation(s)
- James Walsh
- Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University
| | - Naomi Vaida
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University
| | - Alin Coman
- Department of Psychology, Princeton University
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34
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Dunbar RIM. Laughter and its role in the evolution of human social bonding. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20210176. [PMID: 36126664 PMCID: PMC9489299 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
In anthropoid primates, social grooming is the principal mechanism (mediated by the central nervous system endorphin system) that underpins social bonding. However, the time available for social grooming is limited, and this imposes an upper limit on the size of group that can be bonded in this way. I suggest that, when hominins needed to increase the size of their groups beyond the limit that could be bonded by grooming, they co-opted laughter (a modified version of the play vocalization found widely among the catarrhine primates) as a form of chorusing to fill the gap. I show, first, that human laughter both upregulates the brain's endorphin system and increases the sense of bonding between those who laugh together. I then use a reverse engineering approach to model group sizes and grooming time requirements for fossil hominin species to search for pinch points where a phase shift in bonding mechanisms might have occurred. The results suggest that the most likely time for the origin of human-like laughter is the appearance of the genus Homoca 2.5 Ma. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Cracking the laugh code: laughter through the lens of biology, psychology and neuroscience’.
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Affiliation(s)
- R I M Dunbar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK
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35
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Evolution of direct reciprocity in group-structured populations. Sci Rep 2022; 12:18645. [PMID: 36333592 PMCID: PMC9636277 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-23467-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2022] [Accepted: 11/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
People tend to have their social interactions with members of their own community. Such group-structured interactions can have a profound impact on the behaviors that evolve. Group structure affects the way people cooperate, and how they reciprocate each other's cooperative actions. Past work has shown that population structure and reciprocity can both promote the evolution of cooperation. Yet the impact of these mechanisms has been typically studied in isolation. In this work, we study how the two mechanisms interact. Using a game-theoretic model, we explore how people engage in reciprocal cooperation in group-structured populations, compared to well-mixed populations of equal size. In this model, the population is subdivided into groups. Individuals engage in pairwise interactions within groups while they also have chances to imitate strategies outside the groups. To derive analytical results, we focus on two scenarios. In the first scenario, we assume a complete separation of time scales. Mutations are rare compared to between-group comparisons, which themselves are rare compared to within-group comparisons. In the second scenario, there is a partial separation of time scales, where mutations and between-group comparisons occur at a comparable rate. In both scenarios, we find that the effect of population structure depends on the benefit of cooperation. When this benefit is small, group-structured populations are more cooperative. But when the benefit is large, well-mixed populations result in more cooperation. Overall, our results reveal how group structure can sometimes enhance and sometimes suppress the evolution of cooperation.
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Sanz CM, Strait D, Eyana Ayina C, Massamba JM, Ebombi TF, Ndassoba Kialiema S, Ngoteni D, Mbebouti G, Koni Boue DR, Brogan S, Funkhouser JA, Morgan DB. Interspecific interactions between sympatric apes. iScience 2022; 25:105059. [PMID: 36147956 PMCID: PMC9485909 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/12/2022] [Revised: 06/10/2022] [Accepted: 08/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Gorillas reside in sympatry with chimpanzees over the majority of their range. Compiling all known reports of overlap between apes and augmenting these with observations made over twenty years in the Ndoki Forest, we examine the potential predation-related, foraging, and social contexts of interspecific associations between gorillas and chimpanzees. We reveal a greater diversity of interactions than previously recognized, which range from play to lethal aggression. Furthermore, there are indications that interactions between ape species may serve multiple functions. Interactions between gorillas and chimpanzees were most common during foraging activities, but they also overlapped in several other contexts. From a social perspective, we provide evidence of consistent relationships between particular chimpanzee-gorilla dyads. In addition to providing new insights into extant primate community dynamics, the diversity of interactions between apes points to an entirely new field of study in early human origins as early hominins also likely had opportunities to associate. First evidence of social relationships between chimpanzees and gorillas is reported Social ties between chimpanzees and gorillas persisted over years and across contexts Ape species engaged in a wide range of interactions, from play to aggression Coexisting great apes may inform us about interactions between some early hominins
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Affiliation(s)
- Crickette M Sanz
- Department of Anthropology, Washington University in Saint Louis, 1 Brookings Drive, Saint Louis, MO 63130, USA.,Wildlife Conservation Society, Congo Program, B.P. 14537, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo
| | - David Strait
- Department of Anthropology, Washington University in Saint Louis, 1 Brookings Drive, Saint Louis, MO 63130, USA.,Palaeo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, Gauteng, South Africa
| | - Crepin Eyana Ayina
- Wildlife Conservation Society, Congo Program, B.P. 14537, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo
| | - Jean Marie Massamba
- Wildlife Conservation Society, Congo Program, B.P. 14537, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo
| | - Thierry Fabrice Ebombi
- Wildlife Conservation Society, Congo Program, B.P. 14537, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo
| | | | - Delon Ngoteni
- Wildlife Conservation Society, Congo Program, B.P. 14537, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo
| | - Gaeton Mbebouti
- Wildlife Conservation Society, Congo Program, B.P. 14537, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo
| | | | - Sean Brogan
- Wildlife Conservation Society, Congo Program, B.P. 14537, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo
| | - Jake A Funkhouser
- Department of Anthropology, Washington University in Saint Louis, 1 Brookings Drive, Saint Louis, MO 63130, USA
| | - David B Morgan
- Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, Lincoln Park Zoo, 2001 N. Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60614, USA
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37
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Teeth, prenatal growth rates, and the evolution of human-like pregnancy in later Homo. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:e2200689119. [PMID: 36191229 PMCID: PMC9564099 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2200689119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Evidence of how gestational parameters evolved is essential to understanding this fundamental stage of human life. Until now, these data seemed elusive given the skeletal bias of the fossil record. We demonstrate that dentition provides a window into the life of neonates. Teeth begin to form in utero and are intimately associated with gestational development. We measured the molar dentition for 608 catarrhine primates and collected data on prenatal growth rate (PGR) and endocranial volume (ECV) for 19 primate genera from the literature. We found that PGR and ECV are highly correlated (R2 = 0.93, P < 0.001). Additionally, we demonstrated that molar proportions are significantly correlated with PGR (P = 0.004) and log-transformed ECV (P = 0.001). From these correlations, we developed two methods for reconstructing PGR in the fossil record, one using ECV and one using molar proportions. Dental proportions reconstruct hominid ECV (R2 = 0.81, P < 0.001), a result that can be extrapolated to PGR. As teeth dominate fossil assemblages, our findings greatly expand our ability to investigate life history in the fossil record. Fossil ECVs and dental measurements from 13 hominid species both support significantly increasing PGR throughout the terminal Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene, reflecting known evolutionary changes. Together with pelvic and endocranial morphology, reconstructed PGRs indicate the need for increasing maternal energetics during pregnancy over the last 6 million years, reaching a human-like PGR (i.e., more similar to humans than to other extant apes) and ECV in later Homo less than 1 million years ago.
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38
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Damjanovic L, Roberts SGB, Roberts AI. Language as a tool for social bonding: evidence from wild chimpanzee gestural, vocal and bimodal signals. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20210311. [PMID: 35934964 PMCID: PMC9358320 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0311] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2021] [Accepted: 06/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The evolution of language has fascinated anthropologists, psychologists and biologists for centuries, seeking to infer language origins from the communication of primates, our closest living relatives. Capacity for intentional signalling is a key feature of transition to language in our hominin ancestors, facilitating complex social dynamics in complex social groups. However whether vocal, gestural and bimodal signals are differentiated according to intentional use and hence complex sociality has not been studied, making unclear the modality of language evolution. We addressed this question in wild chimpanzees. We found that larger social network size was associated with a larger network of gestural but not vocal or bimodal signals. Response waiting was more common in association with gestures than vocalizations, but elaborations were more common in vocal than gestural or bimodal signals. Overall, chimpanzees were more likely to manage weak social bonds through vocalizations, whereas strong social bonds were managed through gestures and bimodal signals. However, when social bonds were weak, gestures accompanied by response waiting were more likely to elicit approaches than vocalizations accompanied by elaboration, which elicited avoidance. This suggests that gestures were the primary modality of language evolution and that the use of more sophisticated gestural signalling led to evolution of complex social groups of hominin ancestors. This article is part of the theme issue 'Cognition, communication and social bonds in primates'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ljubica Damjanovic
- School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Tom Reilly Building, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK
| | - Sam G. B. Roberts
- School of Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Tom Reilly Building, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK
| | - Anna Ilona Roberts
- Institute of Human Biology and Evolution, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
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39
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Briseño-Jaramillo M, Sosa-López JR, Ramos-Fernández G, Lemasson A. Flexible use of contact calls in a species with high fission-fusion dynamics. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20210309. [PMID: 35934970 PMCID: PMC9358324 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2021] [Accepted: 05/05/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
The 'social complexity hypothesis' posits that complex social systems (which entail high uncertainty) require complex communicative systems (with high vocal flexibility). In species with fission-fusion dynamics, where the fluid composition of temporary subgroups increases the uncertainty with which group members must manage their social relationships, vocal communication must be particularly flexible. This study assessed whether contact call rates vary with caller and audience characteristics in free-living spider monkeys, as well as with fission and fusion events. Adult females and immature individuals called more when in small audience settings, while audience size did not influence adult males. Adults called more when in the presence of the opposite sex, whereas immatures vocalized more in subgroups composed only by females. Females also called more when with their mature sons. We found higher call rates in periods during which fission and fusion events took place than in periods with more stable compositions and when the composition after a fission or fusion event changed from one sex to two sexes. A flexible use of contact calls allows individuals to identify themselves when they join others, particularly if they are members of the opposite sex. This socio-spatial cohesion function reduces the uncertainty about subgroup composition. This article is part of the theme issue 'Cognition, communication and social bonds in primates'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - José Roberto Sosa-López
- Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigación para el Desarrollo Integral Regional Unidad Oaxaca (CIIDIR), Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Oaxaca, México
| | - Gabriel Ramos-Fernández
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Matemáticas Aplicadas y en Sistemas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Oaxaca, México
- Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, México
| | - Alban Lemasson
- Univ Rennes, Normandie Univ, CNRS, Ethologie Animale et Humaine, U.M.R. 6552 - EthoS, Rennes 35000, France
- Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
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40
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Dunbar RIM. Managing the stresses of group-living in the transition to village life. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2022; 4:e40. [PMID: 37588930 PMCID: PMC10426039 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2022.39] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2022] [Revised: 07/16/2022] [Accepted: 08/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022] Open
Abstract
Group living is stressful for all mammals, and these stresses limit the size of their social groups. Humans live in very large groups by mammal standards, so how have they solved this problem? I use homicide rates as an index of within-community stress for humans living in small-scale ethnographic societies, and show that the frequency of homicide increases linearly with living-group size in hunter-gatherers. This is not, however, the case for cultivators living in permanent settlements, where there appears to be a 'glass ceiling' below which homicide rates oscillate. This glass ceiling correlates with the adoption of social institutions that allow tensions to be managed. The results suggest (a) that the transition to a settled lifestyle in the Neolithic may have been more challenging than is usually assumed and (b) that the increases in settlement size that followed the first villages necessitated the introduction of a series of social institutions designed to manage within-community discord.
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Affiliation(s)
- R. I. M. Dunbar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK
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41
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Evolution of cooperation in an n-player game with opting out. Behav Processes 2022; 203:104754. [DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2022.104754] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2022] [Revised: 09/11/2022] [Accepted: 09/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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Baggio JA, Freeman J, Coyle TR, Anderies JM. Harnessing the benefits of diversity to address socio-environmental governance challenges. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0263399. [PMID: 35947612 PMCID: PMC9365146 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2021] [Accepted: 01/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Solving complex problems, from biodiversity conservation to reducing inequality, requires large scale collective action among diverse stakeholders to achieve a common goal. Research relevant to meeting this challenge must model the interaction of stakeholders with diverse cognitive capabilities and the complexity of the problem faced by stakeholders to predict the success of collective action in various contexts. Here, we build a model from first principles of cognitive abilities, diversity, and socio-environmental complexity to identify the sets of conditions under which groups most effectively engage in collective action to solve governance problems. We then fit the model to small groups, U.S. states, and countries. Our model illustrates the fundamental importance of understanding the interaction between cognitive abilities, diversity, and the complexity of socio-environmental challenges faced by stakeholders today. Our results shed light on the ability of groups to solve complex problems and open new avenues of research into the interrelationship between cognition, institutions, and the environments in which they co-evolve.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacopo A. Baggio
- School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, United States of America
- National Center for Integrated Coastal Research, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Jacob Freeman
- Anthropology Program, Utah State University, Logan, UT, United States of America
- The Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, UT, United States of America
| | - Thomas R. Coyle
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States of America
| | - John M. Anderies
- School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States of America
- School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States of America
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McIntyre S, Hauser SC, Kusztor A, Boehme R, Moungou A, Isager PM, Homman L, Novembre G, Nagi SS, Israr A, Lumpkin EA, Abnousi F, Gerling GJ, Olausson H. The Language of Social Touch Is Intuitive and Quantifiable. Psychol Sci 2022; 33:1477-1494. [PMID: 35942875 DOI: 10.1177/09567976211059801] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Touch is a powerful communication tool, but we have a limited understanding of the role played by particular physical features of interpersonal touch communication. In this study, adults living in Sweden performed a task in which messages (attention, love, happiness, calming, sadness, and gratitude) were conveyed by a sender touching the forearm of a receiver, who interpreted the messages. Two experiments (N = 32, N = 20) showed that within close relationships, receivers could identify the intuitive touch expressions of the senders, and we characterized the physical features of the touches associated with successful communication. Facial expressions measured with electromyography varied by message but were uncorrelated with communication performance. We developed standardized touch expressions and quantified the physical features with 3D hand tracking. In two further experiments (N = 20, N = 16), these standardized expressions were conveyed by trained senders and were readily understood by strangers unacquainted with the senders. Thus, the possibility emerges of a standardized, intuitively understood language of social touch.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah McIntyre
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University
| | - Steven C Hauser
- School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Virginia
| | - Anikó Kusztor
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University
| | - Rebecca Boehme
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University
| | - Athanasia Moungou
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University
| | - Peder Mortvedt Isager
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University
| | - Lina Homman
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University
| | - Giovanni Novembre
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University
| | - Saad S Nagi
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University
| | | | - Ellen A Lumpkin
- Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics, Columbia University
| | | | | | - Håkan Olausson
- Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Linköping University
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Paradoxical effects of altruism on efforts to mitigate climate change. Sci Rep 2022; 12:13072. [PMID: 35906481 PMCID: PMC9338031 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-17535-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2022] [Accepted: 07/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
It is common wisdom that altruism is a crucial element in addressing climate change and other public good issues. If individuals care about the welfare of others (including future generations) they can be expected to unilaterally adapt their behaviour to preserve the common good thus enhancing the wellbeing of all. We introduce a network game model featuring both altruism and a public good (e.g. climate) whose degradation affects all players. As expected, in an idealistic fully connected society where all players care about each other, increasing altruism results in a better protection of the public good. However, in more realistic networks where people are not all related to each other, we highlight an intrinsic trade-off between the effects of altruism on reducing inequality and the preservation of a global public good: the consumption redistribution generated by a higher altruism is partly achieved by lowering income transfers towards protection of the public good. Therefore, it increases overall consumption and is thereby detrimental to the public good. These results suggest that altruism, although good from a welfarist point of view, is not in itself sufficient to simultaneously solve public good and inequality issues.
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Narrative as co-regulation: A review of embodied narrative in infant development. Infant Behav Dev 2022; 68:101747. [PMID: 35839557 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2022.101747] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2021] [Revised: 07/01/2022] [Accepted: 07/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
We review evidence of non-verbal, embodied narratives in human infancy to better understand their form and function as generators of common experience, regulation, and learning. We examine their development prior to the onset of language, with a view to improve understanding of narrative as regular motifs or schemas of early experience in both solitary and social engagement. Embodied narratives are composed of regular patterns of interest, arousal, affect, and intention that yield a characteristic four-part structure of (i) introduction, (ii) development, (iii) climax, and (iv) resolution. Made with others these form co-created shared acts of meaning, and are parsed in time with discreet beginnings and endings that allow a regular pattern to frame and give predictive understanding for prospective regulation (especially important within social contexts) that safely returns to baseline again. This characteristic pattern, co-created between infant and adult from the beginning of life, allows the infant to contribute to, and learn, the patterns of its culture. We conclude with a view on commonalities and differences of co-created narrative in non-human primates, and discuss implications of disruption to narrative co-creation for developmental psychopathology.
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Demartsev V, Gersick AS, Jensen FH, Thomas M, Roch MA, Strandburg‐Peshkin A. Signalling in groups: New tools for the integration of animal communication and collective movement. Methods Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.13939] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Vlad Demartsev
- Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior Konstanz Germany
- Department of Biology University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
| | - Andrew S. Gersick
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Princeton University Princeton NJ USA
| | | | - Mara Thomas
- Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior Konstanz Germany
- Department of Biology University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
| | - Marie A. Roch
- Department of Computer Science San Diego State University San Diego CA USA
| | - Ariana Strandburg‐Peshkin
- Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior Konstanz Germany
- Department of Biology University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour University of Konstanz Konstanz Germany
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Clark DR, Tietz MA, Kumar M. Getting to the one: Prioritizing an idea set using preference-based decision-specific heuristics. JOURNAL OF SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 2022. [DOI: 10.1080/00472778.2022.2082454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Daniel R. Clark
- Ivey Business School, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Matthias A. Tietz
- St.Gallen Institute of Management in Asia, University of St.Gallen, Singapore and Switzerland
| | - Maya Kumar
- Department of Entrepreneurship, IE Business School, IE University, Spain
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Chappuis C, Grandjean D. Set the tone: Trustworthy and dominant novel voices classification using explicit judgement and machine learning techniques. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0267432. [PMID: 35767528 PMCID: PMC9242519 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0267432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2021] [Accepted: 04/11/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Prior research has established that valence-trustworthiness and power-dominance are the two main dimensions of voice evaluation at zero-acquaintance. These impressions shape many of our interactions and high-impact decisions, so it is crucial for many domains to understand this dynamic. Yet, the relationship between acoustical properties of novel voices and personality/attitudinal traits attributions remains poorly understood. The fundamental problem of understanding vocal impressions and relative decision-making is linked to the complex nature of the acoustical properties in voices. In order to disentangle this relationship, this study extends the line of research on the acoustical bases of vocal impressions in two ways. First, by attempting to replicate previous finding on the bi-dimensional nature of first impressions: using personality judgements and establishing a correspondence between acoustics and voice-first-impression (VFI) dimensions relative to sex (Study 1). Second (Study 2), by exploring the non-linear relationships between acoustical parameters and VFI by the means of machine learning models. In accordance with literature, a bi-dimensional projection comprising valence-trustworthiness and power-dominance evaluations is found to explain 80% of the VFI. In study 1, brighter (high center of gravity), smoother (low shimmers), and louder (high minimum intensity) voices reflected trustworthiness, while vocal roughness (harmonic to noise-ratio), energy in the high frequencies (Energy3250), pitch (Quantile 1, Quantile 5) and lower range of pitch values reflected dominance. In study 2, above chance classification of vocal profiles was achieved by both Support Vector Machine (77.78%) and Random-Forest (Out-Of-Bag = 36.14) classifiers, generally confirming that machine learning algorithms could predict first impressions from voices. Hence results support a bi-dimensional structure to VFI, emphasize the usefulness of machine learning techniques in understanding vocal impressions, and shed light on the influence of sex on VFI formation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cyrielle Chappuis
- Neuroscience of Emotion and Affective Dynamics Lab, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Didier Grandjean
- Neuroscience of Emotion and Affective Dynamics Lab, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
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Crespi BJ, Flinn MV, Summers K. Runaway Social Selection in Human Evolution. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.894506] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Darwin posited that social competition among conspecifics could be a powerful selective pressure. Alexander proposed a model of human evolution involving a runaway process of social competition based on Darwin’s insight. Here we briefly review Alexander’s logic, and then expand upon his model by elucidating six core arenas of social selection that involve runaway, positive-feedback processes, and that were likely involved in the evolution of the remarkable combination of adaptations in humans. We discuss how these ideas fit with the hypothesis that a key life history innovation that opened the door to runaway social selection, and cumulative culture, during hominin evolution was increased cooperation among individuals in small fission-fusion groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- J. Navarro
- Laboratoire d’Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs (EMC), Bron, France
- Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
| | - P. A. Hancock
- Minds in Technology, Machines in Thought (MIT2) Laboratory, Department of Psychology, and Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA
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