A comprehensive study of personal and social information use in female brown-headed cowbirds, Molothrus ater

Brood parasites face considerable cognitive challenges when locating and selecting host nests for their young. One aspect of this challenge is determining how to use different sources of information to make decisions regarding the quality of a prospective nest. Here we investigate how female-brown-headed cowbirds, Molothrus ater, use information when prospecting for nests, and then expand upon this to investigate decisions related to foraging. In chapter 1, we demonstrated female could use social information acquired from observing the nest prospecting patterns of conspecifics to influence their own patterns of nest selection. Furthermore, we found a negative relationship between a female’s accuracy at using personal information and her tendency to copy others. In chapter 2, we found the females were able to use social information in a foraging setting as well. The female’s accuracy using personal information remained consistent across nest prospecting and foraging contexts however, the relationship between accuracy and tendency to copy others drastically reversed. A follow up experiment revealed the likely possibility that the differing relationship between personal and social information use depended on the degree of conflict that existed between the two types of information. In chapter 3, we redeveloped and implemented a new RFID tracking technology allowing us to investigate how the cognitive strategies from chapters 1 and 2 translated to a naturalistic, socially complex breeding environment. We found female cowbirds who spent more time prospecting, produced a greater quantity of eggs and demonstrated high accuracy scores during chapter 1 and 2, whereas females who relied on copying others spent significantly less time prospecting and demonstrated lower laying accuracy scores. By demonstrating how individuals’ cognitive strategies relate across context and translate to a socially complex setting, we have demonstrated the importance of examining behaviour in both of these settings and our RFID tracking technology provides researchers with the framework to effectively study this in the future

Historijska pripovjednost i problem istine u historijskom prikazivanju

Je li prošlost priča? Oko tog kratkog i, na prvi pogled, suvišnoga pitanja vrti se ne samo esej koji je pred nama, već i čitava postmodernistička rasprava o povijesti. U jedno nema sumnje: prošlost predstavljamo kao priču i prošlost rekonstruiramo (uglavnom) na osnovu priča. Ovime smo ukratko opisali povijest kao istraživačku (znanstvenu) djelatnost i jasno predočili njenu povezanost s pričom odnosno pripovijedanjem. Upravo zbog te jasne veze povijesti s pričom, ono pitanje s kojim smo započeli uvod čini nam se suvišnim. Ali povijest ( shvaćena u smislu koji smo prije spomenuli) nije prošlost; ona tek opisuje, prepričava prošle događaje. Jedan od prvih povjesničara koji su počeli ukazivati na spomenutu problematiku bio je Hayden White, američki filozof i povjesničar rođen 1928. godine. Njegova knjiga Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth Century Europe iz 1973. godine predstavljala je pionirski rad u uvođenju problema poznatog kao “lingvistički zaokret” u predmet historiografije. Stavljajući povijesnu znanost kao predmet te iste znanosti on ju ustvari razotkriva kao poetičku djelatnost, čime je pokrenuo raspravu koja do danas nije prestala. U eseju koji je ovdje predstavljen, White na primjeru prikazivanja Holokausta pokazuje presudan utjecaj načina pripovjedanja u prikazivanju prošlosti. Nudi li nam se Holokaust, kao prošli događaj nesumnjive strave i nesreće, sam po sebi kao tragedija, ili ga se može prikazati u nekom dugom pripovjednome modusu? Ako pak tragedija nije jedini mogući način prikazivanja Holokausta, znači li to da narav događaja ne određuje vrstu priče koju možemo uporabiti u njegovu prikazivanju? A što tek reći o stavu na koji se White osobito osvrće u eseju po kojemu Holokaust predstavlja događaj kojeg u potpunosti ne može ispričati nikakav ljudski jezik. Ako je tomu tako, zaključak je jasan: prošlost nije priča. Prošlost dakle nije priča, dok povijest to jest; na taj način kida se veza povjesničarske djelatnosti i njenog predmeta- prošlih zbivanja, veza koju povjesničar u pravilu uzima kao samu po sebi razumljivom

Figural Realism

Originally published in 1998. In his earlier books such as Tropics of Discourse and The Content of the Form, Hayden White focused on the conventions of historical writing and on the ordering of historical consciousness. In Figural Realism, White collects eight interrelated essays primarily concerned with the treatment of history in recent literary critical discourse. "'History' is not only an object we can study," writes White, "it is also and even primarily a certain kind of relationship to 'the past' mediated by a distinctive kind of written discourse. It is because historical discourse is actualized in its culturally significant form as a specific kind of writing that we may consider the relevance of literary theory to both the theory and the practice of historiography.

Figural realism: studies in the mimesis effect

Publicado originalmente en 1998. En sus libros anteriores, como Trópicos del discurso y El contenido de la forma, Hayden White se centró en las convenciones de la escritura histórica y en la ordenación de la conciencia histórica. En Figural Realism, White recoge ocho ensayos interrelacionados que se ocupan principalmente del tratamiento de la historia en el discurso crítico literario reciente. "La 'historia' no es sólo un objeto que podemos estudiar", escribe White, "es también, e incluso principalmente, un cierto tipo de relación con 'el pasado' mediada por un tipo distintivo de discurso escrito". Es porque el discurso histórico se actualiza en su forma culturalmente significativa como un tipo específico de escritura que podemos considerar la relevancia de la teoría literaria tanto para la teoría como para la práctica de la historiografía."post-print205 p

The Future of Utopia in History

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The Practical Past

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On the research and the writing phase of the historian's work

This comment on Chris Lorenz’s comment on my work indicates a number of typical failings of reviewers, of which Lorenz’s comments on my talk are typical. One, like most philosophers, Lorenz treats my work as a whole rather than as a congeries of individual works as if they were all written and published at the same time. He finds inconsistencies or contradictions between works written many years apart. My response is that many of these inconsistencies are a result of changes in my point of view over time. Secondly, instead of quoting a passage from my work and criticising it, Lorenz typically paraphrases an argument and then proceeds to criticise his own paraphrase. Often, I do not recognise the paraphrase as a position I hold. Third, I hold that historical writing is often and should be more associative than logical, more poetic than technical. Fourth, about causality in history, I do not think that we have any examples of a universal causal law of historical change or structure. So his demand for a causal law from me is beside the point

The Practical Past

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Clinical review: Ketones and brain injury

Although much feared by clinicians, the ability to produce ketones has allowed humans to withstand prolonged periods of starvation. At such times, ketones can supply up to 50% of basal energy requirements. More interesting, however, is the fact that ketones can provide as much as 70% of the brain's energy needs, more efficiently than glucose. Studies suggest that during times of acute brain injury, cerebral uptake of ketones increases significantly. Researchers have thus attempted to attenuate the effects of cerebral injury by administering ketones exogenously. Hypertonic saline is commonly utilized for management of intracranial hypertension following cerebral injury. A solution containing both hypertonic saline and ketones may prove ideal for managing the dual problems of refractory intracranial hypertension and low cerebral energy levels. The purpose of the present review is to explore the physiology of ketone body utilization by the brain in health and in a variety of neurological conditions, and to discuss the potential for ketone supplementation as a therapeutic option in traumatic brain injury