Female face preference in 4-month-olds: The importance of hairline

At 3–4 months of age, infants respond to gender information in human faces. Specifically, young infants display a visual preference toward female over male faces. In three experiments, using a visual preference task, we investigated the role of hairline information in this bias. In Experiment 1, we presented male and female composite faces with similar hairstyles to 4-month-olds and observed a preference for female faces. In Experiment 2, the faces were presented, but in this instance, without hairline cues, and the preference was eliminated. In Experiment 3, using the same cropping to eliminate hairline cues, but with feminized female faces and masculinized male faces, infants’ preference toward female faces was still not in evidence. The findings show that hairline information is important in young infants’ preferential orientation toward female face

Seeing two faces together: preference formation in humans and rhesus macaques

Humans, great apes and old world monkeys show selective attention to faces depending on conspecificity, familiarity, and social status supporting the view that primates share similar face processing mechanisms. Although many studies have been done on face scanning strategy in monkeys and humans, the mechanisms influencing viewing preference have received little attention. To determine how face categories influence viewing preference in humans and rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), we performed two eye-tracking experiments using a visual preference task whereby pairs of faces from different species were presented simultaneously. The results indicated that viewing time was significantly influenced by the pairing of the face categories. Humans showed a strong bias towards an own-race face in an Asian–Caucasian condition. Rhesus macaques directed more attention towards non-human primate faces when they were paired with human faces, regardless of the species. When rhesus faces were paired with faces from Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) or chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), the novel species’ faces attracted more attention. These results indicate that monkeys’ viewing preferences, as assessed by a visual preference task, are modulated by several factors, species and dominance being the most influential

Foraging distribution of breeding northern fulmars is predicted by commercial fisheries

Acknowledgements. J.H.D. was funded by the Irish Re- search Council Enterprise Partnership Scheme, supported by the Petroleum Infrastructure Program. Field work on Lit- tle Saltee in 2018 and 2019 and S.d.G. were funded by the BlueFish project, funded by the European Regional Devel- opment fund through the Ireland Wales Co-operation Pro- gramme 2014−2020. Fieldwork on Eynhallow and St. Kilda was supported by Orkney Islands Council, the University of Aberdeen, the National Trust for Scotland and Talisman Energy (UK) Ltd. E.W.J.E. was funded by a Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland and University of Aberdeen studentship. Fieldwork elsewhere was funded by the EU Atlantic area INTERREG program via the Future of the Atlantic Marine Environment (FAME) project and by the RSPB, JNCC, Fair Isle Bird Observatory Trust and Marine Scotland, through the Seabird Tracking And Research (STAR) project. We are grateful for field assistance from Ash Bennison, Cian Luck, Yvan Satge, Juliet Lamb, Chris Bell, Mara Nydegger, Robert Hughes, Elizabeth Mackley, Richard Bufton, Jenni Border, Derren Fox, Tegan Newman, Daisy Burnell, Antoine Grissott and Chris Taylor. Marine Scotland Science and the Marine Institute provided access to anony- mized VMS data. G.E.A. was funded by the MarPAMM pro- ject supported by the EU INTERREG VA Programme, man- aged by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB). The views and opinions expressed in this manuscript do not nec- essarily reflect those of the European Commission or the SEUPB. Go raibh míle maith agaibh, Pat and Liezel of Little Saltee for their outstanding support and hospitality.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Other-Race Effect Develops During Infancy: Evidence of Perceptual Narrowing

Experience plays a crucial role in the development of face processing. In the study reported here, we investigated how faces observed within the visual environment affect the development of the face-processing system during the 1st year of life. We assessed 3-, 6-, and 9-month-old Caucasian infants’ ability to discriminate faces within their own racial group and within three otherrace groups (African, Middle Eastern, and Chinese). The 3-month-old infants demonstrated recognition in all conditions, the 6-month-old infants were able to recognize Caucasian and Chinese faces only, and the 9-month-old infants’ recognition was restricted to own-race faces. The pattern of preferences indicates that the other-race effect is emerging by 6 months of age and is present at 9 months of age. The findings suggest that facial input from the infant’s visual environment is crucial for shaping the face-processing system early in infancy, resulting in differential recognition accuracy for faces of different races in adulthood

Association of cerebrospinal fluid Aβ42 with A2M gene in cognitively normal subjects

Low cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Aβ42 levels correlate with increased brain Aβ deposition in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), which suggests a disruption in the degradation and clearance of Aβ from the brain. In addition, APOE ε4 carriers have lower CSF Aβ42 levels than non-carriers. The hypothesis of this investigation was that CSF Aβ42 levels correlate with regulatory region variation in genes that are biologically associated with degradation or clearance of Aβ from the brain. CSF Aβ42 levels were tested for associations with Aβ degradation and clearance genes and APOE ε4. Twenty-four SNPs located within the 5′ and 3′ regions of 12 genes were analyzed. The study sample consisted of 99 AD patients and 168 cognitively normal control subjects. CSF Aβ42 levels were associated with APOE ε4 status in controls but not in AD patientsA2M regulatory region SNPs were also associated with CSF Aβ42 levels in controls, but not in AD patients, even after adjusting for APOE ε4. These results suggest that genetic variation within the A2M gene influences CSF Aβ42 levels

Star polymers reduce IAPP toxicity via accelerated amyloid aggregation

Protein aggregation into amyloid fibrils is a ubiquitous phenomenon across the spectrum of neurodegenerative disorders and type 2 diabetes. A common strategy against amyloidogenesis is to minimize the populations of toxic oligomers and protofibrils by inhibiting protein aggregation with small molecules or nanoparticles. However, melanin synthesis in nature is realized by accelerated protein fibrillation to circumvent accumulation of toxic intermediates. Accordingly, we designed and demonstrated the use of star-shaped poly(2-hydroxyethyl acrylate) (PHEA) nanostructures for promoting the aggregation while ameliorating the toxicity of human islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP), the peptide involved in glycemic control and the pathology of type 2 diabetes. The binding of PHEA elevated the beta-sheet content in IAPP aggregates while rendered a new morphology of ‘stelliform’ amyloids originating from the polymers. Atomistic molecular dynamics simulations revealed that the PHEA arms served as rod-like scaffolds for IAPP binding and subsequently accelerated IAPP aggregation by increased local peptide concentration. The tertiary structure of the star nanoparticles was found to be essential to drive the specific interactions required to impel the accelerated IAPP aggregation. This study shed new light on the structure-toxicity relationship of IAPP and points to the potential of exploiting star polymers as a new class of therapeutic agents against amyloidogenesis

Big data and data repurposing – using existing data to answer new questions in vascular dementia research

Introduction: Traditional approaches to clinical research have, as yet, failed to provide effective treatments for vascular dementia (VaD). Novel approaches to collation and synthesis of data may allow for time and cost efficient hypothesis generating and testing. These approaches may have particular utility in helping us understand and treat a complex condition such as VaD. Methods: We present an overview of new uses for existing data to progress VaD research. The overview is the result of consultation with various stakeholders, focused literature review and learning from the group’s experience of successful approaches to data repurposing. In particular, we benefitted from the expert discussion and input of delegates at the 9th International Congress on Vascular Dementia (Ljubljana, 16-18th October 2015). Results: We agreed on key areas that could be of relevance to VaD research: systematic review of existing studies; individual patient level analyses of existing trials and cohorts and linking electronic health record data to other datasets. We illustrated each theme with a case-study of an existing project that has utilised this approach. Conclusions: There are many opportunities for the VaD research community to make better use of existing data. The volume of potentially available data is increasing and the opportunities for using these resources to progress the VaD research agenda are exciting. Of course, these approaches come with inherent limitations and biases, as bigger datasets are not necessarily better datasets and maintaining rigour and critical analysis will be key to optimising data use

Infants rely more on gaze cues from own-race than other-race adults for learning under uncertainty

Differential experience leads infants to have perceptual processing advantages for own- over other-race faces, but whether this experience has down-stream consequences is unknown. Three experiments examined whether 7-month-olds (Range = 5.9-8.5 months, N = 96) use gaze from own- versus other-race adults to anticipate events. When gaze predicted an event’s occurrence with 100% reliability, 7-month-olds followed both adults equally; with 25% (chance) reliability, neither was followed. However, with 50% (uncertain) reliability, infants followed own- over other-race gaze. Differential face race experience may thus affect how infants use social cues from own- versus other-race adults for learning. Such findings suggest that infants integrate online statistical reliability information with prior knowledge of own- versus other-race to guide social interaction and learning