scholarly journals The ontogeny of human laughter

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 20210319
Author(s):  
Mariska E. Kret ◽  
Dianne Venneker ◽  
Bronwen Evans ◽  
Iliana Samara ◽  
Disa Sauter
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Early Development ◽  
Production System ◽  
Human Infant ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Vocal Production ◽  
Replication Studies ◽  
Adult Humans ◽  
Human Adults ◽  
Human Laughter

Human adult laughter is characterized by vocal bursts produced predominantly during exhalation, yet apes laugh while exhaling and inhaling. The current study investigated our hypothesis that laughter of human infants changes from laughter similar to that of apes to increasingly resemble that of human adults over early development. We further hypothesized that the more laughter is produced on the exhale, the more positively it is perceived. To test these predictions, novice ( n = 102) and expert (phonetician, n = 15) listeners judged the extent to which human infant laughter ( n = 44) was produced during inhalation or exhalation, and the extent to which they found the laughs pleasant and contagious. Support was found for both hypotheses, which were further confirmed in two pre-registered replication studies. Likely through social learning and the anatomical development of the vocal production system, infants' initial ape-like laughter transforms into laughter similar to that of adult humans over the course of ontogeny.

scholarly journals The Origins of Social Knowledge in Altricial Species

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 225-246
Author(s):  
Katerina M. Faust ◽  
Samantha Carouso-Peck ◽  
Mary R. Elson ◽  
Michael H. Goldstein
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Species Recognition ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Social Stimuli ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Social Actions ◽  
As Species ◽  
Social Abilities ◽  
Human Adults

Human infants are altricial, born relatively helpless and dependent on parental care for an extended period of time. This protracted time to maturity is typically regarded as a necessary epiphenomenon of evolving and developing large brains. We argue that extended altriciality is itself adaptive, as a prolonged necessity for parental care allows extensive social learning to take place. Human adults possess a suite of complex social skills, such as language, empathy, morality, and theory of mind. Rather than requiring hardwired, innate knowledge of social abilities, evolution has outsourced the necessary information to parents. Critical information for species-typical development, such as species recognition, may originate from adults rather than from genes, aided by underlying perceptual biases for attending to social stimuli and capacities for statistical learning of social actions. We draw on extensive comparative findings to illustrate that, across species, altriciality functions as an adaptation for social learning from caregivers.

scholarly journals Lipooligosaccharides (LOS) of Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Neisseria meningitidis have components that are immunochemically similar to precursors of human blood group antigens. Carbohydrate sequence specificity of the mouse monoclonal antibodies that recognize crossreacting antigens on LOS and human erythrocytes.

1988 ◽  
Vol 168 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
R E Mandrell ◽  
J M Griffiss ◽  
B A Macher
Keyword(s):  
Neisseria Gonorrhoeae ◽  
Incubation Temperature ◽  
Human Erythrocytes ◽  
Human Infant ◽  
Blood Group Antigens ◽  
Sequence Specificity ◽  
Adult Humans ◽  
Branched Chain

We have used mouse mAbs, 3F11 and 06B4, that are specific for highly conserved epitopes of Neisseria gonorrhoeae lipooligosaccharides (LOS) to identify immunochemically similar structures on human erythrocytes. mAb 3F11 agglutinated erythrocytes from all randomly selected adult humans, while mAb 06B4 agglutinated only 80% of the same specimens. The antibodies had an activity with erythrocytes similar to human cold agglutinins in that agglutination occurred at 4 degrees C and decreased with increasing incubation temperature. Human infant erythrocytes were agglutinated less well, but enzymatic treatment of either infant or adult cells resulted in an increase in expression of the 3F11- and 06B4-defined epitopes. Both antibodies bound to a series of neutral glycosphingolipids from human erythrocytes and neutrophils that have a type 2 (Gal beta 1----4GlcNAc) or N-acetyllactosamine structure. Neither antibody bound to glycosphingolipids from human meconium, which have a type 1 (Gal beta 1----3GlcNAc) structure. The antibodies were unable to bind to N-acetyl-lactosamine glycosphingolipids with a nonreducing terminal sialic acid or a Gala1----3Gal disaccharide. Antibody binding also was blocked by the presence of fucose linked to the penultimate glucosamine residue of N-acetyllactosamine glycosphingolipids. Although both antibodies bound to linear and branched-chain N-acetyllactosamine glycosphingolipids, 3F11 had a higher affinity for branched structures than did 06B4. The activity of 3F11 with human adult and infant treated and untreated erythrocytes with N-acetyllactosamine glycosphingolipids, and with LOS was very similar, if not identical, in specificity to 1B2, an mAb prepared from mice inoculated with a linear N-acetyllactosamine glycosphingolipid.

scholarly journals Monocular Advantage for Face Perception Implicates Subcortical Mechanisms in Adult Humans

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 927-937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shai Gabay ◽  
Adrian Nestor ◽  
Eva Dundas ◽  
Marlene Behrmann
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Face Perception ◽  
Sex Differentiation ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Subcortical Structures ◽  
Adaptive Process ◽  
Cortical Level ◽  
Adult Humans ◽  
Human Adults ◽  
Robust Evidence

The ability to recognize faces accurately and rapidly is an evolutionarily adaptive process. Most studies examining the neural correlates of face perception in adult humans have focused on a distributed cortical network of face-selective regions. There is, however, robust evidence from phylogenetic and ontogenetic studies that implicates subcortical structures, and recently, some investigations in adult humans indicate subcortical correlates of face perception as well. The questions addressed here are whether low-level subcortical mechanisms for face perception (in the absence of changes in expression) are conserved in human adults, and if so, what is the nature of these subcortical representations. In a series of four experiments, we presented pairs of images to the same or different eyes. Participants' performance demonstrated that subcortical mechanisms, indexed by monocular portions of the visual system, play a functional role in face perception. These mechanisms are sensitive to face-like configurations and afford a coarse representation of a face, comprised of primarily low spatial frequency information, which suffices for matching faces but not for more complex aspects of face perception such as sex differentiation. Importantly, these subcortical mechanisms are not implicated in the perception of other visual stimuli, such as cars or letter strings. These findings suggest a conservation of phylogenetically and ontogenetically lower-order systems in adult human face perception. The involvement of subcortical structures in face recognition provokes a reconsideration of current theories of face perception, which are reliant on cortical level processing, inasmuch as it bolsters the cross-species continuity of the biological system for face recognition.

A bond graph approach to modeling the anuran vocal production system

2013 ◽  
Vol 133 (6) ◽  
pp. 4133-4144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole M. Kime ◽  
Michael J. Ryan ◽  
Preston S. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Production System ◽  
Bond Graph ◽  
Vocal Production

Comments on ‘Call for a Follow-UP Study of Experiments on Long-Term Deprivation of Human Infants’ by Micha Razel

1989 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 397-398
Author(s):  
Burton L. White
Keyword(s):  
Early Development ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Follow Up Study ◽  
Direct Study ◽  
Single Subjects

Razel's examination of the early work of McGraw and the Dennises puts a heavy requirement on studies of single subjects and on some possible interpretations for which, unfortunately, documentation is insufficient. Further, the Dennises placed more emphasis on the autotelic quality of motor mastery than Razel notes. Rather than looking for these persons whose behavior was studied long ago, direct study of motor mastery by systematic provision of enrichment conditions during early development is more likely to be instructive and a better use of scientific resources.

Methodologic Issues in the Measurement of Oxytocin in Human Neonates

1998 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemary White-Traut ◽  
Jean Powlesland ◽  
Deborah Gelhar ◽  
Robert Chatterton ◽  
Mariana Morris
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Behavior ◽  
Reliable Method ◽  
Human Infant ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Human Newborn ◽  
Tactile Contact ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Baseline Levels ◽  
Human Neonates

Oxytocin’s (OT) role in the onset and maintenance of labor and in the letdown reflex is well known. OT also has been recognized as a neurotransmitter having functions in the central nervous system, including an influence on behavior (e.g., initiation of maternal behavior). This research was conducted to (1) evaluate whether human tactile contact in the human newborn would increase urine OT levels and alter infant behavioral state, and (2) determine the reliability of measuring OT in human infant urine. Although the data did not support the hypotheses, it was noted that OT levels, significantly decreased in infants who cried during the study period and that there was no correlation between infant’s chronologic age and OT levels. The findings illustrate several methodologic and measurement problems in the study of OT in human infants and that urine sampling in the neonate is not the most reliable method to evaluate change in OT levels. Some general issues concerning research with human infants also are discussed. Further research is recommended to document baseline levels of OT in neonates and to explore the use of salivary OT to measure short-term responses to interventions.

Coordination of Auditory and Visual Space in Newborn Human Infants

Perception ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Butterworth ◽  
Marcela Castillo
Keyword(s):  
Eye Movements ◽  
Visual Space ◽  
Human Infant ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Visual Motor

Two experiments are reported which demonstrate that the newborn human infant can make eye movements which are spatially coordinated with the locus of a sound. The results suggest that there may be an innate coordination of auditory and visual—motor space.

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