Perceptual integration of bodily and facial emotion cues in chimpanzees and humans

For highly visual species like primates, facial and bodily emotion expressions play a crucial role in emotion perception. However, most research focuses on facial expressions, while the perception of bodily cues is still poorly understood. Using a novel comparative priming eye-tracking design, we examined whether our close primate relatives, the chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), and humans infer emotions from bodily cues through subsequent perceptual integration with facial expressions. In experiment 1, we primed chimpanzees with videos of bodily movements of unfamiliar conspecifics engaged in social activities of opposite valence (play and fear) against neutral control scenes to examine attentional bias toward succeeding congruent or incongruent facial expressions. In experiment 2, we assessed the same attentional bias in humans yet using stimuli showing unfamiliar humans. In experiment 3, humans watched the chimpanzee stimuli of experiment 1, to examine cross-species emotion perception. Chimpanzees exhibited a persistent fear-related attention bias but did not associate bodily with congruent facial cues. In contrast, humans prioritized conspecifics' congruent facial expressions (matching bodily scenes) over incongruent ones (mismatching). Nevertheless, humans exhibited no congruency effect when viewing chimpanzee stimuli, suggesting difficulty in cross-species emotion perception. These results highlight differences in emotion perception, with humans being greatly affected by fearful and playful bodily cues and chimpanzees being strongly drawn toward fearful expressions, regardless of the preceding bodily priming cue. These data advance our understanding of the evolution of emotion signaling and the presence of distinct perceptual patterns in hominids

Radio haloes in nearby galaxies modelled with 1D cosmic-ray transport using SPINNAKER

We present radio continuum maps of 12 nearby ($D\leq 27~\rm Mpc$), edge-on ($i\geq 76^{\circ}$), late-type spiral galaxies mostly at $1.4$ and 5 GHz, observed with the Australia Telescope Compact Array, Very Large Array, Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope, Effelsberg 100-m and Parkes 64-m telescopes. All galaxies show clear evidence of radio haloes, including the first detection in the Magellanic-type galaxy NGC 55. In 11 galaxies, we find a thin and a thick disc that can be better fitted by exponential rather than Gaussian functions. We fit our SPINNAKER (SPectral INdex Numerical Analysis of K(c)osmic-ray Electron Radio-emission) 1D cosmic-ray transport models to the vertical model profiles of the non-thermal intensity and to the non-thermal radio spectral index in the halo. We simultaneously fit for the advection speed (or diffusion coefficient) and magnetic field scale height. In the thick disc, the magnetic field scale heights range from 2 to 8 kpc with an average across the sample of $3.0\pm 1.7~\rm kpc$; they show no correlation with either star-formation rate (SFR), SFR surface density ($\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$) or rotation speed ($V_{\rm rot}$). The advection speeds range from 100 to $700~\rm km\,s^{-1}$ and display correlations of $V\propto \rm SFR^{0.36\pm 0.06}$ and $V\propto \Sigma_{\rm SFR}^{0.39\pm 0.09}$; they agree remarkably well with the escape velocities ($0.5\leq V/V_{\rm esc}\leq 2$), which can be explained by cosmic-ray driven winds. Radio haloes show the presence of disc winds in galaxies with $\Sigma_{\rm SFR} > 10^{-3}~\rm M_{\odot}\,yr^{-1}\,kpc^{-2}$ that extend over several kpc and are driven by processes related to the distributed star formation in the disc.Comment: 39 pages, 20 colour figures, 10 tables. Accepted by MNRA

Calibrating the relation of low-frequency radio continuum to star formation rate at 1 kpc scale with LOFAR

9 figures, 6 tables and 17 pages. This paper is part of the LOFAR surveys data release 1 and has been accepted for publication in a special edition of A&A that will appear in Feb 2019, volume 622. The catalogues and images from the data release will be publicly available on lofar-surveys.org upon publication of the journal. Reproduced with permission from Astronomy & Astrophysics. © 2018 ESO.Radio continuum (RC) emission in galaxies allows us to measure star formation rates (SFRs) unaffected by extinction due to dust, of which the low-frequency part is uncontaminated from thermal (free-free) emission. We calibrate the conversion from the spatially resolved 140 MHz RC emission to the SFR surface density ($\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$) at 1 kpc scale. We used recent observations of three galaxies (NGC 3184, 4736, and 5055) from the LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey (LoTSS), and archival LOw-Frequency ARray (LOFAR) data of NGC 5194. Maps were created with the facet calibration technique and converted to radio $\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$ maps using the Condon relation. We compared these maps with hybrid $\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$ maps from a combination of GALEX far-ultraviolet and Spitzer 24 $\mu\rm m$ data using plots tracing the relation at $1.2\times 1.2$-kpc$^2$ resolution. The RC emission is smoothed with respect to the hybrid $\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$ owing to the transport of cosmic-ray electrons (CREs). This results in a sublinear relation $(\Sigma_{\rm SFR})_{\rm RC} \propto [(\Sigma_{\rm SFR})_{\rm hyb}]^{a}$, where $a=0.59\pm 0.13$ (140 MHz) and $a=0.75\pm 0.10$ (1365 MHz). Both relations have a scatter of $\sigma = 0.3~\rm dex$. If we restrict ourselves to areas of young CREs ($\alpha > -0.65$; $I_\nu \propto \nu^\alpha$), the relation becomes almost linear at both frequencies with $a\approx 0.9$ and a reduced scatter of $\sigma = 0.2~\rm dex$. We then simulate the effect of CRE transport by convolving the hybrid $\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$ maps with a Gaussian kernel until the RC-SFR relation is linearised; CRE transport lengths are $l=1$-5 kpc. Solving the CRE diffusion equation, we find diffusion coefficients of $D=(0.13$-$1.5) \times 10^{28} \rm cm^2\,s^{-1}$ at 1 GeV. A RC-SFR relation at $1.4$ GHz can be exploited to measure SFRs at redshift $z \approx 10$ using $140$ MHz observations.Peer reviewe

Evidence of joint commitment in great apes’ natural joint actions

Human joint action seems special, as it is grounded in joint commitment—a sense of mutual obligation participants feel towards each other. Comparative research with humans and non-human great apes has typically investigated joint commitment by experimentally interrupting joint actions to study subjects’ resumption strategies. However, such experimental interruptions are human-induced, and thus the question remains of how great apes naturally handle interruptions. Here, we focus on naturally occurring interruptions of joint actions, grooming and play, in bonobos and chimpanzees. Similar to humans, both species frequently resumed interrupted joint actions (and the previous behaviours, like grooming the same body part region or playing the same play type) with their previous partners and at the previous location. Yet, the probability of resumption attempts was unaffected by social bonds or rank. Our data suggest that great apes experience something akin to joint commitment, for which we discuss possible evolutionary origins

Fatigue in Multiple Sclerosis Is Associated With Childhood Adversities

Fatigue is a common and disabling symptom in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (PwMS). Its pathogenesis, however, is still not fully understood. Potential psychological roots, in particular, have received little attention to date. The present study examined the association of childhood adversities, specific trait characteristics, and MS disease characteristics with fatigue symptoms utilizing path analysis. Five hundred and seventy-one PwMS participated in an online survey. Standardized psychometric tools were applied. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) served to assess childhood adversities. Trait variables were alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale; TAS-26) and early maladaptive schemas (Young Schema Questionnaire; YSQ). Current pathology comprised depression (Beck's Depression Inventory FastScreen; BDI-FS) and anxiety symptoms (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; STAI-state), as well as physical disability (Patient determined Disease Steps; PDDS). The Fatigue Scale for Motor and Cognitive Functions (FSMC) was the primary outcome variable measuring fatigue. PwMS displayed high levels of fatigue and depression (mean FSMC score: 72; mean BDI-II score: 18). The final path model revealed that CTQ emotional neglect and emotional abuse remained as the only significant childhood adversity variables associated with fatigue. There were differential associations for the trait variables and current pathology: TAS-26, the YSQ domain impaired autonomy and performance, as well as all current pathology measures had direct effects on fatigue symptoms, accounting for 28.2% of the FSMC variance. Bayesian estimation also revealed indirect effects from the two CTQ subscales on FSMC. The final model fitted the data well, also after a cross-validation check and after replacing the FSMC with the Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire (CFQ). This study suggests an association psychological factors on fatigue in Multiple Sclerosis. Childhood adversities, as well as specific trait characteristics, seem to be associated with current pathology and fatigue symptoms. The article discusses potential implications and limitations

A High-Resolution Radio Continuum Study Of The Dwarf Irregular Galaxy IC 10

We present high-resolution e–MERLIN radio continuum maps of the Dwarf Irregular galaxy IC 10 at 1.5 GHz and 5 GHz. We detect 11 compact sources at 1.5 GHz, 5 of which have complementary detections at 5 GHz. We classify 3 extended sources as compact HII regions within IC 10, 5 sources as contaminating background galaxies and identify 3 sources which require additional observa- tions to classify. We do not expect that any of these 3 sources are Supernova Remnants as they will likely be resolved out at the assumed distance of IC 10 (0.7 Mpc). We correct integrated flux densities of IC 10 from the literature for contamination by unrelated background sources and ob- tain updated flux density measurements of 354 ± 11 mJy at 1.5 GHz and 199 ± 9 mJy at 4.85 GHz. The background contamination does not contribute significantly to the overall radio emission from IC 10, so previous analysis concerning its integrated radio properties remain valid