scholarly journals Dogs display owner-specific expectations based on olfaction

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliane Bräuer ◽  
Damian Blasi
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Auditory Modality ◽  
Relevant Stimulus ◽  
Searching Behaviour ◽  
Olfactory Sense ◽  
Performance Results ◽  
Violation Of Expectation ◽  
Increased Activity ◽  
Odour Perception

AbstractMost current knowledge about dogs’ understanding of, and reacting to, their environment is limited to the visual or auditory modality, but it remains unclear how olfaction and cognition are linked together. Here we investigate how domestic dogs search for their owners using their excellent olfactory sense. We raise the question whether dogs have a representation of someone when they smell their track. The question is what they expect when they follow a trail or whether they perceive an odour as a relevant or non-relevant stimulus. We adopted a classical violation-of-expectation paradigm—and as targets we used two persons that were both important to the dog, usually the owners. In the critical condition subjects could track the odour trail of one target, but at the end of the trail they find another target. Dogs showed an increased activity when the person did not correspond with the trail compared to a control condition. Moreover, we found huge individual differences in searching behaviour supporting the assumption that dogs are only able to smell when they really sniff, and that the temperature has an influence on dogs performance. Results are discussed in the light of how cognitive abilities, motivation and odour perception influence each other.

scholarly journals Cortical Auditory Disorders: A Case of Non-Verbal Disturbances Assessed with Event-Related Brain Potentials

1998 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sönke Johannes ◽  
Michael E. Jöbges ◽  
Reinhard Dengler ◽  
Thomas F. Münte
Keyword(s):  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Hemispheric Specialization ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Absolute Pitch ◽  
Oddball Paradigm ◽  
Auditory Modality ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Sensory Processes ◽  
Auditory Disorders

In the auditory modality, there has been a considerable debate about some aspects of cortical disorders, especially about auditory forms of agnosia. Agnosia refers to an impaired comprehension of sensory information in the absence of deficits in primary sensory processes. In the non-verbal domain, sound agnosia and amusia have been reported but are frequently accompanied by language deficits whereas pure deficits are rare. Absolute pitch and musicians’ musical abilities have been associated with left hemispheric functions. We report the case of a right handed sound engineer with the absolute pitch who developed sound agnosia and amusia in the absence of verbal deficits after a right perisylvian stroke. His disabilities were assessed with the Seashore Test of Musical Functions, the tests of Wertheim and Botez (Wertheim and Botez, Brain 84, 1961, 19–30) and by event-related potentials (ERP) recorded in a modified 'oddball paradigm’. Auditory ERP revealed a dissociation between the amplitudes of the P3a and P3b subcomponents with the P3b being reduced in amplitude while the P3a was undisturbed. This is interpreted as reflecting disturbances in target detection processes as indexed by the P3b. The findings that contradict some aspects of current knowledge about left/right hemispheric specialization in musical processing are discussed and related to the literature concerning cortical auditory disorders.

scholarly journals Hope in the Treatment of Candida Vaginitis: Ibrexafungerp

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayşe Sultan Karakoyun
Keyword(s):  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Clinical Findings ◽  
Antifungal Drugs ◽  
Drug Resistant ◽  
Over The Counter ◽  
Synthase Inhibitor ◽  
Increased Activity

Candida vaginitis (CV) is a neglected but growing public health problem. It is estimated that three out of four women have had at least one CV attack. The diagnosis and treatment of CV is often inadequate due to the tendency of women to self-diagnose and use over-the-counter drugs when they have vaginal or vulvar complaints, and clinicians plan treatment only according to clinical findings. There are limitations regarding the safety and efficacy of oral azoles, which are primarily preferred for the treatment of vaginitis, and these drugs have not revealed the desired levels of clinical or mycological cure. Also, there are a few options for current drugs used for treatment are not numerous the development of new antifungal drugs is thus urgently needed. Ibrexafungerp (IBX) is a semisynthetic triterpenoid glucan synthase inhibitor derived from enfumafungin. IBX has been shown to be a promising oral antifungal in the treatment of acute CV, and its use was approved on June 1, 2021. IBX is remarkable by it’s high oral bioavailability, low risk of side effects, few drug-drug interactions, good tissue penetration, increased activity at low pH in the vagina, and efficacy with regard to multi-drug-resistant fungi. In this review, in vitro and in vivo data on IBX were evaluated and compiled in light of current knowledge.

scholarly journals Investigating the Accessibility of Voice Assistants With Impaired Users: Mixed Methods Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Masina ◽  
Valeria Orso ◽  
Patrik Pluchino ◽  
Giulia Dainese ◽  
Stefania Volpato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Information Criterion ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Interactive Systems ◽  
Selection Strategy ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Linguistic Skills ◽  
Performance Results ◽  
The Voice ◽  
State Examination

BACKGROUND Voice assistants allow users to control appliances and functions of a smart home by simply uttering a few words. Such systems hold the potential to significantly help users with motor and cognitive disabilities who currently depend on their caregiver even for basic needs (eg, opening a door). The research on voice assistants is mainly dedicated to able-bodied users, and studies evaluating the accessibility of such systems are still sparse and fail to account for the participants’ actual motor, linguistic, and cognitive abilities. OBJECTIVE The aim of this work is to investigate whether cognitive and/or linguistic functions could predict user performance in operating an off-the-shelf voice assistant (Google Home). METHODS A group of users with disabilities (n=16) was invited to a living laboratory and asked to interact with the system. Besides collecting data on their performance and experience with the system, their cognitive and linguistic skills were assessed using standardized inventories. The identification of predictors (cognitive and/or linguistic) capable of accounting for an efficient interaction with the voice assistant was investigated by performing multiple linear regression models. The best model was identified by adopting a selection strategy based on the Akaike information criterion (AIC). RESULTS For users with disabilities, the effectiveness of interacting with a voice assistant is predicted by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Robertson Dysarthria Profile (specifically, the ability to repeat sentences), as the best model shows (AIC=130.11). CONCLUSIONS Users with motor, linguistic, and cognitive impairments can effectively interact with voice assistants, given specific levels of residual cognitive and linguistic skills. More specifically, our paper advances practical indicators to predict the level of accessibility of speech-based interactive systems. Finally, accessibility design guidelines are introduced based on the performance results observed in users with disabilities.

scholarly journals Stable individual differences in infants’ responses to violations of intuitive physics

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (27) ◽  
pp. e2103805118
Author(s):  
Jasmin Perez ◽  
Lisa Feigenson
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Prediction Errors ◽  
Expectancy Violations ◽  
Infant Research ◽  
Expected Outcome ◽  
Intuitive Physics ◽  
Violation Of Expectation ◽  
Expected Outcomes ◽  
Better Than

Infants look longer at impossible or unlikely events than at possible events. While these responses to expectancy violations have been critical for understanding early cognition, interpreting them is challenging because infants’ responses are highly variable. This variability has been treated as an unavoidable nuisance inherent to infant research. Here we asked whether the variability contains signal in addition to noise: namely, whether some infants show consistently stronger responses to expectancy violations than others. Infants watched two unrelated physical events 6 mo apart; these events culminated in either an impossible or an expected outcome. We found that infants who exhibited the strongest looking response to an impossible event at 11 mo also exhibited the strongest response to an entirely different impossible event at 17 mo. Furthermore, violation-of-expectation responses in infancy predicted children’s explanation-based curiosity at 3 y old. In contrast, there was no longitudinal relation between infants’ responses to events with expected outcomes at 11 and 17 mo, nor any link with later curiosity; hence, infants’ responses do not merely reflect individual differences in attention but are specific to expectancy violations. Some children are better than others at detecting prediction errors—a trait that may be linked to later cognitive abilities.

scholarly journals Searching for relief: Drosophila melanogaster navigation in a virtual bitter maze

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Meda ◽  
Giovanni Frighetto ◽  
Aram Megighian ◽  
Mauro Agostino Zordan
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Pain Relief ◽  
Bitter Taste ◽  
Place Learning ◽  
Relevant Stimulus ◽  
Searching Behaviour ◽  
Safe Area ◽  
Visual Markers ◽  
Open Circular ◽  
Taste Stimulation

AbstractAnimals use pain-relief learning to discern which actions can diminish or abolish noxious stimuli. If relief from pain is provided in a specific location, place learning is the mechanism used to pinpoint that location in space. Little is known about how physiological and non-directly damaging stimuli can alter visual-based searching behaviour in animals. Here we show how the optogenetically-induced activation of bitter-sensing neurons urges Drosophila melanogaster to seek relief from bitter taste stimulation and that this distressful, but ecologically relevant stimulus, innately wired to the threat of intoxication, is sufficient to elicit pain-relief-like behavioural responses. Specifically, freely walking flies inside an open circular arena are trained to seek relief from the unpleasant stimulation by searching for a safe area alternatively positioned in the proximity of a pair of identical, diametrically opposed, visual markers. Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, under this paradigm flies develop visual place learning manifested by their seeking relief in the zone associated with bitter relief during the last trial of training, even when exposed to constant bitter stimulation with no relief provided. An important implication is that this form of learning does not lead to operant conditioning generalization. We further propose that kinematic indexes, such as the spatially-specific reduction of locomotor velocity, may provide immediate evidence of relief-based place learning and spatial memory.

The Genetic and Environmental Relationship Between General and Specific Cognitive Abilities in Twins Age 80 and Older

1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 183-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Petrill ◽  
Robert Plomin ◽  
Stig Berg ◽  
Boo Johansson ◽  
Nancy L. Pedersen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
General Cognitive Ability ◽  
Speed Of Processing ◽  
Processing Abilities ◽  
Genetic And Environmental Factors ◽  
Performance Results ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Specific Cognitive Abilities

In the first twin study of the old-old, individuals 80 years old and older, we examined the relationship between general and specific cognitive abilities from a genetic perspective. That is, we examined the extent to which genetic and environmental factors influence major group factors of cognitive abilities, independent of general cognitive ability. As part of the OctoTwin project in Sweden, general and specific cognitive abilities were assessed in 52 monozygotic and 65 same-sex dizygotic twin pairs 80 years old and older using a battery of seven tests that assess verbal, spatial, speed-of-processing, and memory performance. Results suggest that genetic effects associated with general cognitive ability (g) account for the correlation between g and verbal, spatial, and speed-of-processing abilities. No genetic influences were found for these specific cognitive abilities separate from g. In contrast, memory ability appears to be more distinct genetically from g than are other cognitive abilities. Comparison with younger samples suggests that cognitive abilities relating to speed of processing may be genetically dedifferentiated in the old-old.

scholarly journals Animal Cognition in an Urbanised World

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria E. Lee ◽  
Alex Thornton
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Animal Cognition ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Individual Personality ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Evolutionary Consequences ◽  
Do So

Explaining how animals respond to an increasingly urbanised world is a major challenge for evolutionary biologists. Urban environments often present animals with novel problems that differ from those encountered in their evolutionary past. To navigate these rapidly changing habitats successfully, animals may need to adjust their behaviour flexibly over relatively short timescales. These behavioural changes, in turn, may be facilitated by an ability to acquire, store, and process information from the environment. The question of how cognitive abilities allow animals to avoid threats and exploit resources (or constrain their ability to do so) is attracting increasing research interest, with a growing number of studies investigating cognitive and behavioural differences between urban-dwelling animals and their non-urban counterparts. In this review we consider why such differences might arise, focusing on the informational challenges faced by animals living in urban environments, and how different cognitive abilities can assist in overcoming these challenges. We focus largely on birds, as avian taxa have been the subject of most research to date, but discuss work in other species where relevant. We also address the potential consequences of cognitive variation at the individual and species level. For instance, do urban environments select for, or influence the development of, particular cognitive abilities? Are individuals or species with particular cognitive phenotypes more likely to become established in urban habitats? How do other factors, such as social behaviour and individual personality, interact with cognition to influence behaviour in urban environments? The aim of this review is to synthesise current knowledge and identify key avenues for future research, in order to improve our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary consequences of urbanisation.

scholarly journals The thiazide-sensitive Na+-Cl− cotransporter: molecular biology, functional properties, and regulation by WNKs

2009 ◽  
Vol 297 (4) ◽  
pp. F838-F848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerardo Gamba
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Biology ◽  
Loop Diuretic ◽  
Molecular Level ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Thick Ascending Limb ◽  
Molecular Area ◽  
Water Homeostasis ◽  
Physiological Properties ◽  
The Family ◽  
Increased Activity

The thiazide-sensitive Na+-Cl− cotransporter is the major salt reabsorption pathway in the distal convoluted tubule, which is located just after the macula densa at the beginning of the aldosterone-sensitive nephron. This cotransporter was identified at the molecular level in the early 1990s by the pioneering work of Steven C. Hebert and coworkers, opening the molecular area, not only for the Na+-Cl− cotransporter but also for the family of electroneutral cation-coupled chloride cotransporters that includes the loop diuretic-sensitive Na+-K+-2Cl− cotransporter of the thick ascending limb of Henle's loop. This work honoring the memory of Steve Hebert presents a brief review of our current knowledge about salt and water homeostasis generated as a consequence of cloning the cotransporter, with particular emphasis on the molecular biology, physiological properties, human disease due to decreased or increased activity of the cotransporter, and regulation of the cotransporter by a family of serine/threonine kinases known as WNK. Thus one of the legacies of Steve Hebert is a better understanding of salt and water homeostasis.

scholarly journals Hypophosphatemic rickets and osteomalacia

2006 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 802-813 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamilton de Menezes Filho ◽  
Luiz Claudio G. de Castro ◽  
Durval Damiani
Keyword(s):  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Bone Mineralization ◽  
Fibroblast Growth Factor 23 ◽  
Hypophosphatemic Rickets ◽  
Activating Mutations ◽  
Metabolism Regulation ◽  
Autosomal Dominant Hypophosphatemic Rickets ◽  
Phex Gene ◽  
Fgf 23 ◽  
Increased Activity

The hypophosphatemic conditions that interfere in bone mineralization comprise many hereditary or acquired diseases, all of them sharing the same pathophysiologic mechanism: reduction in the phosphate reabsorption by the renal tubuli. This process leads to chronic hyperphosphaturia and hypophosphatemia, associated with inappropriately normal or low levels of calcitriol, causing osteomalacia or rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets, autosomal-dominant hypophosphatemic rickets, and tumor-induced osteomalacia are the main syndromes involved in the hypophosphatemic rickets. Although these conditions exhibit different etiologies, there is a common link among them: increased activity of a phosphaturic factor, being the fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF-23) the most studied one and to which is attributed a central role in the pathophysiology of the hyperphosphaturic disturbances. Activating mutations of FGF-23 and inactivating mutations in the PHEX gene (a gene on the X chromosome that codes for a Zn-metaloendopeptidase proteolytic enzyme which regulates the phosphate) involved in the regulation of FGF-23 have been identified and have been implicated in the pathogenesis of these disturbances. Genetic studies tend to show that the phosphorus homeostasis depends on a complex osteo-renal metabolic axis, whose mechanisms of interaction have been poorly understood so far. This paper reviews the current knowledge status concerning the pathophysiology of phosphate metabolism regulation and the pathophysiologic basis of hypophosphatemic rickets. It also analyzes the clinical picture and the therapeutic aspects of these conditions as well.

The clinical neuropsychology of schizophrenia

2012 ◽  
pp. 531-534
Author(s):  
Philip D. Harvey ◽  
Christopher R. Bowie
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Cognitive Impairments ◽  
Healthy Individuals ◽  
Research Information ◽  
Clinical Neuropsychology ◽  
Education Levels ◽  
Functional Relevance ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Current Knowledge Base

Impairments in a variety of cognitive functions are found in patients with schizophrenia. These impairments affect a wide array of different cognitive abilities and are often quite severe, when compared to standards based on healthy individuals of the same age, education levels, and gender. Cognitive impairments appear to be present across the lifespan, detectable at the time of the first treatment episode, if not before, and to manifest a generally stable course over time. Although the current knowledge base regarding cognition in schizophrenia is quite broad, additional research information is constantly accruing. The main purpose of this chapter is to provide a broad overview of the domains, severity, and course of cognitive impairments in schizophrenia, with a focus on functional relevance and treatment possibilities.

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