scholarly journals Modality-specific attention in foraging bumblebees

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (10) ◽  
pp. 150324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivek Nityananda ◽  
Lars Chittka
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Attentional Demands ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Biologically Relevant ◽  
Crossmodal Attention ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Multiple Tasks ◽  
Set Up

Attentional demands can prevent humans and other animals from performing multiple tasks simultaneously. Some studies, however, show that tasks presented in different sensory modalities (e.g. visual and auditory) can be processed simultaneously. This suggests that, at least in these cases, attention might be modality-specific and divided differently between tasks when present in the same modality compared with different modalities. We investigated this possibility in bumblebees ( Bombus terrestris ) using a biologically relevant experimental set-up where they had to simultaneously choose more rewarding flowers and avoid simulated predatory attacks by robotic ‘spiders’. We found that when the tasks had to be performed using visual cues alone, bees failed to perform both tasks simultaneously. However, when highly rewarding flowers were indicated by olfactory cues and predators were indicated by visual cues, bees managed to perform both tasks successfully. Our results thus provide evidence for modality-specific attention in foraging bees and establish a novel framework for future studies of crossmodal attention in ecologically realistic settings.

scholarly journals Technology-Assisted Rehabilitation of Writing Skills in Parkinson’s Disease: Visual Cueing versus Intelligent Feedback

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelien Nackaerts ◽  
Alice Nieuwboer ◽  
Elisabetta Farella
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Visual Cueing ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Larger Sample

Recent research showed that visual cueing can have both beneficial and detrimental effects on handwriting of patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and healthy controls depending on the circumstances. Hence, using other sensory modalities to deliver cueing or feedback may be a valuable alternative. Therefore, the current study compared the effects of short-term training with either continuous visual cues or intermittent intelligent verbal feedback. Ten PD patients and nine healthy controls were randomly assigned to one of these training modes. To assess transfer of learning, writing performance was assessed in the absence of cueing and feedback on both trained and untrained writing sequences. The feedback pen and a touch-sensitive writing tablet were used for testing. Both training types resulted in improved writing amplitudes for the trained and untrained sequences. In conclusion, these results suggest that the feedback pen is a valuable tool to implement writing training in a tailor-made fashion for people with PD. Future studies should include larger sample sizes and different subgroups of PD for long-term training with the feedback pen.

scholarly journals Possible chemical mimicry of the European lady’s slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus)

2012 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 103-110
Author(s):  
Tomasz Przybyłowicz ◽  
Peter Roessingh ◽  
Astrid T. Groot ◽  
J.C. (Koos) Biesmeijer ◽  
J.G.B. (Gerard) Oostermeijer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Community ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Bombus Terrestris ◽  
Chemical Compounds ◽  
Chemical Mimicry ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Pollinator Attraction ◽  
Pollinator Species ◽  
Cypripedium Calceolus ◽  
Slipper Orchid

Pollination based on insect deception has been debated in the scientific community since it was first reported over two hundred years ago. A vast majority of deceptive syndromes occur within the orchid family. While many cheating flowers have been described and are well known, there are still many curious cases that need further investigation. One prime example of such a case is Cypripedium calceolus, known as European lady’s slipper orchid. While the flower has been of interest to many prominent scientists for over a century, its pollination is still not fully understood. Both visual and olfactory cues seem to play an important role in pollinator attraction. In this study we focussed on the olfactory cues in order to explore their relationship (in future experiments) with floral visual cues, including the unique asymmetry of these flowers. Some of the plants’ floral fragrances were used in Electroantennography experiments. Eleven chemical compounds were applied to the antennae of Bombus terrestris and Apis mellifera. Even though these species are not regular visitors of C. calceolus, we were interested to see whether there were common principles in their responses to the flowers’ scent that might justify extrapolating to other pollinator species such as sand bees that get trapped in these orchids and fly out of the flowers afterwards with pollen smeared on their body. The results show that while both species react similarly to most of the odours, some of the tested acetates induced a significantly greater reaction in B. terrestris antennae. These acetates play an important role in bumblebee pheromones, but their relevance for the natural pollinators of C. calceolus remains to be confirmed to see whether chemical mimicry by these flowers is deliberately employed to attract pollinators.

scholarly journals Are eavesdroppers multimodal? Sensory exploitation of floral signals by a non-native cockroach Blatta orientalis

2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo C. Vergara ◽  
Alejandra Torres-Araneda ◽  
Diego A. Villagra ◽  
Robert A. Raguso ◽  
Mary T. K. Arroyo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Floral Scent ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Visual Display ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Sensory Exploitation ◽  
Full Spectrum ◽  
Biologically Relevant ◽  
Blatta Orientalis ◽  
Total Residence Time

Abstract The study of multi-modal communication has only recently been extended to innate and learned interactions between flowers and their animal visitors, and usually only to pollinators. Here we studied the relevance of floral scent and visual display of a night blooming, putatively hawkmoth-pollinated plant Oenothera acaulis (Onagraceae) in the attraction of non-native cockroaches Blatta orientalis (Blattodea: Blattidae), which function as facultative floral larcenists in coastal habitats of central Chile. We experimentally decoupled visual (corolla) and olfactory (fragrance) stimuli by presenting paper corollas and green mesh bags, with or without a freshly-picked natural flower inside. We then contrasted the behavioral responses of roaches in these treatments with those to the natural combination of traits in actual flowers and their respective control treatments, measuring the roaches’ frequency of first visits, mean and total residence time spent in each treatment. The roaches primarily used olfactory cues when approaching O. acaulis flowers at two biologically relevant spatial scales. In addition, the presence of conspecific roaches had a strong influence on recruitment to the experimental arena, increasing the statistical differences among treatments. Our results suggest a primacy of floral fragrance over visual stimuli in the foraging responses of B. orientalis. Olfactory cues were necessary and sufficient to attract the roaches, and the visual cues presented in our manipulations only marginally increased their attraction within a 20 cm diameter of the stimulus. The full spectrum of floral visitation behavior was not elicited by the artificial flowers, suggesting the need for additional tactile or contact chemosensory stimuli not provided by paper. Although the nitrogenous scent compounds that we found in O. acaulis flowers are almost exclusively found in hawkmoth-pollinated flowers, the attractiveness of these compounds to a non-native, facultative flower-visiting insect indicates that they do not function as pollinator-specific signals for hawkmoth attraction.

scholarly journals Integration of various scales for measurement of insomnia

2021 ◽  
pp. 263208432110100
Author(s):  
Satyendra Nath Chakrabartty
Keyword(s):  
Test Scores ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Weighted Sum ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Normal Probability ◽  
Equivalent Test ◽  
Item Scores ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Different Levels

Background Scales for evaluating insomnia differ in number of items, response format, and result in different scores distributions and score ranges and may not facilitate meaningful comparisons. Objectives Transform ordinal item-scores of three scales of insomnia to continuous, equidistant, monotonic, normally distributed scores, avoiding limitations of summative scoring of Likert scales. Methods Equidistant item-scores by weighted sum using data-driven weights to different levels of different items, considering cell frequencies of Item-Levels matrix, followed by normalization and conversion to [1, 10]. Equivalent test-scores (as sum of transformed item- scores) for a pair of scales were found by Normal Probability curves. Empirical illustration given. Results Transformed test-scores are continuous, monotonic and followed Normal distribution with no outliers and tied scores. Such test-scores facilitate ranking, better classification and meaningful comparison of scales of different lengths and formats and finding equivalent score combinations of two scales. For a given value of transformed test-score of a scale, easy alternate method avoiding integration proposed to find equivalent scores of another scales. Equivalent scores of scales help to relate various cut-off scores of different scales and uniformity in interpretations. Integration of various scales of insomnia is achieved by finding one-to-one correspondence among the equivalent score of various scales with correlation over 0.99 Conclusion Resultant test-scores facilitated undertaking analysis in parametric set up. Considering the theoretical advantages including meaningfulness of operations, better comparison, use of such method of transforming scores of Likert items/test is recommended test and items, Future studies were suggested.

scholarly journals Adding colour-realistic video images to audio playbacks increases stimulus engagement but does not enhance vocal learning in zebra finches

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith M. Varkevisser ◽  
Ralph Simon ◽  
Ezequiel Mendoza ◽  
Martin How ◽  
Idse van Hijlkema ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Sound Production ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Frame Rate ◽  
Zebra Finches ◽  
Video Content ◽  
Biologically Relevant ◽  
Video Images

AbstractBird song and human speech are learned early in life and for both cases engagement with live social tutors generally leads to better learning outcomes than passive audio-only exposure. Real-world tutor–tutee relations are normally not uni- but multimodal and observations suggest that visual cues related to sound production might enhance vocal learning. We tested this hypothesis by pairing appropriate, colour-realistic, high frame-rate videos of a singing adult male zebra finch tutor with song playbacks and presenting these stimuli to juvenile zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). Juveniles exposed to song playbacks combined with video presentation of a singing bird approached the stimulus more often and spent more time close to it than juveniles exposed to audio playback only or audio playback combined with pixelated and time-reversed videos. However, higher engagement with the realistic audio–visual stimuli was not predictive of better song learning. Thus, although multimodality increased stimulus engagement and biologically relevant video content was more salient than colour and movement equivalent videos, the higher engagement with the realistic audio–visual stimuli did not lead to enhanced vocal learning. Whether the lack of three-dimensionality of a video tutor and/or the lack of meaningful social interaction make them less suitable for facilitating song learning than audio–visual exposure to a live tutor remains to be tested.

scholarly journals Field (In)dependence Flexibility Following a Virtual Immersion Is Associated With Cybersickness and Sense of Presence

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Maneuvrier ◽  
L. M. Decker ◽  
P. Renaud ◽  
G. Ceyte ◽  
H. Ceyte
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
A Posteriori ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Before And After ◽  
High Level ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Rod And Frame Test ◽  
Rod And Frame

Field dependence–independence (FDI) is a psychological construct determining an individual’s approach of the perception–cognition coupling. In virtual reality (VR) context, several studies suggest that an individual’s perceptive style is susceptible to shift toward a more FI mode through down-weighting of conflicting visual cues. The present study proposes to investigate the potential flexible nature of FDI following a virtual immersion and to assess if this flexibility might be associated with the subjective experience of VR. 86 participants explored a real-world–like virtual environment for approximately 10 min. FDI levels were measured before and after the VR exposure using the rod-and-frame test. Their subjective experience of VR was measured a posteriori (cybersickness and sense of presence) and used in order to build two experimental groups via a cluster analysis. The results showed that only participants with a poor subjective experience of VR (i.e., a low level of sense of presence associated with a high level of cybersickness) significantly shifted to a more FI mode, which is discussed as a sensory re-weighting mechanism. Pragmatical applications are discussed, and future studies are outlined, based on the conclusion that FDI might be more flexible than we thought, which could shed light on the psychophysiology of VR.

scholarly journals Food Avoidance Learning in Squirrel Monkeys and Common Marmosets

1998 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 193-203
Author(s):  
Matthias Laska ◽  
Karin Metzker
Keyword(s):  
Avoidance Learning ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Squirrel Monkeys ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Saimiri Sciureus ◽  
Common Marmosets ◽  
Food Avoidance ◽  
Robust Learning ◽  
Olfactory Cue ◽  
Potential Food

Using a conditioned food avoidance learning paradigm, six squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) and six common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) were tested for their ability to (1) reliably form associations between visual or olfactory cues of a potential food and its palatability and (2) remember such associations over prolonged periods of time. We found (1) that at the group level both species showed one-trial learning with the visual cues color and shape, whereas only the marmosets were able to do so with the olfactory cue, (2) that all individuals from both species learned to reliably avoid the unpalatable food items within 10 trials, (3) a tendency in both species for quicker acquisition of the association with the visual cues compared with the olfactory cue, (4) a tendency for quicker acquisition and higher reliability of the aversion by the marmosets compared with the squirrel monkeys, and (5) that all individuals from both species were able to reliably remember the significance of the visual cues, color and shape, even after 4 months, whereas only the marmosets showed retention of the significance of the olfactory cues for up to 4 weeks. Furthermore, the results suggest that in both species tested, illness is not a necessary prerequisite for food avoidance learning but that the presumably innate rejection responses toward highly concentrated but nontoxic bitter and sour tastants are sufficient to induce robust learning and retention.

Smelling home: a good solution for burrow-finding in nocturnal petrels?

2002 ◽  
Vol 205 (16) ◽  
pp. 2519-2523 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Bonadonna ◽  
Vincent Bretagnolle
Keyword(s):  
Olfactory System ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Zinc Sulphate ◽  
Olfactory Cues ◽  
Nocturnal Activity ◽  
Complete Darkness ◽  
Visual Guidance ◽  
Nest Recognition ◽  
Return Home ◽  
Nesting Habits

SUMMARY Many burrowing petrels are able to return to their nests in complete darkness. The well-developed anatomy of their olfactory system and the attraction that food-related odour cues have for some petrel species suggest that olfaction may be used to recognize the burrow. In contrast,surface-nesting petrels may rely on visual cues to recognise their nest. We performed experiments on nine species of petrel (with different nesting habits) rendered anosmic either by plugging the nostrils or by injecting zinc sulphate onto the nasal epithelium. Compared with shamtreated control birds,we found that anosmia impaired nest recognition only in species that nest in burrows and that return home in darkness. Therefore, petrels showing nocturnal activity on land may rely on their sense of smell to find their burrows, while petrels showing diurnal activity or surface nesters may disregard olfactory cues in favour of visual guidance.

Project Managers’ Competence Identification

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heli Aramo-Immonen ◽  
Andrea Bikfalvi ◽  
Núria Mancebo ◽  
Hannu Vanharanta
Keyword(s):  
Project Managers ◽  
Project Manager ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Self Evaluation ◽  
Knowledge Intensive ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Future Project ◽  
Global Project

The objective of this article is to help align higher education of future project managers to the contemporary requirements of global project business. The perspective is project managers’ competencies in knowledge intensive industry, such as in IT branch. In this paper, it is considered that a holistic view of competence self-evaluation helps to assess the current intentional change. The system introduced supports decision making by measuring and capturing the actual drivers designed specifically for the role of project manager. Generalizing the competence identification process appears to be more constructive than detailing about competence content itself. This study brings valuable and novel empirical data using a sample of students acting as project managers in Spain and a sample of experienced project managers from Finland. A number of possible future studies using the same experimental set up are apparent.

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