Auswirkungen von Lebensraumzerschneidung auf die Tragkapazität von Gänserastgebieten am Beispiel des Rheiderlandes (Ostfriesland)

Basierend auf zahlreichen Untersuchungen zur Auswirkung von Störungen auf rastende Wildgänse stellen wir die Folgen zunehmender Nutzungsintensivierung und Zerschneidung beispielhaft für das Rheiderland (Niedersachsen) dar. Dazu haben wir mit Hilfe eines Geographischen Informationssystems (GIS) den Verlust an ungestörten Nahrungsflächen für Gänse quantifziert und die Konsequenzen für den Naturschutz dargestellt.Based on numerous studies on disturbance of staging geese we show the impact of increasing fragmentation and disturbance for a study area in the Dollard region. We quantified the loss of undisturbed feeding areas for the geese with a geographic information system (GIS) and discuss the implications for conservation

Estimating survival probabilities from ringing data

Die Ermittlung von Überlebenswahrscheinlichkeiten und Reproduktionsdaten hat eine wachsende Bedeutung als Basis für Populationsmodelle gewonnen. Wir haben Beringungen und Rückmeldungen aus dem Datenbestand der Beringungszentrale Hiddensee und die Ergebnisse aus einer Farbberingungsstudie an 110 Rotkehlchen Erithacus rubecula benutzt, um mit dem Programm MARK für vier häufige Zugvogelarten Überlebenswahrscheinlichkeiten zu schätzen und die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen bei der Nutzung der Datenbank einer Beringungszentrale aufzuzeigen. Es wurden je nach Struktur der Daten entweder Cormack-Jolly-Seber-Modelle (CJS-Modelle) für Wiederfänge und Ringablesungen oder Modelle nach Burnham (1993) für kombinierte Daten aus Totfunden und Wiederfängen verwendet. Für drei Arten konnten wir so plausible Überlebenswahrscheinlichkeiten ermitteln, es gab aber deutliche Unterschiede in der Präzision je nach Vogelart sowie verwendeter Datengrundlage. Bei Fang-Wiederfang-Daten beeinflusste nicht zu modellierende Abwanderung die Ergebnisse für mindestens eine Altersklasse, d. h. wenigstens ein Parameter konnte nicht geschätzt werden. Zudem waren eine ausreichend hohe Wiederfundwahrscheinlichkeit sowie eine vollständige Meldung der Wiederfänge wichtige Voraussetzungen für zuverlässige Ergebnisse. Sie wurden hier durch eine Vorauswahl von Datensätzen aus Gebieten mit mehrjähriger intensiver Fangaktivität erreicht. Kombinierte Modelle aus Totfunden und Wiederfängen waren leichter auf den vollständigen Datenbestand der Beringungszentrale und für alle Altersklassen anwendbar. Bei auf dem Zug oder im Winterquartier stark bejagten Arten, für die genügend Totfunde vorliegen, wurden so brauchbare Ergebnisse erzielt. Daten aus dem Fang von Durchzüglern enthielten teilweise zu wenig verwertbare Rückmeldungen, auch wenn jährlich große Mengen von Vögeln beringt werden („Registrierfang“).Estimates of survival probabilities and reproduction in bird populations are of increasing importance for population modelling. We used the free software MARK with data from the Hiddensee ringing scheme and a local colour ringing study on 110 Robins Erithacus rubecula to estimate survival probabilities for four common passerine birds. Depending on the type of data available, we used Cormack-Jolly-Seber models for live recaptures or resightings and models after Burnham (1993) for a combination of recaptures and recoveries. Three species gave plausible survival estimates which varied in precision according to species and data. For live recaptures or resightings, emigration affected the results for at least one age-class, i. e. one parameter could not be estimated reliably. Cormack-Jolly-Seber models also required sufficiently high probabilities for recaptures or resightings which were achieved by selecting data from study areas with intensive multi-year ringing and reporting of own recaptures. Combined models after Burnham could estimate survival for all age-classes from the entire data for a species without previous selection. Survival is readily estimable in species which are hunted on migration as long as recoveries are reported. Data from ringing of migrating birds at stopover sites may lack sufficient numbers of recaptures or recoveries even if large numbers were ringed each year

Your Error’s Got me Feeling – How Empathy Relates to the Electrophysiological Correlates of Performance Monitoring

The error-related and feedback-related negativities (ERN and FRN) represent negative event-related potentials associated with the processing of errors and (negative) response outcomes. The neuronal source of these components is considered to be in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Monitoring one’s own behavior and the impact it may have on other people or observing other individuals perform and receive feedback for their actions may also engage empathy-related processes. Empathy is conceived of as a multifaceted construct involving both cognitive and affective components, partly also supported by the ACC. The present mini-review aims to summarize the sparse database linking the electrophysiological correlates of performance monitoring to empathy. While most studies so far provide largely indirect evidence for such an association – e.g., by pointing toward altered ERN/FRN signaling in populations characterized by deviations in empathic responding – fewer investigations establish more explicit links between the two concepts. The relationship between state and, less consistently, trait measures of empathy and action monitoring might be more pronounced for observational than for active participation

Electrophysiological correlates of error monitoring and feedback processing in second language learning

Humans monitor their behavior to optimize performance, which presumably relies on stable representations of correct responses. During second language (L2) learning, however, stable representations have yet to be formed while knowledge of the first language (L1) can interfere with learning, which in some cases results in persistent errors. In order to examine how correct L2 representations are stabilized, this study examined performance monitoring in the learning process of second language learners for a feature that conflicts with their first language. Using EEG, we investigated if L2 learners in a feedback-guided word gender assignment task showed signs of error detection in the form of an error-related negativity (ERN) before and after receiving feedback, and how feedback is processed. The results indicated that initially, response-locked negativities for correct (CRN) and incorrect (ERN) responses were of similar size, showing a lack of internal error detection when L2 representations are unstable. As behavioral performance improved following feedback, the ERN became larger than the CRN, pointing to the first signs of successful error detection. Additionally, we observed a second negativity following the ERN/CRN components, the amplitude of which followed a similar pattern as the previous negativities. Feedback-locked data indicated robust FRN and P300 effects in response to negative feedback across different rounds, demonstrating that feedback remained important in order to update memory representations during learning. We thus show that initially, L2 representations may often not be stable enough to warrant successful error monitoring, but can be stabilized through repeated feedback, which means that the brain is able to overcome L1 interference, and can learn to detect errors internally after a short training session. The results contribute a different perspective to the discussion on changes in ERN and FRN components in relation to learning, by extending the investigation of these effects to the language learning domain. Furthermore, these findings provide a further characterization of the online learning process of L2 learners

Non-Homomorphic Key Blinding from Symmetric Primitives

Key Blinding Signature Schemes allow to derive so-called blinded keys from public keys, which can be used to verify signatures created with the secret key. At the same time, neither the blinded keys nor their signatures disclose from which public key they were derived, effectively implementing pseudonyms for one’s identity. In search of conservative schemes, we deviate from the homomorphism- based re-randomization approach in favor of a novel proof of knowledge- based approach. To authenticate a message, a signer proves that they know an original keypair and a valid way to commit to the corresponding verification key to derive a given blinded key. We provide a framework for such constructions and indicate how MPC-friendly block ciphers and one-way functions may be used for efficient instantiations. While the general framework’s security arguments are stated in the random oracle model, we show a natural instantiation approach whose security can be based on collision-resistance and pseudorandomness instead. The result is the first standard model construction of key blinding. Using our framework, we identify a shortcoming in the usual definition of unlinkability for key blinding signature schemes, which we rectify by considering an additional notion called targeted unlinkability

Illusion of control affects ERP amplitude reductions for auditory outcomes of self-generated actions.

AbstractThe reduction of neural responses to self‐generated stimuli compared to external stimuli is thought to result from the matching of motor‐based sensory predictions and sensory reafferences and to serve the identification of changes in the environment as caused by oneself. The amplitude of the auditory event‐related potential (ERP) component N1 seems to closely reflect this matching process, while the later positive component (P2/ P3a) has been associated with judgments of agency, which are also sensitive to contextual top‐down information. In this study, we examined the effect of perceived control over sound production on the processing of self‐generated and external stimuli, as reflected in these components. We used a new version of a classic two‐button choice task to induce different degrees of the illusion of control (IoC) and recorded ERPs for the processing of self‐generated and external sounds in a subsequent task. N1 amplitudes were reduced for self‐generated compared to external sounds, but not significantly affected by IoC. P2/3a amplitudes were affected by IoC: We found reduced P2/3a amplitudes after a high compared to a low IoC induction training, but only for self‐generated, not for external sounds. These findings suggest that prior contextual belief information induced by an IoC affects later processing as reflected in the P2/P3a, possibly for the formation of agency judgments, while early processing reflecting motor‐based predictions is not affected

Coercive and legitimate authority impact tax honesty:Evidence from behavioral and ERP experiments

Cooperation in social systems such as tax honesty is of central importance in our modern societies. However, we know little about cognitive and neural processes driving decisions to evade or pay taxes. This study focuses on the impact of perceived tax authority and examines the mental chronometry mirrored in ERP data allowing a deeper understanding about why humans cooperate in tax systems. We experimentally manipulated coercive and legitimate authority and studied its impact on cooperation and underlying cognitive (experiment 1, 2) and neuronal (experiment 2) processes. Experiment 1 showed that in a condition of coercive authority, tax payments are lower, decisions are faster and participants report more rational reasoning and enforced compliance, however, less voluntary cooperation than in a condition of legitimate authority. Experiment 2 confirmed most results, but did not find a difference in payments or self-reported rational reasoning. Moreover, legitimate authority led to heightened cognitive control (expressed by increased MFN amplitudes) and disrupted attention processing (expressed by decreased P300 amplitudes) compared to coercive authority. To conclude, the neuronal data surprisingly revealed that legitimate authority may led to higher decision conflict and thus to higher cognitive demands in tax decisions than coercive authority.Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [24863-G1]; Austrian Economic Chamber (WKO)SCI(E)SSCIARTICLE71108-11171

Separate and overlapping functional roles for efference copies in the human thalamus

How the perception of space is generated from the multiple maps in the brain is still an unsolved mystery in neuroscience. A neural pathway ascending from the superior colliculus through the medio-dorsal (MD) nucleus of thalamus to the frontal eye field has been identified in monkeys that conveys efference copy information about the metrics of upcoming eye movements. Information sent through this pathway stabilizes vision across saccades. We investigated whether this motor plan information might also shape spatial perception even when no saccades are performed. We studied patients with medial or lateral thalamic lesions (likely involving either the MD or the ventrolateral (VL) nuclei). Patients performed a double-step task testing motor updating, a trans-saccadic localization task testing visual updating, and a localization task during fixation testing a general role of motor signals for visual space in the absence of eye movements. Single patients with medial or lateral thalamic lesions showed deficits in the double-step task, reflecting insufficient transfer of efference copy. However, only a patient with a medial lesion showed impaired performance in the trans-saccadic localization task, suggesting that different types of efference copies contribute to motor and visual updating. During fixation, the MD patient localized stationary stimuli more accurately than healthy controls, suggesting that patients compensate the deficit in visual prediction of saccades - induced by the thalamic lesion - by relying on stationary visual references. We conclude that partially separable efference copy signals contribute to motor and visual stability in company of purely visual signals that are equally effective in supporting trans-saccadic perception