Building a Science of Animal Minds: Lloyd Morgan, Experimentation, and Morgan’s Canon

Conwy Lloyd Morgan (1852–1936) is widely regarded as the father of modern comparative psychology. Yet, Morgan initially had significant doubts about whether a genuine science of comparative psychology was even possible, only later becoming more optimistic about our ability to make reliable inferences about the mental capacities of non-human animals. There has been a fair amount of disagreement amongst scholars of Morgan’s work about the nature, timing, and causes of this shift in Morgan’s thinking. We argue that Morgan underwent two quite different shifts of attitude towards the proper practice of comparative psychology. The first was a qualified acceptance of the Romanesian approach to comparative psychology that he had initially criticized. The second was a shift away from Romanes’ reliance on systematizing anecdotal evidence of animal intelligence towards an experimental approach, focused on studying the development of behaviour. We emphasize the role of Morgan’s evolving epistemological views in bringing about the first shift – in particular, his philosophy of science. We emphasize the role of an intriguing but overlooked figure in the history of comparative psychology in explaining the second shift, T. Mann Jones, whose correspondence with Morgan provided an important catalyst for Morgan’s experimental turn, particularly the special focus on development. We also shed light on the intended function of Morgan’s Canon, the methodological principle for which Morgan is now mostly known. The Canon can only be properly understood by seeing it in the context of Morgan’s own unique experimental vision for comparative psychology

Soft Sphere Packings at Finite Pressure but Unstable to Shear

When are athermal soft sphere packings jammed ? Any experimentally relevant definition must at the very least require a jammed packing to resist shear. We demonstrate that widely used (numerical) protocols in which particles are compressed together, can and do produce packings which are unstable to shear - and that the probability of generating such packings reaches one near jamming. We introduce a new protocol that, by allowing the system to explore different box shapes as it equilibrates, generates truly jammed packings with strictly positive shear moduli G. For these packings, the scaling of the average of G is consistent with earlier results, while the probability distribution P(G) exhibits novel and rich scalingComment: 5 pages, 6 figures. Resubmitted to Physical Review Letters after a few change

Jamming in finite systems: stability, anisotropy, fluctuations and scaling

Athermal packings of soft repulsive spheres exhibit a sharp jamming transition in the thermodynamic limit. Upon further compression, various structural and mechanical properties display clean power-law behavior over many decades in pressure. As with any phase transition, the rounding of such behavior in finite systems close to the transition plays an important role in understanding the nature of the transition itself. The situation for jamming is surprisingly rich: the assumption that jammed packings are isotropic is only strictly true in the large-size limit, and finite-size has a profound effect on the very meaning of jamming. Here, we provide a comprehensive numerical study of finite-size effects in sphere packings above the jamming transition, focusing on stability as well as the scaling of the contact number and the elastic response.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figure

Evaluating school-based health services to inform future practice: lessons from 'Teen Talk' at Kidbrooke School in Greenwich

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to describe the process and lessons learned from an evaluation of "Teen Talk", a health drop in service at Kidbrooke, a state secondary school in Greenwich. Design/methodology/approach - A multi-pronged approach was adopted for the evaluation. This included a questionnaire survey of a sample of 180 pupils within the school; in-depth discussions with 12 young people who had used the service; interviews with health and education professionals and parents; desk research including an analysis of costs and discussions with senior staff in other schools in Greenwich to determine the feasibility of replicating the "Teen Talk" model elsewhere in the borough. Findings - "Teen Talk" is greatly valued by pupils and staff at the Kidbrooke and was seen to provide a unique service. The overall perception is that it provides good value for money. However, the evaluation identified important lessons in setting up and managing the project which can help refine the service and which have relevance for local and national contexts. Research limitations/implications - This paper illustrates the advantages of embedding evaluation research in health service design and implementation, particularly when there is the potential of replicating service delivery models in other school settings. Originality/value - Creating safe and confidential spaces for young people to access help and advice on a range of health issues is by now well recognized as good practice. School-based health facilities are a relatively new approach to young people's health promotion. Although the benefits of this type of provision are largely undisputed, to date, few such services have been evaluated. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Chromospherically active stars. II. HD 82558, a young single BY Draconis variable.

It is presently noted that the HD 82558 chromospherically active star is a young and rapidly rotating K2 V single BY Draconis variable with very strong far-UV emission features and an H-alpha line filled to the continuum level by emission. HD 82558 has constant velocity and is not a member of the Hyades Supercluster. Its light curve behavior, which appears to have been stable for several hundred rotation cycles, is reminiscent of that of the young, rapidly rotating, single K V variable H II 1883 in the Pleiades; this stability may be characteristic of young, single, chromospherically active stars

Isolation and structural determination of non-racemic tertiary cathinone derivatives

The racemic tertiary cathinones N,N-dimethylcathinone (1), N,N-diethylcathinone (2) and 2-(1-pyrrolidinyl)-propiophenone (3) have been prepared in reasonable yield and characterized using NMR and mass spectroscopy. HPLC indicates that these compounds are isolated as the anticipated racemic mixture. These can then be co-crystallized with (+)-O,O′-di-p-toluoyl-D-tartaric, (+)-O,O′-dibenzoyl-D-tartaric and (−)-O,O′-dibenzoyl-L-tartaric acids giving the single enantiomers S and R respectively of 1, 2 and 3, in the presence of sodium hydroxide through a dynamic kinetic resolution. X-ray structural determination confirmed the enantioselectivity. The free amines could be obtained following basification and extraction. In methanol these are reasonably stable for the period of several hours, and their identity was confirmed by HPLC and CD spectroscopy

Adult Female Fragile X Premutation Carriers Exhibit Age- and CGG Repeat Length-Related Impairments on an Attentionally Based Enumeration Task

The high frequency of the fragile X premutation in the general population and its emerging neurocognitive implications highlight the need to investigate the effects of the premutation on lifespan cognitive development. Until recently, cognitive function in fragile X premutation carriers (fXPCs) was presumed to be unaffected by the mutation. Although as a group fXPCs did not differ from healthy controls (HCs), we show that young adult female fXPCs show subtle age- and significant fragile X mental retardation 1 (FMR1) gene mutation-modulated cognitive function as tested by a basic numerical enumeration task. These results indicate that older women with the premutation and fXPCs with greater CGG repeat lengths were at higher risk for difficulties in the deployment of volitional attention required to count 5–8 items, but spared performance when spatial shifts of attention were minimized to subitize a few (1–3). Results from the current study add to a growing body of evidence that suggests the premutation allele is associated with a subtle phenotype and implies that the cognitive demands necessary for counting are less effectively deployed in female fXPCs compared to HCs

The hippocampi of children with chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome have localized anterior alterations that predict severity of anxiety

BACKGROUND: Individuals with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) have an elevated risk for schizophrenia, which increases with history of childhood anxiety. Altered hippocampal morphology is a common neuroanatomical feature of 22q11.2DS and idiopathic schizophrenia. Relating hippocampal structure in children with 22q11.2DS to anxiety and impaired cognitive ability could lead to hippocampus-based characterization of psychosis-proneness in this at-risk population. METHODS: We measured hippocampal volume using a semiautomated approach on MRIs collected from typically developing children and children with 22q11.2DS. We then analyzed hippocampal morphology with Localized Components Analysis. We tested the modulating roles of diagnostic group, hippocampal volume, sex and age on local hippocampal shape components. Lastly, volume and shape components were tested as covariates of IQ and anxiety. RESULTS: We included 48 typically developing children and 69 children with 22q11.2DS in our study. Hippocampal volume was reduced bilaterally in children with 22q11.2DS, and these children showed greater variation in the shape of the anterior hippocampus than typically developing children. Children with 22q11.2DS had greater inward deformation of the anterior hippocampus than typically developing children. Greater inward deformation of the anterior hippocampus was associated with greater severity of anxiety, specifically fear of physical injury, within the 22q11.2DS group. LIMITATIONS: Shape alterations are not specific to hippocampal subfields. CONCLUSION: Alterations in the structure of the anterior hippocampus likely affect function and may impact limbic circuitry. We suggest these alterations potentially contribute to anxiety symptoms in individuals with 22q11.2DS through modulatory pathways. Altered hippocampal morphology may be uniquely linked to anxiety risk factors for schizophrenia, which could be a powerful neuroanatomical marker of schizophrenia risk and hence protection

Close binary companions of the HAeBe stars LkHa 198, Elias 1, HK Ori and V380 Ori

We present diffraction-limited bispectrum speckle interferometry observations of four well-known Herbig Ae/Be (HAeBe) stars, LkHa 198, Elias 1, HK Ori and V380 Ori. For two of these, LkHa 198 and Elias 1, we present the first unambiguous detection of close companions. The plane of the orbit of the new LkHa 198 companion appears to be significantly inclined to the plane of the circumprimary disk, as inferred from the orientation of the outflow. We show that the Elias 1 companion may be a convective star, and suggest that it could therefore be the true origin of the X-ray emission from this object. In the cases of HK Ori and V380 Ori, we present new measurements of the relative positions of already-known companions, indicating orbital motion. For HK Ori, photometric measurements of the brightness of the individual components in four bands allowed us to decompose the system spectral energy distribution (SED) into the two separate component SEDs. The primary exhibits a strong infrared excess which suggests the presence of circumstellar material, whereas the companion can be modelled as a naked photosphere. The infrared excess of HK Ori A was found to contribute around two thirds of the total emission from this component, suggesting that accretion power contributes significantly to the flux. Submillimetre constraints mean that the circumstellar disk cannot be particularly massive, whilst the near-infrared data indicates a high accretion rate. Either the disk lifetime is very short, or the disk must be seen in an outburst phase.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 22 separate figure file