scholarly journals Predator experience overrides learned aversion to heterospecifics in stickleback species pairs

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1805) ◽  
pp. 20143066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Genevieve M. Kozak ◽  
Janette W. Boughman
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Sexual Isolation ◽  
Female Preferences ◽  
Species Pairs ◽  
Learned Aversion ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Threespine Sticklebacks ◽  
Female Choosiness ◽  
Predator Effects

Predation risk can alter female mating decisions because the costs of mate searching and selecting attractive mates increase when predators are present. In response to predators, females have been found to plastically adjust mate preference within species, but little is known about how predators alter sexual isolation and hybridization among species. We tested the effects of predator exposure on sexual isolation between benthic and limnetic threespine sticklebacks ( Gasterosteus spp.). Female discrimination against heterospecific mates was measured before and after females experienced a simulated attack by a trout predator or a control exposure to a harmless object. In the absence of predators, females showed increased aversion to heterospecifics over time. We found that predator exposure made females less discriminating and precluded this learned aversion to heterospecifics. Benthic and limnetic males differ in coloration, and predator exposure also affected sexual isolation by weakening female preferences for colourful males. Predator effects on sexual selection were also tested but predators had few effects on female choosiness among conspecific mates. Our results suggest that predation risk may disrupt the cognitive processes associated with mate choice and lead to fluctuations in the strength of sexual isolation between species.

scholarly journals Short-Term Efficacy Of A Worry Postponement Intervention for Generalized Anxiety Disorder

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Tallon
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Generalized Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Stimulus Control ◽  
Behavioural Therapy ◽  
Mechanisms Of Change ◽  
Generalized Anxiety ◽  
Common Component ◽  
Metacognitive Beliefs ◽  
Before And After

Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based treatment for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Worry postponement (WP), in which a client is asked to postpone worry until a 30-minute “worry time,” is a common component of CBT for GAD; however, the efficacy of WP has never been tested in people with GAD. Further, the mechanisms of change of WP are not known; nor are its effects on cognitive processes and symptoms related to GAD. A better understanding of the efficacy and mechanisms of change of WP could help to optimize CBT for GAD. The goals of the present study were to examine, in a sample of people with GAD, the effects of WP on worry and GAD symptoms, and cognitive processes and symptoms related to GAD. The study also examined the effects of WP on two proposed mediators: stimulus control and metacognitive beliefs. Sixty-seven adults were randomized to one of three conditions: 2- week worry postponement intervention (WP), 2-week worry monitoring intervention (MON), or an assessment only control. Participants completed outcome measures before and after the 2- week intervention period and at a 2-week follow-up. In the WP and MON conditions, participants completed daily worry monitoring using a phone-based application. All participants showed a significant decrease in past-week worry over the course of the study, with no significant differences between the conditions. There were no significant changes in GAD symptoms across conditions. There was no evidence that WP had superior effects to control groups on cognitive processes or symptoms related to GAD. There was no evidence that stimulus control or metacognitive beliefs mediated the reduction in past week worry in WP. This is the first known study to examine the effects of WP in people with GAD. Whereas worry did decrease on some indices over the course of the study, there were no significant differences between WP and two control conditions. Further this study found no evidence that WP has specific effects on two processes that are thought to be mechanisms of action. The findings of this study demonstrate the need to establish the efficacy of the treatment components used in CBT.

scholarly journals The Impact of Wolf Reintroduction on the Foraging Efficency of Elk and Bison

1998 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 48-52
Author(s):  
John Laundre
Keyword(s):  
Predation Risk ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Cervus Elaphus ◽  
The North ◽  
Safety Research ◽  
Conflicting Demands ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Quality Diet ◽  
Long Term Impact ◽  
The Impact

More and more, evidence indicates that non­lethal interactions between large mammalian ungulates and the predators that feed on them may play significant roles in ungulate population dynamics. Although predators such as wolves and mountain lions directly impact large ungulates like elk (Cervus elaphus) when they kill individuals, the fact that they scare their prey may actually have a greater long term impact on the population (Kotler and Hoyt 1989, Brown 1992, Brown and Alkon 1990 Brown et al. 1999). In response to predation risk, foraging animals are found balancing conflicting demands for food and safety. Research indicates they do this by two principal means: 1) when faced with higher predation risk, prey individuals will reduce feeding effort and/or increase vigilance compared to areas of lower risk (Sih 1980, Lima and Dill 1990), 2) they alter their use of habitat types to help reduce this predation risk. The major result is that reduced feeding efforts or selection of safer but possibly less productive habitat lead to a third prediction of a poorer quality diet as animals seek out safer areas but with likely lower quality forage. The reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Parks offered a unique opportunity to test the impact of wolves on the feeding efficiency of elk and bison. After the wolves were reintroduced into Yellowstone Park in the spring of 1995, they quickly established themselves in specific locations, specifically in the Lamar Valley in the north end of the Park. This allowed us to collect data on areas with and without wolves for the first few years after their release. Additionally, as wolves have expanded their range in the Park, this has also provided an excellent opportunity to compare data on animals from the same areas before and after wolves have arrived. These comparisons then, would provide a critical test of the predictions that large predators can have a major non-lethal impact on their prey. To test these predictions, in 1996 we began a study of the foraging patterns of elk and bison in Yellowstone National Park. Here we report the results of the first four years of this study.

Measures of Emotional and Motivational Processes Activated by Stress or Comfort Conditions

2010 ◽  
Vol 437 ◽  
pp. 540-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeria Biasi ◽  
Paolo Bonaiuto ◽  
Anna Maria Giannini
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Specific Treatment ◽  
Progressive Relaxation ◽  
Factor Analyses ◽  
Motivational Systems ◽  
Affective Processes ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Positive Experiences ◽  
Stress States ◽  
Induced Changes

Under stress conditions, obtained in the field or experimentally induced, changes occur in the nature and intensity of affective processes (emotions, motivations). Symmetrical changes occur under opposite (comfort) conditions. One of the first procedures for determining temporary stress states consists of administering difficult logical tasks (15 minutes), with erroneous or ambiguous feedback and social pressure. For example, some very difficult Raven Matrices were individually assigned to participants. The first two authors later found another procedure equally effective and even more advantageous for certain aspects: the “drawing recollection” of personal stressful experiences. The corresponding comfort treatments are, firstly, a progressive relaxation session in penumbra; or, in the second case, the “drawing recollection” of personal pleasant and positive experiences. To assess the emotional changes, we prepared seven-point bipolar scales centering on the main opposing emotions. As regards motivations, we used a list of nine motivational systems [1]. The whole set of items made up the so-called Self-Appraisal Scales, administered before and after a specific treatment, thereby obtaining a measure through the differences between the two successive assessments. Factor analyses were conducted for selecting the main emotional and motivational factors. Affective reverberations on cognitive processes were also studied and measured.

Raiding shoal size and a distraction display in male sticklebacks (Gasterosteus)

1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark S. Ridgway ◽  
J. D. McPhail
Keyword(s):  
Nest Predation ◽  
Species Complex ◽  
Food Source ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Nest Site ◽  
Sympatric Species ◽  
Threespine Stickleback ◽  
Species Pairs ◽  
Threespine Sticklebacks

In threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus), shoals of foraging conspecifics attack the nests of parental males and consume the offspring. This type of nest predation also occurs in lakes with sympatric species pairs of sticklebacks (Gasterosteus sp.) in which benthic stickleback shoals attack the nests of parental limnetic males. We manipulated shoal size of benthic sticklebacks in Paxton and Enos lakes to determine if there is a minimum shoal size necessary before parental limnetic males will perform the spasmodic swim display, a behaviour used by parental males to lure foraging shoals away from their nest and offspring. Males showed a significant increase in display frequency beginning with shoals of eight fish. The display occurred only when there were offspring in the nest and not when the nest was empty. We interpret the display to be a foraging deception in which parental males manipulate raiding shoals into giving up their search for a food source, causing them to leave the area of the male's nest site. This distraction display appears to be widespread within the threespine stickleback species complex.

scholarly journals Appraisal shifts during reappraisal

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andero Uusberg
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Latent Profile Analyses ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Emotional Events ◽  
Latent Profile

How might we model the processes involved in regulating emotions via reappraisal? In two complementary studies, we tested the idea that reappraisal effects on emotion are mediated by shifts along appraisal dimensions. In an experimental Study 1, 437 students recalled a recent distressing event and rated their appraisals and emotions before and after using reappraisal to feel less negative about the event. Between 19% and 49% of changes to different emotions were statistically mediated by shifts along ten appraisal dimensions. Latent profile analyses suggested that the appraisal shifts reflected four distinct reappraisal tactics. These findings were conceptually replicated in a second intensive longitudinal study, where 168 participants rated their appraisals and emotions in relation to maximum of 3 emotional events for 7 days, first within an hour of the event and again in the evening when they also reported on emotion regulation use (1142 observations). Between 22% and 46% of changes to different emotions accompanying reappraisal use were mediated by shifts along appraisal dimensions. Appraisal shifts were significantly less relevant for otherwise regulated and spontaneous emotion changes. Relative to Study 1, the latent profile analyses of Study 2 revealed two similar and four novel reappraisal tactics reflecting a broader set of events. Across both studies, all appraisal dimensions were involved in at least one tactic and no dimension was involved in all of them, highlighting the importance of appraisal profiles. These findings suggest that appraisal shift profiles can be part of a useful model of cognitive processes underlying reappraisal.

scholarly journals Loss of sexual isolation in a hybridizing stickleback species pair

2013 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 591-603 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alycia C. R. Lackey ◽  
Janette Wenrick Boughman
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Sexual Isolation ◽  
Distinct Species ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Reproductive Barriers ◽  
Species Pair ◽  
Hybrid Swarm ◽  
Species Formation ◽  
Species Pairs

Abstract One approach to understand the importance of reproductive barriers to the speciation process is to study the breakdown of barriers between formerly distinct species. One reproductive barrier, sexual isolation, reduces gene flow between species through differences in mate preferences and mating signals and is likely important for species formation and maintenance. We measure sexual isolation in two limnetic-benthic threespine stickleback species pairs (Gasterosteus spp.). One species pair maintains strong reproductive isolation while the other species pair has recently collapsed into a hybrid swarm. We compare the strength of sexual isolation in the hybridizing pair to the currently isolated pair. We provide the first evidence that sexual isolation has been lost in the hybridizing pair and show furthermore that preferences females have for conspecific mates and the traits they use to distinguish conspecific and heterospecific males contribute to this loss. This work highlights the fragility of reproductive isolation between young species pairs and considers the role of sexual isolation in speciation.

scholarly journals Body size differences do not arise from divergent mate preferences in a species pair of threespine stickleback

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 517-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan L Head ◽  
Emily A. Price ◽  
Janette W. Boughman
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Sexual Isolation ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Species Pair ◽  
Divergent Natural Selection ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Threespine Sticklebacks

Ecological speciation can be driven by divergent natural and/or sexual selection. The relative contribution of these processes to species divergence, however, is unknown. Here, we investigate how sexual selection in the form of male and female mate preferences contributes to divergence of body size. This trait is known be under divergent natural selection and also contributes to sexual isolation in species pairs of threespine sticklebacks ( Gasterosteus aculeatus ). We show that neither female nor male size preferences contribute to body size divergence in this species pair, suggesting that size-based sexual isolation arises primarily through natural selection.

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