Previous research has demonstrated that Old World primates (both apes and monkeys) seek information about the location of a hidden food item, unless they are privy to the hiding process. This has ...been cited as evidence of metacognition. However, these results could also be interpreted using non-metacognitive accounts, including a generalized search response to uncertainty, in which subjects reach for food when it is seen, or search for food until it is spotted. In the present research, lion-tailed macaques were tested on an object-choice task. Conditions varied with respect to the visibility of the baiting process, and whether the location of the hidden food could be inferred by logical exclusion. Additionally, the hidden food could be located visually before a choice was made, by peering under the objects through a Plexiglas tray. Across conditions, monkeys consistently looked for the food when it had not been seen, even if its location could be inferred, despite the fact that these monkeys are capable of inference by exclusion. This suggests that apparently ‘metacognitive’ information seeking in monkeys may instead reflect a generalized search strategy. Alternatively, it is possible that monkeys only have metacognitive access to certain types of knowledge, including that obtained visually. Results are discussed with respect to the likelihood of metacognition in this species and the evolutionary emergence of metacognition across species.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Red coralline algae are the deepest living macroalgae, capable of creating spatially complex reefs from the intertidal to 100+ m depth with global ecological and biogeochemical significance. How ...these algae maintain photosynthetic function under increasingly limiting light intensity and spectral availability is key to explaining their large depth distribution. Here, we investigated the photo- and chromatic acclimation and morphological change of free-living red coralline algae towards mesophotic depths in the Fernando do Noronha archipelago, Brazil. From 13 to 86 m depth, thalli tended to become smaller and less complex. We observed a dominance of the photo-acclimatory response, characterized by an increase in photosynthetic efficiency and a decrease in maximum electron transport rate. Chromatic acclimation was generally stable across the euphotic-mesophotic transition with no clear depth trend. Taxonomic comparisons suggest these photosynthetic strategies are conserved to at least the Order level. Light saturation necessitated the use of photoprotection to 65 m depth, while optimal light levels were met at 86 m. Changes to the light environment (e.g. reduced water clarity) due to human activities therefore places these mesophotic algae at risk of light limitation, necessitating the importance of maintaining good water quality for the conservation and protection of mesophotic habitats.
In previous research, great apes and rhesus macaques have demonstrated multiple apparently metacognitive abilities, whereas capuchin monkeys have not. The present experiment investigated whether at ...least a rudimentary form of metacognition might be demonstrated in capuchins if a simplified metacognitive task was used. Capuchins (
Cebus apella
) were required to locate a food reward hidden beneath one of two inverted cups that sat on a Plexiglas tray. In some conditions, the capuchins were shown where the food was hidden, in others they could infer its location, and in yet others they were not given information about the location of the food. On all trials, capuchins could optionally seek information about the food’s location by looking up through the Plexiglas beneath the cups. In general, capuchins did this less often when they were shown the food reward, but not when they could infer the reward’s location. These data suggest that capuchins—if metacognitive—only metacognitively control their information seeking in some conditions, particularly those in which information is presented in the visual domain. This may represent a rudimentary version of metacognitive control, in comparison with that seen in great apes and humans.
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EMUNI, GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
We review the literature surrounding the phylogenetic and developmental emergence of goal-oriented behavior, among human and non-human primates. We define goal-oriented awareness as the ability to ...perceive goals and perceptions in others. We examine empirical literature involving gaze-following, shared attention, distinguishing between actions and intentions, and the ability to generate and understand communicative cues. We conclude that at least a rudimentary awareness of goal-oriented behavior is present from birth in humans, and in adult great apes. The evidence in other primate species shows phylogenetic differences as well as gaps in the empirical literature.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPUK, ZRSKP
COVID-19 has had a profound influence on the conduct of teaching and learning in higher education. Almost everywhere a sudden shift occurred as educators transitioned courses from mainly face-to-face ...teaching and learning to emergency remote instruction, mostly conducted online. While details varied for individual faculty members, institutions, and countries, all confronted new challenges. We examine the immediate effects of COVID-19 on teaching and learning in higher education. Our results are based on a sample of 309 courses, and the academic staff who taught them, at eight colleges and universities varying in size and context across four continents. We document first how institutions, and their instructors, varied in their capacity for dealing with the rapidity of the COVID-19 teaching and learning pivot. We further demonstrate that the suddenness of the pandemic's onset, and the quick response this demanded of instructors, meant that there was little systematic patterning in how academic staff were able to adapt - save for nimbleness. Rapidity of response meant differences were far more idiosyncratic than they were systematic, at least with respect to how individual faculty responded.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Over the past two decades, researchers have explored the question of whether animals have access to their knowledge states, and further, whether they moderate their behavior in relation to this ...knowledge. This paper summarizes the research that has been done using the so-called ‘information-seeking paradigm’, pioneered by Call and Carpenter in 2001. The paper describes patterns of findings that have emerged across the primate order, alternative interpretations of these findings, and remaining questions. It closes with suggestions for further investigation in the field, with a focus on exploring the following: What types of information do animals gather? Where do they access information? And, do animals modify their search behavior depending on how informative the source is?
The euphotic-mesophotic transition is characterized by dramatic changes in environmental conditions, which can significantly alter the functioning of ecosystem engineers and the structure of their ...associated communities. However, the drivers of biodiversity change across the euphotic-mesophotic transition remain unclear. Here, we investigated the mechanisms affecting the biodiversity-supporting potential of free-living red coralline algae-globally important habitat creators-towards mesophotic depths. Across a 73 m depth gradient, we observed a general decline in macrofaunal biodiversity (fauna abundance, taxon richness and alpha diversity), but an increase in beta-diversity (i.e. variation between assemblages) at the deepest site (86 m depth, where light levels were less than 1% surface irradiance). We identified a gradient in abundance decline rather than distinct ecological shifts, driven by a complex interaction between declining light availability, declining size of the coralline algal host individuals and a changing host taxonomy. However, despite abundance declines, high between-assemblage variability at deeper depths allowed biodiversity-supporting potential to be maintained, highlighting their importance as coastal refugia.
Recent empirical work has suggested that some species of non-human primates may be aware of their knowledge states. One finding to support this claim is that they seek information about the location ...of a hidden food item when they are unsure of its location, but not when they already know where it is, which purportedly demonstrates metacognition. However, this behaviour may instead reflect a generalized search strategy, in which subjects reach for food when they see it, and search for it when they do not. In this experiment, this possibility was addressed by testing orangutans in three conditions in which the location of a food item was sometimes known to subjects, and other times required subjects to visually seek the missing information. All subjects exhibited behaviour consistent with a metacognitive interpretation in at least two of the three conditions. Critically, in two of the conditions, subjects refrained from seeking visual information, and correctly found the hidden food item without ever seeing it, using inference by exclusion. The results suggest that animals that succeed in this information-seeking task are
not
merely acting according to a generalized search strategy, and instead seek information adaptively according to their knowledge states.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Recent research has examined whether animals possess metacognition, or the ability to monitor their knowledge states. However, the extent to which animals actively control their knowledge states is ...still not well delineated. Although organisms might be capable of seeking information when it is lacking, it does not mean that it is always adaptive to do so. In the present set of experiments, we examined the flexibility of this behavior in captive orangutans (Pongo abelii; two adults and one juvenile) in a foraging task, by varying the necessity of information-seeking, the cost associated with it, the likelihood of error, and the value of the reward. In Experiment 1, subjects searched for information most often when it was "cheapest" energetically. In Experiment 2, subjects searched for information most often when the odds of making an error were the greatest. In Experiment 3, subjects searched for information more when the reward was doubled in value. In Experiment 4, adult subjects adapted to risk/benefit trade-offs in their searching behavior. In every experiment, subjects sought information more often when they needed it than when they already knew the solution to the problem. Therefore, the current research suggests that information-seeking behavior in orangutans shows a sophisticated level of flexibility, comparable to that seen in human children, as they appear to "play the odds" when making the decision to seek information or not.
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CEKLJ, FFLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PEFLJ, UPUK
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