The Evolution of Primate Short-Term Memory

Short-term memory is implicated in a range of cognitive abilities and is critical for understanding primate cognitive evolution. To investigate the effects of phylogeny, ecology and sociality on short-term memory, we tested the largest and most diverse primate sample to date (421 non-human primates across 41 species) in an experimental delayed-response task. Our results confirm previous findings that longer delays decrease memory performance across species and taxa. Our analyses demonstrate a considerable contribution of phylogeny over ecological and social factors on the distribution of short-term memory performance in primates; closely related species had more similar short-term memory abilities. Overall, individuals in the branch of Hominoidea performed better compared to Cercopithecoidea, who in turn performed above Platyrrhini and Strepsirrhini. Interdependencies between phylogeny and socioecology of a given species presented an obstacle to disentangling the effects of each of these factors on the evolution of short-term memory capacity. However, this study offers an important step forward in understanding the interspecies and individual variation in short-term memory ability by providing the first phylogenetic reconstruction of this trait’s evolutionary history. The dataset constitutes a unique resource for studying the evolution of primate cognition and the role of short-term memory in other cognitive abilities

La gestion optimale des composants défectueux : Case Study

Supply Chain Managemen

Peer presence elicits task-independent changes within and beyond the mentalizing network across children and adults

Abstract There is ample behavioral evidence that others’ mere presence can affect any behavior in human and non-human animals, generally facilitating the expression of mastered responses while impairing the acquisition of novel ones. Much less is known about i) how the brain orchestrates the modulation of such a wide array of behaviors by others’ presence and ii) when these neural underpinnings mature during development. To address these issues, fMRI data were collected in children and adults alternately observed and unobserved by a familiar peer. Subjects performed two tasks. One, numerosity comparison, depends on number-processing brain areas, the other, phonological comparison, on language-processing areas. Consistently with previous behavioral findings, peer observation facilitated both tasks, and children’s improvement was comparable to adults’. Regarding brain activation, we found virtually no evidence of observation-driven changes within the number- or language-related areas specific to each task. Rather, we observed the same task-independent changes for both numerosity and phonological comparisons. This unique neural signature encompassed a large brain network of domain-general areas involved in social cognition, especially mentalizing, attention, and reward. It was also largely shared by children and adults. The one exception was children’s right temporoparietal junction, which failed to show the observation- driven lesser deactivation seen in adults. These findings indicate that social facilitation of some human education-related skills is i) primarily orchestrated by domain-general brain networks, rather than by task-selective substrates, and ii) relatively mature early in the course of education, thus having a protracted impact on academic achievements that may have heretofore been underestimated

Task-independent neural bases of peer presence effect on cognition in children and adults

International audienceThere is ample behavioral evidence that others' mere presence can affect any behavior in human and non-human animals, generally facilitating the expression of mastered responses while impairing the acquisition of novel ones. Much less is known about i) how the brain orchestrates the modulation of such a wide array of behaviors by others' presence and ii) when these neural underpinnings mature during development. To address these issues, fMRI data were collected in children and adults alternately observed and unobserved by a familiar peer. Subjects performed a numerosity comparison task and a phonological comparison task. While the former involves number-processing brain areas, the latter involves language-processing areas. Consistent with previous behavioral findings, adults' and children's performance improved in both tasks when observed by a peer. Across all participants, task-specific brain regions showed no reliable change in activity under peer observation. Rather, we found task-independent changes in domain-general brain regions typically involved in mentalizing, reward, and attention. Bayesian analyses singled out the attention network as the exception to the close child-adult resemblance of peer observation neural substrates. These findings suggest that i) social facilitation of some human education-related skills is primarily orchestrated by domain-general brain networks, rather than by task-selective substrates, and ii) apart from attention, peer presence neural processing is largely mature in children

Post-learning paradoxical sleep deprivation impairs reorganization of limbic and cortical networks associated with consolidation of remote contextual fear memory in mice

International audienc

Villars-les-Dombes - Rue de l’Agriculture: Rapport d’Opération d’Archéologie Préventive

La construction, par l’entreprise SEMCODA SA, de 67 logements et d’un local artisanal à Villars-les-Dombes (Ain)sur les parcelles BR 67 et BR 68, a donné lieu à une opération d’archéologie préventive, réalisée du 2 au 27 février 2015par la société ARCHEODUNUM SAS.Le site, d’une emprise de 1200 m², se situe dans le village actuel de Villars-les-Dombes, en périphérie immédiatedu bourg médiéval. La poype, motte castrale et siège de la seigneurie médiévale des Villars, est située à quelquesdizaines de mètres à l’est du site.La fouille a mis en évidence un espace périurbain occupé du xie au xiiie s., ainsi qu’aux époques modernes et contemporaines.Les occupations médiévales sont caractérisées par des structures agricoles (silos fossoyés), des constructionssur poteaux et des activités de transformation (foyers successifs, scories métalliques, etc.). Ces vestiges témoignent desusages successifs d’un espace périurbain dont la fonction fluctue dans le temps.Le principal vestige de l’occupation médiévale est un important four de tuilier du début du xiiie s. bénéficiant d’unbon état de conservation. Il se présente sous forme d’un four quadrangulaire de 4,30 x 2,50 m, excavé et parementéd’adobe lié à l’argile, accompagné d’une fosse de travail excavée. Les deux fosses sont reliées par un alandier voûté,creusé en sape dans le terrain naturel. Les piles partiellement conservées et les briques issues de l’effondrement du fourpermettent de restituer une sole en briques alternées. La production du four, dont témoignent de nombreux ratés decuisson, est constituée de tuiles canal. Aucune autre structure de l’atelier de tuiliers de Villars n’a pu être mise en évidencedans l’emprise de fouille. Le four lui-même connait un usage limité dans le temps, avant d’être abandonné et devoir sa fosse de travail partiellement recreusée pour servir de mare.L’occupation moderne et contemporaine témoigne de l’extension, tardive, du bourg de Villars-les-Dombes hors deces fortifications médiévales. Ainsi plusieurs bâtiments en pierre, maçonnés au mortier de chaux, ont pu être identifiéspour la fin de la période moderne et le début de la période contemporaine

Cultures populaires I

Longtemps négligées, voire méprisées, les cultures populaires font l’objet d’un regain d’intérêt récent en géographie. Films à grand spectacle, séries télévisées, musiques, chants, jeux vidéo, comics, sports : autant de pratiques culturelles qui aujourd’hui occupent une place incontournable dans les modes de vie et structurent leurs pratiques spatiales. Proposé sur deux volumes, ce numéro thématique de la revue Géographie et cultures rassemble différentes contributions, sur des objets d’études variés, qui ont pour trait commun de prendre au sérieux les pratiques culturelles et les cultures dites « populaires ». Comment structurent-elles les représentations ? Quelle place occupent-elles dans les imaginaires géographiques ? Comment contribuent-elles à la création d’identités spatiales (une ville, un territoire) et sociales (un groupe, une communauté) ? En quoi sont-elles aujourd’hui constitutives de processus d’appropriation de l’espace, et à ce à différentes échelles ? Des bandes dessinées de superhéros musulmans à la culture matérielle domestique, en passant par les séries télévisées et les chants de supporter, ce numéro explore différentes facettes des cultures populaires par des travaux qui interrogent les processus de réappropriation d’éléments culturels, sinon disqualifiés ou délégitimés, du moins peu valorisés voire parfois déclassés, et montrent la fabrique des identités socioculturelles par les pratiques

An app assessing animal welfare through animal-based measures

TIBENA (Terrena animal-based welfare measures for a New Agriculture) is an innovative tool supporting farmers in their animal welfare improvement process. This diagnostic tool, based on the 5 Freedoms, helps identify good practices and possible improvements, through 37 to 80 animal-based welfare indicators (depending on the species). The results are used to discuss many aspects of flock (or herd) management and welfare with the farmer: water and nutrition, comfort, health, stress level and animal behaviour. Construction of the tool began with an exhaustive consultation process: literature review (mainly Welfare Quality) and interviews with scientists and professionals. Then, the trial app was assessed in the field including 20 to 30 commercial farms per species and with an expert committee, until the tool was considered reliable and robust enough to be used on a large commercial scale. Reproducibility interobservers was tested: the results’ similarity correlation is 92.74% (3 observers and 2 farms) in pigs, and 98.1% (4 observers and 3 farms) in broilers. Reproducibility inter-farms is ensured: for each species, farms selected for testing were as different as possible regarding infrastructures and production methods. Technical feasibility was tested by different operators, and scientific validity was monitored until the end with bibliography and experts. By spending about one to three hours observing the animals, TIBENA gives an objective picture of the welfare state at the herd or flock level. Thanks to the clear and illustrated instructions, and the convenience of a smartphone app, anyone can use the tool and obtain a valid result. The app contains recommendations for welfare improvement. The app currently exists for pigs, broilers, rabbits and cattle, and is being developed for other farm species. During the period October 2015-December 2016, the TIBENA app was used on 54 Terrena farms to assess welfare and provide recommendations for improvement. The longer-term goal is to make the app available to the whole industry

Etat d'avancement d'ATOL et notion de robustesse

absen

ManyPrimates: an infrastructure for international collaboration in primate cognition research

Un des objectifs des recherches en cognition chez les primates est de comprendre l'histoire évolutive de leurs capacités cognitives. De grands échantillons provenant d'un large éventail d'espèces sont essentiels pour atteindre ce but. Cependant, la fiabilité des inférences évolutives résultant de ces études souffre souvent d’échantillons réduits, limités à une poignée d’individus et d'espèces. Le projet ManyPrimates propose de surmonter ces limitations en fournissant un cadre collaboratif à grande échelle à l’intention d’études comparatives sur la cognition des primates. S'appuyant sur des initiatives similaires issues d'autres domaines de la psychologie, ce consortium a déjà produit une étude pilote sur la mémoire à court terme regroupant, à ce jour, l'un des échantillons de primates le plus important, i.e. 176 individus, et le plus diversifié, i.e. douze espèces provenant de onze sites différents. D’autres projets sur la mémoire à court terme, mais aussi sur les capacités d’inhibition ou encore l’inférence par exclusion sont en cours, et représentent des opportunités prometteuses pour répondre à des questions encore ouvertes sur l’origine des capacités cognitives des primates. Cet article présente les résultats préliminaires et les perspectives de cet ambitieux projet ainsi que le fonctionnement de cette infrastructure collaborative et les différentes manières d’y contribuer.Research in primate cognition improves our understanding of the evolutionary history of these mental abilities. Large samples from a wide diversity of species are essential to achieve such objectives. However, research on primate cognition usually suffers from very small samples limited to a handful of species, which prevents reliable evolutionary inferences. The ManyPrimates project offers to overcome some of these problems by providing a large-scale collaborative framework for comparative studies on primate cognition. Building on similar initiatives in other areas of psychology, this consortium has already produced a pilot study on short-term memory gathering one of the largest, i.e. 176 individuals, and most diverse, i.e. twelve species from eleven different sites, primate samples to date. Other projects on short-term memory, inhibitory abilities and on inference by exclusion are in progress on large and diverse data sets and represent exciting opportunities to answer still open questions on the origin of the extraordinary cognitive abilities of primates. This paper describes these projects but also the coordination and communication of this collaborative infrastructure and the different ways to contribute to it