Inference or enaction?:the impact of genre on the narrative processing of other minds

Do narratives shape how humans process other minds or do they presuppose an existing theory of mind? This study experimentally investigated this problem by assessing subject responses to systematic alterations in the genre, levels of intentionality, and linguistic complexity of narratives. It showed that the interaction of genre and intentionality level are crucial in determining how narratives are cognitively processed. Specifically, genres that deployed evolutionarily familiar scenarios (relationship stories) were rated as being higher in quality when levels of intentionality were increased; conversely, stories that lacked evolutionary familiarity (espionage stories) were rated as being lower in quality with increases in intentionality level. Overall, the study showed that narrative is not solely either the origin or the product of our intuitions about other minds; instead, different genres will have different-even opposite-effects on how we understand the mind states of others

Evolutionary biology Stay or stray? Evidence for alternative mating strategy phenotypes in both men and women

In all comparative analyses, humans always fall on the borderline between obligate monogamy and polygamy. Here, we use behavioural indices (sociosexuality) and anatomical indices (prenatal testosterone exposure indexed by 2D : 4D digit ratio) from three human populations to show that this may be because there are two distinct phenotypes in both sexes. While males are more promiscuous and display higher prenatal testosterone exposure than females overall, our analyses also suggest that the within-sex variation of these variables is best described by two underlying mixture models, suggesting the presence of two phenotypes with a monogamous/promiscuous ratio that slightly favours monogamy in females and promiscuity in males. The presence of two phenotypes implies that mating strategy might be under complex frequency-dependent selection

In Silico Elucidation of the Recognition Dynamics of Ubiquitin

Elucidation of the mechanism of biomacromolecular recognition events has been a topic of intense interest over the past century. The inherent dynamic nature of both protein and ligand molecules along with the continuous reshaping of the energy landscape during the binding process renders it difficult to characterize this process at atomic detail. Here, we investigate the recognition dynamics of ubiquitin via microsecond all-atom molecular dynamics simulation providing both thermodynamic and kinetic information. The high-level of consistency found with respect to experimental NMR data lends support to the accuracy of the in silico representation of the conformational substates and their interconversions of free ubiquitin. Using an energy-based reweighting approach, the statistical distribution of conformational states of ubiquitin is monitored as a function of the distance between ubiquitin and its binding partner Hrs-UIM. It is found that extensive and dense sampling of conformational space afforded by the µs MD trajectory is essential for the elucidation of the binding mechanism as is Boltzmann sampling, overcoming inherent limitations of sparsely sampled empirical ensembles. The results reveal a population redistribution mechanism that takes effect when the ligand is at intermediate range of 1–2 nm from ubiquitin. This mechanism, which may be depicted as a superposition of the conformational selection and induced fit mechanisms, also applies to other binding partners of ubiquitin, such as the GGA3 GAT domain

Processes of pairbonding

This thesis expands our understanding of the role of several different mating behaviours in the process of forming and maintaining human mating pair-bonds. Chapter 2 investigated within-sex mating strategies and found that their distribution reflects the presence of two phenotypes, one favouring the pursuit of short-term mating and one the establishment of mating pair-bonds, each driven by prenatal testosterone exposure. Chapter 3 investigated the possible functional role of kissing in mating relationships, and found that it was utilised divergently by individuals pursuing different mating strategies, with those interested in short-term mating utilising it to assess the suitability of potential mates at initial relationship stages, and those interested in long-term mating using it to mediate pair-bond attachments. Chapter 4 examined female attitudes towards kissing across the menstrual cycle and found that attitudes varied with cycle phase, mediated by fluctuations in the hormone progesterone. This chapter also investigated the effects of kissing-related information on mate assessment and found that such information influenced mate desirability, even in the presence of typically dominant visual cues. Lastly, Chapter 5 investigated the cognitive effects of established pair-bonds, finding that individuals ‘in love’ with a mating partner show improved empathising abilities, particularly males when it comes to assessing negative emotional states in others. Using an evolutionary framework, each chapter of this thesis contributes novel insights to our understanding of these diverse behaviours. These results suggest that that future research must take into account within-sex phenotypic differences in order to truly understand human mating strategy decisions, and that different mating strategy phenotypes might adaptively utilise the same courtship behaviours in divergent ways. Furthermore, these results also suggest that pair-bonding in humans may be a relatively recent phenomenon, and that the formation of such pair-bonds can have adaptive cognitive effects for males within such bonded relationships.</p

Processes of pairbonding

This thesis expands our understanding of the role of several different mating behaviours in the process of forming and maintaining human mating pair-bonds. Chapter 2 investigated within-sex mating strategies and found that their distribution reflects the presence of two phenotypes, one favouring the pursuit of short-term mating and one the establishment of mating pair-bonds, each driven by prenatal testosterone exposure. Chapter 3 investigated the possible functional role of kissing in mating relationships, and found that it was utilised divergently by individuals pursuing different mating strategies, with those interested in short-term mating utilising it to assess the suitability of potential mates at initial relationship stages, and those interested in long-term mating using it to mediate pair-bond attachments. Chapter 4 examined female attitudes towards kissing across the menstrual cycle and found that attitudes varied with cycle phase, mediated by fluctuations in the hormone progesterone. This chapter also investigated the effects of kissing-related information on mate assessment and found that such information influenced mate desirability, even in the presence of typically dominant visual cues. Lastly, Chapter 5 investigated the cognitive effects of established pair-bonds, finding that individuals ‘in love’ with a mating partner show improved empathising abilities, particularly males when it comes to assessing negative emotional states in others. Using an evolutionary framework, each chapter of this thesis contributes novel insights to our understanding of these diverse behaviours. These results suggest that that future research must take into account within-sex phenotypic differences in order to truly understand human mating strategy decisions, and that different mating strategy phenotypes might adaptively utilise the same courtship behaviours in divergent ways. Furthermore, these results also suggest that pair-bonding in humans may be a relatively recent phenomenon, and that the formation of such pair-bonds can have adaptive cognitive effects for males within such bonded relationships.This thesis is not currently available in ORA

Inference or enaction data set

This spreadsheet contains the results of the 'Inference or Enaction' experiment on the narrative processing of other minds. It is being made publicly available as part of the open access policy in European Research Council funded research, grant number 295663

Genetic and social trait data for a 'clinical' UK sample and a 'non-caucasian' UK sample

Data collected from UK population at science festivals and a museum to look at the genetics underpinning human social behaviour and cognition. Data for paper Pearce, E., Wlodarski, R., Machin, A., & Dunbar, R. I. M. 'The influence of genetic variation on social disposition, romantic relationships and social networks'. See also Pearce, E., Wlodarski, R., Machin, A., & Dunbar, R. I. M. (2017). Variation in the β-endorphin, oxytocin, and dopamine receptor genes is associated with different dimensions of human sociality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(20), 5300–5305. Retrieved from http://www.pnas.org/content/114/20/5300.abstrac

Inference or enaction data set

This spreadsheet contains the results of the 'Inference or Enaction' experiment on the narrative processing of other minds. It is being made publicly available as part of the open access policy in European Research Council funded research, grant number 295663