How children aged 2;6 tailor verbal expressions to interlocutor informational needs

AbstractAlthough preschoolers are pervasively underinformative in their actual usage of verbal reference, a number of studies have shown that they nonetheless demonstrate sensitivity to listener informational needs, at least when environmental cues to this are obvious. We investigated two issues. The first concerned the types of visual cues to interlocutor informational needs which children aged 2;6 can process whilst producing complex referring expressions. The second was whether performance in experimental tasks related to naturalistic conversational proficiency. We found that 2;6-year-olds used fewer complex expressions when the objects were dissimilar compared to highly similar objects, indicating that they tailor their verbal expressions to the informational needs of another person, even when the cue to the informational need is relatively opaque. We also found a correlation between conversational skills as rated by the parents and the degree to which 2;6-year-olds could learn from feedback to produce complex referring expressions.

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The use of visual cues for spatial orientation in the sleepy lizard (Tiliqua rugosa)

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/z99-243 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 78 (4) ◽

pp. 515-520 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

I Zuri ◽

C M Bull

Keyword(s):

Home Range ◽

Spatial Orientation ◽

Visual Cues ◽

Visual Signals ◽

Environmental Cues ◽

Home Ranges ◽

Black And White ◽

Tiliqua Rugosa ◽

Different Shapes

The sleepy lizard (Tiliqua rugosa) is a large, long-lived terrestrial Australian skink. In the present study we investigated the ability of sleepy lizards to use different visual cues for spatial orientation. The lizards were trained to locate shelters in certain places and then trained to certain signals associated with their shelters. In the absence of surrounding visual cues the lizards preferred familiar sites that were previously associated with their shelters. However, when presented with signals that had been associated with their shelters, they chose the vicinity of these familiar signals, even after their displacement to new sites. The lizards discriminated between black and white signals and between triangular and circular signals but not between red and green signals. Previous studies had shown that sleepy lizards exhibit home-range fidelity, raising the question of which environmental cues are important for them for spatial orientation within their home ranges. We suggest that the ability of sleepy lizards to discriminate between visual signals of different shapes and degrees of brightness enables them to "memorize" certain fixed landmarks in their large home ranges and to orient accordingly.

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Microhabitat selection by the lotic amphipod Gammarus pseudolimnaeus Bousfield: mechanisms for evaluating local substrate and current suitability

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/z93-335 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 71 (12) ◽

pp. 2401-2409 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

N. John Olyslager ◽

D. Dudley Williams

Keyword(s):

Field Experiment ◽

Visual Cues ◽

Critical Factor ◽

Environmental Cues ◽

Inertial Forces ◽

Microhabitat Selection ◽

Type Ii ◽

Centre Of Gravity ◽

Gammarus Pseudolimnaeus ◽

Substrate Size

This study examined key environmental cues used by Gammarus pseudolimnaeus during microhabitat selection, and cues and mechanisms used to evaluate and react to changing current conditions. Thigmotactic cues for complexity and texture were used independently during microhabitat selection. Neither the external leg sensilla nor the antennae appeared to detect these cues. Neither hydromechanical cues detected by either the antennae or type II microtrich sensilla nor visual cues appear to play a key role. The amphipods showed no ability to compensate when deprived of individual cues. These results suggest that internal proprioceptors were involved, that current is not a major proximal factor, and that the presence of substrate interstices is the critical factor considered during microhabitat selection, not substrate size. Animals displayed a mechanical capability to turn into the flow, probably owing to differential inertial forces resulting from the centre of gravity being located forward and above the physical midpoint. During a field experiment, animals displayed no preference for maintaining their position after disturbance, or for moving upstream or downstream. However, they were less able to move upstream when their microtrich sensilla were masked. Excessively displaced animals did not show a preferred mechanism for returning to the substrate.

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Re-emergence and diversification of a specialised antennal lobe morphology in ithomiine butterflies

10.1101/2020.10.13.336206 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Billy J Morris ◽

Antoine Couto ◽

Asli Aydin ◽

Stephen H Montgomery

Keyword(s):

Visual Cues ◽

Sensory System ◽

Ecological Factors ◽

Environmental Cues ◽

Long Distance ◽

Processing Centre ◽

Chemical Constitution ◽

Survival And Reproduction ◽

Sensory Reception ◽

Adaptive Shifts

AbstractHow an organism’s sensory system functions is central to how it navigates its environment and meets the behavioural challenges associated with survival and reproduction. Comparing sensory systems across species can reveal how facets of behaviour and ecology promote adaptive shifts in the relative importance of certain environmental cues. The insect olfactory system is prominent model for investigating how ecological factors impact sensory reception and processing. Notably work in Lepidoptera led to the discovery of vastly expanded structures, termed a macroglomerular complex (MGC), within the primary olfactory processing centre. These structures typically process pheromonal cues and provide a classic example of how variation in size can influence the functional processing of sensory cues. Though prevalent across moths, the MGC was lost during the early evolution of butterflies, consistent with evidence that courtship initiation in butterflies is primarily reliant upon visual cues, rather than long distance olfactory signals like pheromones. However, a MGC has recently been reported to be present in a species of ithomiine, Godryis zavaleta, suggesting this once lost neural adaptation has re-emerged in this clade. Here, we show that MGC’s, or MGC-like morphologies, are indeed widely distributed across the ithomiine tribe, and vary in both structure and the prevalence of sexual dimorphism. Based on patterns of variation across species with different chemical ecologies, we suggest that this structure is involved in the processing of both plant and pheromonal cues, of interlinked chemical constitution, and has evolved in conjunction with the increased importance and diversification of plant derived chemicals cues in ithomiines.

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Entorhinal neurons exhibit cue locking in rodent VR

10.1101/477620 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Giulio Casali ◽

Sarah Shipley ◽

Charlie Dowell ◽

Robin Hayman ◽

Caswell Barry

Keyword(s):

Virtual Reality ◽

Spatial Frequency ◽

Open Field ◽

Visual Cues ◽

Firing Pattern ◽

Virtual Space ◽

Environmental Cues ◽

Grid Cells ◽

Firing Patterns ◽

Real Linear

AbstractThe regular firing pattern exhibited by medial entorhinal (mEC) grid cells of locomoting rodents is hypothesized to provide spatial metric information relevant for navigation. The development of virtual reality (VR) for head-fixed mice confers a number of experimental advantages and has become increasingly popular as a method for investigating spatially-selective cells. Recent experiments using 1D VR linear tracks have shown that some mEC cells have multiple fields in virtual space, analogous to grid cells on real linear tracks. We recorded from the mEC as mice traversed virtual tracks featuring regularly spaced repetitive cues and identified a population of cells with multiple firing fields, resembling the regular firing of grid cells. However, further analyses indicated that many of these were not, in fact, grid cells because: 1) When recorded in the open field they did not display discrete firing fields with six-fold symmetry; 2) In different VR environments their firing fields were found to match the spatial frequency of repetitive environmental cues. In contrast, cells identified as grid cells based on their open field firing patterns did not exhibit cue locking. In light of these results we highlight the importance of controlling the periodicity of the visual cues in VR and the necessity of identifying grid cells from real open field environments in order to correctly characterise spatially modulated neurons in VR experiments.

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Supporting the Use of Rudimentary Vocalizations

Perspectives on Augmentative and Alternative Communication ◽

10.1044/aac23.3.132 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 23 (3) ◽

pp. 132-139 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lauren Zubow ◽

Richard Hurtig

Keyword(s):

Rett Syndrome ◽

Visual Cues ◽

Acoustic Analysis ◽

Eye Gaze ◽

Research Question ◽

Primary Research ◽

Multiple Modalities ◽

Face To Face ◽

Perceptual Judgments ◽

The Face

Children with Rett Syndrome (RS) are reported to use multiple modalities to communicate although their intentionality is often questioned (Bartolotta, Zipp, Simpkins, & Glazewski, 2011; Hetzroni & Rubin, 2006; Sigafoos et al., 2000; Sigafoos, Woodyatt, Tuckeer, Roberts-Pennell, & Pittendreigh, 2000). This paper will present results of a study analyzing the unconventional vocalizations of a child with RS. The primary research question addresses the ability of familiar and unfamiliar listeners to interpret unconventional vocalizations as “yes” or “no” responses. This paper will also address the acoustic analysis and perceptual judgments of these vocalizations. Pre-recorded isolated vocalizations of “yes” and “no” were presented to 5 listeners (mother, father, 1 unfamiliar, and 2 familiar clinicians) and the listeners were asked to rate the vocalizations as either “yes” or “no.” The ratings were compared to the original identification made by the child's mother during the face-to-face interaction from which the samples were drawn. Findings of this study suggest, in this case, the child's vocalizations were intentional and could be interpreted by familiar and unfamiliar listeners as either “yes” or “no” without contextual or visual cues. The results suggest that communication partners should be trained to attend to eye-gaze and vocalizations to ensure the child's intended choice is accurately understood.

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