The Suffering of Invertebrates: An Approach from Animal Ethics

Invertebrate animals are usually seen as a kind of “aliens” which do not deserve any moral consideration. However, there is a growing amount of evidence indicating that many of them do have the capacity to experience pain. The same criteria that are usually applied in order to infer that vertebrates are sentient beings (behavioral response, learning capacity, memory, a certain specific neurophysiological structure…) lead to the idea that many invertebrates are sentient as well. Therefore, under the skeptical premise that we have no direct evidence of the experience of pain in vertebrates, we are forced to hold that it exists in both vertebrates and invertebrates.

A Critical Review of Spatial Abilities in Down and Williams Syndromes: Not All Space Is Created Equal

Down syndrome (DS, Trisomy 21) and Williams syndrome (WS) are two neurodevelopmental disorders of genetic origin that are accompanied by mild to moderate intellectual disability but exhibit distinct cognitive profiles. In this review we discuss our recent work characterizing the real-world spatial learning and memory abilities of adult individuals with DS and WS. We used several different paradigms in which participants locomote freely and have access to coherent input from all sensory modalities to investigate their fundamental egocentric (body-centered or viewpoint-dependent) and allocentric (world-centered or viewpoint-independent) spatial abilities. We found unequivocal evidence that most individuals with DS exhibit low-resolution egocentric and allocentric spatial learning and memory abilities similar to typically developing (TD) children in the same mental age range. In contrast, most individuals with DS exhibit impaired high-resolution allocentric spatial learning and facilitated response learning as compared to TD children. In comparison, whereas most individuals with WS also exhibit facilitated response learning, their low-resolution allocentric spatial learning and memory abilities are severely impaired as compared to both TD children and individuals with DS. Together with work from other laboratories using real-world or virtual reality paradigms, these findings indicate that in order to navigate in their environment most individuals with DS may use either egocentric route learning that does not integrate individual landmarks, or a low-resolution allocentric spatial representation that encodes the relationships between different locations (i.e., cognitive mapping). In contrast, since most individuals with WS are unable to build or use a low-resolution allocentric or configural representation of the environment they may use visually and verbally encoded landmarks as beacons to learn routes. Finally, we discuss the main neural structures implicated in these different spatial processes and explain how the relative preservation or impairment of specific brain functions may engender the unique cognitive profiles observed in individuals with these neurodevelopmental disorders.

RESPON MAHASISWA TERHADAP PEMBELAJARAN MENGGUNAKAN GOOGLE CLASSROOM DI MASA PENDEMI COVID-19 PADA MATA KULIAH KONSEP DASAR PKN

Abstrak : Pendemi Virus Corona memaksa sistem pendidikan di Indonesia untuk menggunakan pembelajaran dalam jaringan mulai tingkat SD sampai Perguruan Tinggi, hal ini membuat guru dan dosen untuk menyesuaikan kebiasaan baru tersebut dengan melakukan pembelajaran online menggunakan aplikasi dalam jaringan internet. Adapun tujuan penelitian ini untuk mengetahui seberapa besar respon dan kesiapan mahasiswa dalam menggunakan aplikasi google classroom sehingga dapat mempermudah dosen dan mahasiswa dalam berinteraksi dalam pembelajaran. Penelitian ini menggunakan jenis penelitian kualitatif deskriptif dengan tehnik survey dalam mengumpulkan data dilapangan. Sampel terdiri dari 70 orang mahasiswa semester 1 PGSD dibagi dalam 2 kelas yaitu kelas G sejumlah 30 orang dan Kelas H 40 orang. Angket diberikan kepada mahasiswa yang sedang mengikuti pembelajaran daring Mata Kuliah Konsep Dasar PKN. Jumlah pertanyaan diberikan sebanyak 15 pertanyaan dengan pilihan jawaban Sangat tidak setuju, Setuju, Ragu, Tidak Setuju, Sangat tidak setuju. Hasil penelitian ditemukan bahwa rata-rata respon mahasiswa terhadap penggunaan Google Classroom pada tiap indikator penelitian adalah paling tinggi pada indikator pertama sebanyak 78,29% di Kelas G dan indikator pemahaman materi dalam google classroom sebesar 71,12% berada pada kategori setuju. Sementara di Indikator pertama tentang kemudahan mahasiswa menggunakan google classroom pada Kelas H sebesar 75,33% dan Indikator Pemahaman Materi dalam Google Classroom sebesar 75,16% yaitu berada pada kategori setuju. Kata Kunci; Respon, pembelajaran, Google Classroom, Masa Covid Abstract : The Corona Virus pandemic forces the education system in Indonesia to use online learning from elementary to tertiary level, this makes teachers and lecturers to adapt to this new habit by doing online learning using applications on the internet network. The purpose of this study is to find out how much the response and readiness of students in using the google classroom application so that it can make it easier for lecturers and students to interact in learning. This research uses descriptive qualitative research with survey techniques in collecting data in the field. The sample consisted of 70 PGSD 1st semester students divided into 2 classes, 30 students in G class and 40 students in H class. The questionnaire was given to students who were taking online learning in the Basic Concepts of PKN. The number of questions given is 15 questions with answer choices; Strongly disagree, Agree, Doubt, Disagree, Strongly disagree. The results of the study found that the average student response to the use of Google Classroom on each research indicator was the highest in the first indicator as much as 78.29% in Class G and the indicator of material understanding in google classroom by 71.12% in the agree category. While the first indicator about the ease with which students use google classroom in Class H is 75.33% and the Material Understanding Indicator in Google Classroom is 75.16%, which is in the agree category. Keywords; Response, Learning, Google Classroom, Covid 19

Place vs. Response Learning: History, Controversy, and Neurobiology

The present article provides a historical review of the place and response learning plus-maze tasks with a focus on the behavioral and neurobiological findings. The article begins by reviewing the conflict between Edward C. Tolman’s cognitive view and Clark L. Hull’s stimulus-response (S-R) view of learning and how the place and response learning plus-maze tasks were designed to resolve this debate. Cognitive learning theorists predicted that place learning would be acquired faster than response learning, indicating the dominance of cognitive learning, whereas S-R learning theorists predicted that response learning would be acquired faster, indicating the dominance of S-R learning. Here, the evidence is reviewed demonstrating that either place or response learning may be dominant in a given learning situation and that the relative dominance of place and response learning depends on various parametric factors (i.e., amount of training, visual aspects of the learning environment, emotional arousal, et cetera). Next, the neurobiology underlying place and response learning is reviewed, providing strong evidence for the existence of multiple memory systems in the mammalian brain. Research has indicated that place learning is principally mediated by the hippocampus, whereas response learning is mediated by the dorsolateral striatum. Other brain regions implicated in place and response learning are also discussed in this section, including the dorsomedial striatum, amygdala, and medial prefrontal cortex. An exhaustive review of the neurotransmitter systems underlying place and response learning is subsequently provided, indicating important roles for glutamate, dopamine, acetylcholine, cannabinoids, and estrogen. Closing remarks are made emphasizing the historical importance of the place and response learning tasks in resolving problems in learning theory, as well as for examining the behavioral and neurobiological mechanisms of multiple memory systems. How the place and response learning tasks may be employed in the future for examining extinction, neural circuits of memory, and human psychopathology is also briefly considered.

Pairwise imitation and evolution of the social contract

This paper studies the evolution of conventions in Stag Hunt games when agents’ behaviour depends on pairwise payoff comparisons. The results of two imitative decision rules are compared with each other and with those obtained when agents myopically best respond to the distribution of play. These rules differ in terms of their rationale, their requirements, and the extent to which they make individuals learn from others. Depending on payoffs and the interaction process being considered, best response learning can cause either the rewarding All Stag equilibrium or the inefficient All Hare equilibrium to emerge as the long-run convention. In contrast, pairwise imitation favours the emergence of the Pareto-inferior equilibrium. This result is robust to assuming assortative matching and some heterogeneity in decision rules.