Emotional engagements predict and enhance social cognition in young chimpanzees

Social cognition in infancy is evident in coordinated triadic engagements, that is, infants attending jointly with social partners and objects. Current evolutionary theories of primate social cognition tend to highlight species differences in cognition based on human-unique cooperative motives. We consider a developmental model in which engagement experiences produce differential outcomes. We conducted a 10-year-long study in which two groups of laboratory-raised chimpanzee infants were given quantifiably different engagement experiences. Joint attention, cooperativeness, affect, and different levels of cognition were measured in 5- to 12-month-old chimpanzees, and compared to outcomes derived from a normative human database. We found that joint attention skills significantly improved across development for all infants, but by 12 months, the humans significantly surpassed the chimpanzees. We found that cooperativeness was stable in the humans, but by 12 months, the chimpanzee group given enriched engagement experiences significantly surpassed the humans. Past engagement experiences and concurrent affect were significant unique predictors of both joint attention and cooperativeness in 5- to 12-month-old chimpanzees. When engagement experiences and concurrent affect were statistically controlled, joint attention and cooperation were not associated. We explain differential social cognition outcomes in terms of the significant influences of previous engagement experiences and affect, in addition to cognition. Our study highlights developmental processes that underpin the emergence of social cognition in support of evolutionary continuity

Feeding of Triportheus angulatus (Spix & Agassiz, 1829) in the Camaleão lake, Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil

Periodical flooding cause strong modifications in Central Amazonian floodplain. Periodical rising and decreasing of the water level influences abiotic and biotic factors of the aquatic environments. During the flooding season, there is a high feed availability, in contrast with dry season in which feed availability is at the lowest level. Limnological parameters also change seasonally. Oxygen concentrations vary both daily and seasonally, sometimes even showing hypoxic conditions. Despite these alterations, floodplain lakes are inhabited by several fish species, having the most diverse and abundant fish fauna among the Amazonian environments. This study focused on Triportheus angulatus feeding in temporal distribution in order to understand the influences of hydrological changes on individual size, diet composition and feeding even in low oxygen concentrations. In rising waters season, small individuals are predominant while the decreasing and the dry seasons there are mostly larger ones. There is a seasonal change on diet composition and this is related to feed type that is more available: during the rising, fishes eat mainly insects and zooplankton; in the flood season and drying season, seeds and fruits are predominant, and at the dry season they eat mainly insects. Feed ingestion was higher in the rising waters and mostly in the flood, and it was lower in the drying season. Feeding activity was not related with oxygen concentrations.As inundações periódicas na Amazônia Central causam profundas modificações no meio ambiente. A alternância dos períodos de cheias e secas tem influência nos fatores bióticos e abióticos do meio aquático. Na enchente e na cheia é alta a oferta de alimentos, ampliando o espectro alimentar que é restrito na seca. As variáveis limnológicas também sofrem modificações. As concentrações de oxigênio têm variações sazonais e diárias, às vezes com períodos de hipoxia. Apesar dessas alterações, os lagos de várzea são habitados por muitas espécies de peixes e estão entre os ambientes de maior abundância e riqueza de peixes na Amazônia. A distribuição temporal e a alimentação de Triportheus angulatus (Spix & Agassiz, 1829) foi estudada em um lago de várzea da Amazônia Central para entender a influência das modificações hídricas sobre o tamanho dos indivíduos, a composição da dieta e a ingestão dos alimentos mesmo em condições de baixas concentrações de oxigênio. Na enchente predominam os indivíduos menores, enquanto que na cheia, vazante e seca os maiores. Houve mudança sazonal na composição da dieta que foi relacionada com a disponibilidade de alimentos no ambientena enchente os peixes ingerem principalmente insetos e zooplâncton; na cheia e vazante frutos e sementes, e na seca insetos. O consumo de alimento foi alto na enchente e cheia, decrescendo na vazante e atingindo as menores quantidades na seca. A atividade alimentar, no período estudado, não foi influenciada pelas baixas concentrações de oxigênio existentes no lago

Heart rate and heart rate variability as outcomes and longitudinal moderators of treatment for pain across follow-up in Veterans with Gulf War illness

Aims Accumulating evidence suggests Gulf War illness (GWI) is characterised by autonomic nervous system dysfunction (higher heart rate [HR], lower heart rate variability [HRV]). Yoga – an ancient mind-body practice combining mindfulness, breathwork, and physical postures – is proposed to improve autonomic dysfunction yet this remains untested in GWI. We aimed to determine (i) whether HR and HRV improve among Veterans with GWI receiving either yoga or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for pain; and (ii) whether baseline autonomic functioning predicts treatment-related pain outcomes across follow-up. Main methods We present secondary analyses of 24-hour ambulatory cardiac data (mean HR, square root of the mean squared differences between successive R-R intervals [RMSSD], high frequency power [HF-HFV], and low-to-high frequency ratio [LF/HF] extracted from a 5-min window during the first hour of sleep) from our randomised controlled trial of yoga versus CBT for pain among Veterans with GWI (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02378025; N = 75). Key findings Veterans who received CBT tended towards higher mean HR at end-of-treatment. Better autonomic function (lower mean HR, higher RMSSD/HF-HRV) at baseline predicted greater reductions in pain across follow-up, regardless of treatment group. Better baseline autonomic function (mid-range-to-high RMSSD/HF-HRV) also predicted greater pain reductions with yoga, while worse baseline autonomic function (higher mean HR, lower RMSSD/HF-HRV) predicted greater pain reductions with CBT. Significance To our knowledge, this is the first study to suggest that among Veterans with GWI, HR may increase with CBT yet remain stable with yoga. Furthermore, HR and HRV moderated pain outcome across follow-up for yoga and CBT

Using the HOME Inventory with Infants in Costa Rica

This study determined the psychometric properties of the HOME (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment) Inventory in a Latin American sample. HOME data for 183 healthy Costa Rican infants were compared to the original HOME standardisation sample from Little Rock. The Costa Rican total HOME average of 29.8 ± 6.7 was similar to the scores of families in Little Rock (mean = 31.2 ± 7.3). Measures or internal consistency and factor structure were similar in US and Costa Rican samples. In contrast to these similarities, Costa Rican HOME scores showed no significant correlation with developmental test scores in infancy (Bayley MDI), and the correlation with Full Scale IQ (WPPSI) at five years was modest, albeit statistically significant (r = 0.28, P < 0.05). These relationships were similar to those of Mexican-American children in a recent collaborative study by Bradley et al., 1989 and not as strong as for US white and black populations. However, when the concept of outcome was broadened beyond IQ scores to include child health and development in general, the HOME seemed sensitive to important environmental differences in this Costa Rican group. Lower HOME scores related to a shorter duration of breastfeeding and differentiated children with iron deficiency anaemia in infancy, a condition associated with long-lasting developmental disadvantage. Thus, the HOME was helpful in identifying children at risk for delayed development in this Latin American sample.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67767/2/10.1177_016502549501800206.pd